I don’t watch much TV nowadays; I’m definitely more of a Movie/DVD Box Set kinda guy. Partly it’s because I spent a ridiculous amount of my childhood mainlining on cheesy action-adventure American imports. This may have left me with an encyclopaedic knowledge of The Six Million Dollar Man, Airwolf and Manimal, but it’s done little to improve my overall quality of life. Nowadays I prefer to do other things and make up for all that time spent suckling on the glass teat.
The other main reason why I avoid TV is because I can’t stand watching soaps, sports, reality shows, property porn or anything with a phone-in vote and/or the word “Celebrity” in its title. The TV schedules weren’t designed for people like me.
But last night I watched the show Californication for the first time and was pleasantly surprised. In case you don’t know, this is the new was a raunchcom that ran between 2007 – 2014, in which David Duchovny played Hank Moody, a highly-sexed and highly-troubled novelist who moves to Los Angeles. Despite not being an fan of the X-Files, I’ve always quite liked Old Blank Face and loved his oddball roles and cameos in Twin Peaks, Zoolander and especially The Larry Sanders Show. I thought I’d give it a try.
Anyhow, I was working on my laptop while the show was on in the background when something made me sit up and pay attention. Duchovny’s character was shopping in a convenience store and charming the hotpants off a scantily-clad surfer girl when he told her: “Life’ll kill ya.”
Hmm – thought I – that’s the title of a bloody marvellous Warren Zevon song and album. I’m a big fan of Warren Zevon – in fact, I’m rather evangelical about his work – so maybe the writers of the show are too. Or maybe they’re not. Maybe I’m just projecting my Zevon obsession onto their work. Who knows? And – more importantly – since when did blurting-out a Zevon song title work as an efficient chat-up strategy? I’ve got loads of his albums and can be a cocky sunovabitch at times, but I wouldn’t dream of approaching a member of the opposite sex and saying to her “Werewolves of London“, “Mr Bad Example” or “Excitable Boy“. It’s weird, freaky and inappropriate behaviour, even in LA. Granted, “Carmelita” might just work, but only if you were absolutely certain that her name was Carmelita.
This internal monologue was promptly settled when, later in the episode, Hank and his ex-girlfriend Karen
[Natascha McElhone] went to see a performance by their daughter and her band. What song do they play? A cover of Zevon’s haunting “Don’t Let Us Get Sick” [the final track on his Life’ll Kill Ya album]. There was a different cover of the same song later in the episode, just in case you missed it the first time around.
Apparently, the series is full of Zevon references. I found this on Wikipedia:
The show frequently references the work of musician Warren Zevon. When doing a crossword puzzle, Hank was stuck on a question for which the clue was “5 letter word for excitable boy”; the answer is Zevon. Excitable Boy is the name of one of Zevon’s most popular albums. In the episode “Absinthe Makes the Heart Grow Fonder”, Hank tells the surfer girl he meets at the store “Life’ll kill ya,” — the name of a Zevon song and album. In the same episode, Becca’s band plays “Don’t Let Us Get Sick” and later in the episode a cover of the song is played as well. And in “California Son”, the episode opens with “Mohammed’s Radio”. In “The Devil’s Threesome”, Hank tells Charlie “Your shit’s fucked up.” Charlie answers rhetorically “My shit’s fucked up?” The latter is the name of a Zevon song. In the episode “The Last Waltz”, a cover of Zevon’s song “Reconsider Me” by Steve Earle and Reckless Kelly can be heard.
The show features loads of sharp, snappy dialogue. I particularly liked the line where Duchovny’s character is described as an “Analogue guy in a digital world.” I might be paraphrasing, but that won’t stop me from using it at the earliest opportunity.
So there you have it. If you like Warren Zevon, you’ll probably like Californication. If you like sharp dialogue, you’ll probably dig it as well.
Oh, and I forgot to mention: if you like raunchy sex, there’s plenty of that, too…
Great try and amazing kudos to you Mr. Lennon. But the entire show is a tribute to Mr. Zevon. Not just the excitable boy that he was, but as the player, realist, dreamer and troubled human he was—indeed as not played in the series, Zevon even foreshadowed his demise or re-rise in his Back in in the Highlife again. Hank, like, Zevon was so troubled with earthly chaos and frustrations leading to unfortunate bouts with drugs and drinking, etc., that Hank failed to fit in with his great steadiness to his own North Star. Zevon trodded that ground first and Hank Moody merely came to life as Zevon had years before. The covers to Zevon’s works gives it away and shows the great respect he truly deserves. Unfortunately, Zevon said it best to predict the outcome that took him too soon: life killed him.