- Courtesy of FX
Too much good TV, that’s the problem. It’s impossible to keep up with all the quality series on television these days – Mad Men, True Blood, Boardwalk Empire, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Homeland, Girls. Well, not impossible, but certainly tricky, and you have to give up things like family and daylight.
One show I never miss, though, is LOUIE, the verite-style situation comedy from veteran alt-comic Louis C.K. Season two of the hit FX show is out this week on DVD and Blu-ray, and it’s a good opportunity to catch up with this genre-busting endeavor.
C.K. has long been known as a “comic’s comic,” which in most cases is code for “not very popular.” But C.K. has proven the exception and has won legions of fans with his comedic style of brutally honest self examination.
In Louie, C.K. plays a fictionalized version of himself as a divorced father of two young girls, plying his comic trade in New York City and occasionally on the road. What’s amazing/impossible about Louie is that C.K. has negotiated for near-complete creative control with this show. He writes, directs, produces and even edits each episode.
It’s the auteur approach to situation comedy, and it pays off. As with Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, the show is a remarkably pure distillation of one man’s comic vision. Louie has a rhythm all its own, its indie-film vibe cut with the spontaneity of a stand-up routine.
