• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Californication

What in the world has happened to Californication? During the first three seasons the episodes were great. Storyline was wonderful, dialogue was crisp and funny, and the players were interesting in themselves. This current year would put an encyclopedia salesman to sleep. It seems the entire season will revolve around a black rapper whose character by himself is boring as it gets. The last two shows dealt with this rapper calling everyone a mother@^&@%#$ every other word and threatening everyone, especially Hank with his gun. Even the sexual tension with Hank and his ladies is gone.

It seems like the storyline has been replaced with a desire to attract minority viewers with little regard to story or substance. The dialogue couldn't be more predictable and the characters have lost depth.

What do you readers think about the season and the obvious changes to the show?
 
Haven't watched it, but the same thing happened to Weeds. I think similar shows are super
great at first.............then ideas run out............and it warps into ______ what you see now.
 
FRR said:
What in the world has happened to Californication? During the first three seasons the episodes were great. Storyline was wonderful, dialogue was crisp and funny, and the players were interesting in themselves. This current year would put an encyclopedia salesman to sleep. It seems the entire season will revolve around a black rapper whose character by himself is boring as it gets. The last two shows dealt with this rapper calling everyone a mother@^&@%#$ every other word and threatening everyone, especially Hank with his gun. Even the sexual tension with Hank and his ladies is gone.

It seems like the storyline has been replaced with a desire to attract minority viewers with little regard to story or substance. The dialogue couldn't be more predictable and the characters have lost depth.

What do you readers think about the season and the obvious changes to the show?

I actually think they are trying to show Hank has matured a little bit since his run in with reality. It has resulted in a more dull and tortured character than we are used to, who is just miserable now.
 
I completely agree with the OP. I just removed Californication from my DVR series list last week. After watching the first couple episodes this season I can no longer stand the show. The first few seasons were great, but now the show seems to have completely lost the premise of it's title. The show seems to be lacking any real story line. I read on Twitter that Showtime has renewed the show for another season.

I tried watching House of Lies but couldn't get into it. Shameless is still a great show.
 
I wasn't going to respond because I don't have Showtime, and haven't watched Californication yet. I get other Showtime series from NetFlix.

But my experience with Weeds is the same as Gregg 75. It's my observation that Showtime series seem to suffer this same fate, and start to lose focus and go down the toilet - certainly more than HBO series. The Sopranos, for example - kept up the quality writing until the bitter end...with the possible exception of the finale episode.

I've noticed a similar thing happening to Dexter. It is still compelling and entertaining, but last year, some of the plot points were totally unrealistic - almost laughably unbelievable.
 
I never really liked Weeds or Dexter, but these are Showtime's bread and butter. They need to, unfortunately, milk these shows as long as possible to maintain their subscriber base. Hopefully new shows like Shameless will catch on long-term. It has already been renewed for a third season.
 
ansky212 said:
I never really liked Weeds or Dexter, but these are Showtime's bread and butter. They need to, unfortunately, milk these shows as long as possible to maintain their subscriber base. Hopefully new shows like Shameless will catch on long-term. It has already been renewed for a third season.

Yeah - Shameless is terrific - I just watched the first season on DVD. Hopefully, it won't suffer the same degredation of quality as other Showtime series in its later seasons.

It occurs to me that even the equivalent series on basic cable hold up better over time than Showtime series. Examples - Mad Men, Breaking Bad, and The Shield...though I thought Rescue Me went off the rails after about 3 seasons.
 
FRR said:
Why didn't Showtime broadcast Californication last night????

They didn't broadcast Shameless either. I'm guessing they didn't want to compete with the Oscars. On the other hand, HBO aired a new episode of Luck.
 
ansky212 said:
FRR said:
Why didn't Showtime broadcast Californication last night????

They didn't broadcast Shameless either. I'm guessing they didn't want to compete with the Oscars. On the other hand, HBO aired a new episode of Luck.

And Walking Dead was a new episode, too, which was surprising. Most networks prefer to burn-off a rerun on big nights like the Oscars, Superbowl, etc. - and save their new episodes for future weeks with a bigger potential audience.

As for Luck - since HBO is pay cable, and doesn't have advertisers, they're not as concerned with ratings, though it's still surprising that they didn't put in something else, or plug in a rerun...like Showtime.

I haven't heard how Luck is doing in the ratings, but I'm guessing that it's not a big hit. I'm having a hard time getting into it - I understand that it's critically acclaimed, well written and well acted - but I'm not getting emotionally invested with any of the characters - and horse-racing is not really a world I'm interested in, or interested in learning about. Over the years, I've had friends who have taken me to "The Track" - but for the most part, I was bored...and lost money.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom