‘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.

NBC comes back full force post-Olympics

     With NBC's coverage of the Olympics over, it's time for the network to try to maintain some of the massive audience they have recently enjoyed.  The fourth place network struggles mightily in the ratings, though of course, the games, which they insist they way overpaid for and actually lost money on, gave them some relief.  This week, however, their normal slate of shows is back, and it's time to see how they do.
     The biggest story is that Jay Leno has returned to The Tonight Show, as of last night.  I, like most other people, didn't tune in.  The man is just not funny.  However, that frees up NBC's 10pm hour five nights a week, which was previously filled by the failed prime time Leno show.  What does that mean for viewers?  Well, last night it meant a two hour jumbo edition of Law & Order.  Law & Order: Special Victims Unit gets the same treatment on Wednesday, and then Dateline NBC takes two hours on Friday.  Thursday night features a one hour version of the new show from Jerry Seinfeld, The Marriage Ref, which aired a half hour this past Sunday.  And then tonight is the most interesting way to use the time, the premiere of the new hour dramedy, Parenthood, based on the 1989 movie of the same name.  But more on that tomorrow, after I get a chance to review the pilot.
     If, like me, you aren't impressed by extra hour of crime shows and the newest cheesy reality show, NBC actually does boast a few good series.  Among the best are Thursday night's sitcoms, excluding Community, of course.  The Office is during a full hour this week as Jim (John Krasinski) and Pam (Jenna Fischer) finally have their baby!  It's been a long time coming, and should, as usual, prove to be funny.  The Office has some of the best online content, including webisodes, and Pam currently has a baby blog on the web site.  This does mean, sadly, that 30 Rock will not air this week, but Parks and Recreation promises to be funny, as Ron (Nick Offerman) wins 'Woman of the Year'.  No, that is not a misprint.
     Lastly, NBC will also begin a new celebrity biography series this Friday called Who Do You Think You Are.  The first hour looks at Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker.

It's official: Conan is done with NBC

     It's a done deal.  Multiple news sites (like this one, this one, and even this one!) have reported that Conan O'Brien has accepted a $45 million severance package to leave NBC for good.  It had been reported that the major obstacle left to be worked out concerned what would happen to Conan's staff.  Under the final deal, Conan will take $33 million, and the rest will be split among his roughly 200 employees.

     Something else that needed to be negotiated was how long Conan needed to stay off the air waves after leaving NBC.  While he was still supposed to be under contract to the network for some time, this current deal will allow him to return to television as early as September 1st of this year, assuming someone else hires him.  ABC doesn't seem to be much interested, and Fox, which was willing to pay a heck of a lot a few short years ago, is playing coy.  Comedy Central is said to be a possibility, but how he would fit in with the very popular Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert remains to be seen.

     Conan will air his final episode as host of The Tonight Show tomorrow night, and will feature guests Tom Hanks and Will Ferrell.  You may remember that Farrell was on his first show, way back last June.  NBC will air reruns of the show next week, which had previously been scheduled, but there is no word yet on what will do during the last two weeks before the Olympics, during which Conan was supposed to film new episodes, but will now not.  NBC wasted no time in confirming that after the Olympics are over, Jay Leno will resume his previous job as host of The Tonight Show in it's customary time slot.  While Leno had better ratings than Conan ever achieved, popular support in the current fight has been mostly behind the Irish red head.

      The Tonight Show, no matter who is hosting, airs on NBC at 11:35pm Monday through Friday.

2010 Golden Globes results

     Ricky Gervais (the British version of The Office, Extras) hosted the 67th Golden Globes, the first host in fifteen years for the ceremony, and to no one's surprise, knocked it out of the park.  He started strong with an opening monologue mocking Steve Carell, NBC, Jay Leno, and cosmetic surgery, praising actors like Hugh Laurie (House) and Kiefer Sutherland (24), and pushing his Office DVDs.  The only sad part of Gervais's performance was how short it was.  Not allowing him more screen time was what hurt the Globes the worst.  Sir Paul McCartney wins for second funniest man of the night, when he said that cartoons aren't just for kids any more, but also "drug-taking adults".

     Some of the awards went to exactly who they should have gone to.  Glee won Best Musical or Comedy series, and hands down, it was the front runner.  The brilliant freshman show proves that geeks are definitely in vogue, and winners to boot!  Drew Barrymore, while having an unnecessarily long speech, came off sweet and sincere for her win portraying Little Edie in Grey Gardens.  Having finally seen the performance a few days ago, it was well deserved.  The series itself won, as I predicted it would.  Toni Collette certainly deserved an award, though I did not recommend her in my original picks. This was because I hadn't yet seen the show, but now I have, and I was blown away. My problem was which one she was given - Best Actress in a Comedy. United States of Tara is much more drama than comedy, but she is amazing in it, so I will overlook the gaff.

     Others were mistakes, at least in this reviewer's opinion.  Why, oh why, does Mad Men keep winning best series?  I tried to watch it.  I stuck with it for seven episodes.  It was incredibly boring.  Guess it's time to give it another chance, since it even beat True Blood.  And while I dearly love Alec Baldwin's performance in 30 Rock, there are other deserving actors.  He shouldn't keep getting the awards year after year.  I haven't yet seen Big Love so I shouldn't jump all over Chloe Sevigny taking the best supporting actress awards, but Jane Lynch is just so perfect in Glee that I can't help it!  Maybe supporting actor and actress need to split into Drama and Comedy categories like the other awards.  Next year, Jane Lynch!

     Other television winners included Michael C. Hall (Dexter) for Best Actor in a Drama, Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife) for Best Actress in a Drama, Kevin Bacon (Taking Chance) for Best Actor in a Miniseries, and John Lithgow (Dexter) for Best Supporting Actor in a Miniseries.

     On a slightly more sober note, many of the stars wore red ribbons to the event in support of the tragedy in Haiti.  People all across the country, and the world, have contributed to relief efforts.  Even in Lexington, there is something you can do.  The easiest thing is just to give money.  To donate, please visit www.redcross.org or text 'Haiti' to 90999 for ten dollars to be added to your cell phone bill.

Leno Loses in Primetime

    For months now, the chronically unfunny (in my opinion) Jay Leno has hosted The Jay Leno Show five nights a week on NBC.  What is unusual about this late night talk show is that it airs in primetime.  NBC decided this year to give up ten o'clock five nights a week as a 'bold experiment', and it has failed big time.  Not for NBC, the network insists, as Leno is performing as expected.  Plus it costs them very little to make his show, versus five other, bigger budget programs.  The problem is the affiliates.

     NBC doesn't own most of the local NBC stations.  Affiliates began complaining that Leno was losing them viewers for their eleven o'clock newscasts.  This is very bad because advertisers pay top dollar to run spots during the news, and lower ratings mean less money.  The local affiliates count on that money to stay afloat.  Some threatened to pull Leno off the air, even before the show premiered, and in return NBC threatened to stop allowing them to air any NBC shows.  Things seemed to have settled once Leno began airing in the fall, but when November sweeps came back, the unrest returned.  NBC has backed down and agreed that on February 12th Leno will be leaving ten o'clock.

     The problem posed is that Leno still works for NBC and they have no desire to get rid of him.  However, Conan O'Brien is under contract to host The Tonight Show, and Leno cannot take it back.  Currently, NBC would like to air a shortened Leno from 11:35-12:05, bump The Tonight Show back to 12:05-1:05, and by extension, move Late Night With Jimmy Fallon back to begin at 2:05.  This would leave Last Call With Carson Daly out, as two a.m. belongs to the affiliates, though NBC has pledged to keep him at the network.  Currently, none of this moving around is finalized, other than Leno leaving primetime, but all involved parties are in talks to make it happen.

     So what would air at ten p.m.?  Suddenly NBC has five more hours to fill.  Top on the list are new episodes of Friday Night Lights, which has aired on satellite already, but NBC is allowed to begin airing as of March 1st, and had planned on bringing back soon anyway.  Also likely is the USA-aired Law & Order: Criminal Intent, an expanded Dateline, and another reality show or two.  Nothing is set in stone, and NBC could end up airing other shows from it's networks, including Bravo, USA, or even SyFy.

     What exactly will happen remains to be seen, but NBC is hoping it will all be worked out by February 12th.  This could shape up to be one heck of a battle, or a huge disappointment.