‘Louie – The Complete Season 3′ DVD Review

Article first published as ‘Louie – The Complete Season 3′ DVD Review on Blogcritics.

FX’s Louie is a very odd show. Written, directed by, and starring Louis C.K., it’s semi-autobiographical, semi-comedic, and semi-dramatic. There is nothing ‘semi-’ about its quality, though.  Perhaps best described as an extended vignettes (occasionally running into multiple episodes), interspersed with Louie C.K. stand-up bits, the show defies easy definition, but it’s always compelling, insightful, and authentic in ways no other TV show comes close.


The third season of Louie was recently released as a three-disc DVD set. The 13 episodes run a gamut in terms of story, but the usually somber, and frequently pathetic, tone is consistent. Louie is a divorced father of two young girls who tries to date and interact with the world while maintaining a career as a stand-up comedian. A few events in this season give him hope that he can finally improve his standing, but as one expects, that never quite happens.

Louie and the Ladies

A major theme in of season three involves Louie’s interactions with females. His daughters, Lilly (Hadley Delany) and Jane (Ursula Parker) are a big part of that, of course, but he also goes on dates with various women, including Liz (Parker Posey), Maria (Maria Bamford), and Laurie (Melissa Leo, who won an Emmy for the role). Louie doesn’t understand the opposite sex, this much is clear, but he really tries. He does understand that women are all different, though, and he tries to give his daughters the freedom to be who they want to be, as long as they also end up as good people. Finding a steady girlfriend could help him provide the girls with a role model, but the task proves difficult. This is dealt with quite heavily in the two-parter, “Daddy’s Girlfriend.”

The Life of a Standup

Another thing Louie ponders is getting his own talk show. In the three-part “Late Show,” Louie interviews to be David Letterman’s possible replacement (this was before Letterman announced he was stepping down and Stephen Colbert was replacing him in real life). Finding out he may just be being used as leverage against the network’s first choice, Jerry Seinfeld (himself), Louie begins to wonder how much he really even wants the job. Should he fight for it, or is he better off staying out of the late night game, as Jay Leno (himself) advises? Louie seeks the counsel of many of his peers, but is still torn.

Does this mean Louie is afraid of success? I don’t think the real Louie is, or he wouldn’t be working so hard to make Louie. He gets complete creative control of the process, and even takes a year off or shortens a season as he sees fit, and the viewers and critics still flock back. But you have to wonder what success means to Louie the character.

Other episodes are stand-alone. Louie has a horrible day in “Something Is Wrong.” He develops an awkward friendship with a lifeguard in “Miami.” He is one of only two people to attend a funeral for a terrible guy in “Barney/Never.” He makes up (again) with Marc Maron (himself) in “Ikea/Piano Lesson.” He freaks out about seeing his estranged father in “Dad.” He confronts the death of a sister (Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation) and travels to China in “New Year’s Eve.” All of these and more are really interesting, thought-provoking installments, and while continuity between them may not always be present, they are great in their own right.

The only complaint I have about Louie – The Complete Season 3 is the same one I’ve had about Fox’s other recent releases: no bonus features. I’m sure Louie could give us some really neat insight into his process if the studio had let him. And also, this season only gets the DVD treatment nearly two years after it finished airing, rather than a timely Blu-ray release, as past seasons have seen. Louie and Louie deserve better.

Louie – The Complete Season 3 is available now.

The Simpsons logs on to "The D'oh-cial Network"

     This week's entry of FOX's The Simpsons is a parody of the film The Social Network entitled "The D'oh-cial Network." Lisa (Yeardley Smith) realizes she has no friends, and so creates an online social site, SpringFace, where she soon has a thousand and is hailed as a hero! But she doesn't plan for the consequences, which finds the entire town glued to electronic devices, shunning all human interaction, and leading to countless traffic accidents. In the end, Lisa tells the judge she will take down her website, and Springfield returns to normal.

     Taken by itself, the plot in "The D'oh-cial Network" runs a little thin. Who exactly hauls Lisa in before the judge? And when she agrees to remove the site, the case is just dropped? Why did she need to tell the entire story of her family visiting a mall at the beginning? None of it really gels together well, so it's a hodgepodge of parts.

     As a move parody, the episode does a little bit better. There are some key things from The Social Network that are directly ripped off, such as at the end when Patty and Selma (Julie Kavner) face off with the Winklevoss twins (Armie Hammer, reprising his film roles) in a rowing race, which The Simpsons turns into an incestuous make-out session. Some of the courtroom dialogue seems familiar, and the basic structure. Obviously, The Simpsons can't take the plot completely, as it just doesn't condense well into the short, animated format. But taking some themes and references out to play with is enough.

     I guess the confusion here is that The Simpsons have only about twenty-two minutes to condense down a two hour movie, and yet, they start late and end early, making the meat of the episode one of the leanest ever. Did they really out of ideas after fifteen minutes? If so, why even attempt the task?

     The opening of any Simpsons episode has a couch gag, which sometimes go on to be quite extended. The one in "The D'oh-cial Network" is one of those times, where the family runs through the city, and makes it through a number of checkpoints, with Homer (Dan Castellaneta) predictably distracted along the way. The payoff is that they find their couch on David Letterman's (voicing himself) set, and he makes a snide comment to them. Humorous, sure. Not sure it really fit with the episode. Then again, the couch gag often doesn't.

     The end of "The D'oh-cial Network," too, is unexpectedly long. As the credits start to roll, they quickly stop because the episode doesn't have a long enough story time, and a couple minute long filler must be inserted. It's an amusing poem read by Skinner (Harry Shearer) as a failed lesson to get students to not pull pranks. Again, it's pretty darn funny on its own. It just doesn't fit in with the episode at large.

     All said, "The D'oh-cial Network" is not the strongest episode of The Simpsons. It gets some laughs, but lacks a cohesiveness that makes it feel like the series is just phoning it in at this point. My advice? Do the best season ever made next year, with poignant, connected, heartwarming, hilarious stories that get back to the root of the characters, then cancel the show, going out on top. Because this slow fade to death is sometimes painful. And make no mistake about it: The Simpsons will not run for another twenty years on its current path.

     Watch The Simpsons Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on FOX.

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The 1st (hopefully of many) Comedy Awards

     With awards shows often hiring comedians to host, and with comedy movies often getting overlooked at the major awards shows, it would make sense that Comedy take their own night to hand out kudos. What's more, since everyone involved is in the business of making people laugh, it is bound to be much, much funnier than other dreary, dragging award galas. It seems like such a no brainer. Yet, it wasn't until this past week that Comedy Central stepped up to host the first ever 'The Comedy Awards', which honored performers and shows from many channels, and aired on several other networks, too. It premiered on television Sunday night, though was filmed a couple of weeks ago.

     Well, of course, success was had! While there was no opening sketch or monologue, the people tapped to introduce and hand out awards were plenty funny. Even the In Memoriam segment showed some of the deceased's funniest moments on screen, celebrating what they did so well, rather than playing sappy music and bringing tears to eyes. Andy Samberg's Lonely Island and Akon performed "I Just Had Sex", which came off even more entertaining than the original Saturday Night Live digital short it was taken from. Jon Cryer also delivered a very classy, amusing bit, playing off current events.

     The sad part is, this show took place in New York, so while all of the New York people were in attendance (Jon Stewart, David Letterman, the cast of 30 Rock, etc.), many L.A. performers couldn't make it. This may be chalked up to first year stumbles, and if the show becomes an anual tradition, more effort to attend among the various nominees will hopefully be made. Because of this, a few major awards were shown only in brief clips, rather than as part of the live broadcast, as the winners were not there to collect them.

     Most winners chose to go for jokes rather than a serious, sentimental speech, which was welcome. Best acceptance speeches of the night go to: Honorable Mention: Kristen Wiig, who thanked several Lornes before getting to Michaels. 3rd place: Trey Parker and Matt Stone, remarking winning an award for South Park, a show that airs on the network giving out the awards, felt awkward. 2nd place: Ty Burrell, representing the mostly-absent Modern Family cast. 1st place: Stephen Colbert, accepting The Daily Show's win, after kicking the real victors off stage, on behalf of all the people sick of being beaten by them for the last eight years.

     Two really big comedy stars were honored with extensive air times. Eddie Murphy was given the Comedy Icon award, and his clip reel reminded viewers that once upon a time, he used to be very funny. Sadly, it appears his acceptance speech was not, as it was thoroughly edited down. Billy Murray presented Johnny Carson Award for Comedic Excellence to David Letterman. The audience went crazy for the elusive Murray. Letterman's speech, on the other hand, went too long and got boring. It's fitting that he won the award, but next time, remember this is a comedy show.
     Other winners included Louis C.K., Childrens' Hospital, Tina Fey, The Other Guys, and Auto-Tune the News for their Bed Intruder Song.

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