Louie (Louis C.K.'s show on FX)

I always get beat up for saying that the show has taken a wrong turn, but after the 1st three episodes I can't see it any other way. It's like he's been reading his raves too much and now considers himself a humanist artiste. The things that made the show so great before--where he translates bits into acted out situations, like when the young woman comes on to him saying she is turned on by the smell of death--are all but gone. Also, the subtle self-aggrandizement beneath his schmielhood is getting worse (I think a critic termed it his "victimhood"). I'd love to hear from people who think these three episodes are up there with the best.

the 4th episode last night was pretty good imo. i've always been kind of on the fence about the show but i think it's been fine this season -- early episodes full of dramatizations of standup bits were not that great imo.

3 >> 4 >>> 2 >>>>> 1 of this season.

it's abt the same as it's always been in my eyes, there might be less plot/story than ever this season & ppl may be a bit confounded

yeah seems like we are being set up for some sort of continuity

funniest episode of this season, I'd say

that's damning it with faint praise, Darin

To you

I found this last one really...sweet, actually. Weirdly. Of course that may fall apart next week.

nah, happily ever after for sure

Iago's otm here. CK is believing his own hype.

I was pleased with last night's episode though. First good one of the season. I actually laughed at the joke where he's having sex with Parker Posey and - because it's a bookstore - books are flying all over the place. First time I've laughed at this season.

I think I laughed harder at the car-crushing sequence in ep 1 harder than anything else this year.

totally don't get this perceived drop in quality that everyone is talking about. the chuckle factor might have dipped a bit, but I'm ok with that

are any of the people mad at this show for not being funny appreciating it dramatically/on other levels, or is it just a wasted half hour for y'all? the appeal of the last few hasn't been in their humour, so much - though they're so behaviourally funny, to me - but in being astute and novel takes on relationships, for seeming on the money. "reading his own raves" is a skewed stab at biography imo - he's just pushing the show in different directions, & this season is at a tangent from where it went before.

last night's was good, btw; did anyone wanna throw out any thoughts about the first half? i thought it was in p strange territory w/louie checking out the teachers & those lapses into fantasy.

Not totally strange; last season he had the weird reverie about cleaning the liquid on the subway seat up

ha, i more meant - i mean it took me back to that weird ep in season one where he has the crush on the checkout girl. it's just so inside louie's head, & the gulf between the slight encounters he's having & the intense interior visions he sustains is kinda jarring, i think; not bad dramatically, just weird territory in being so internal - there's something solipsistic about the fleeting awareness of the women, the teachers, & the kinder stranger effect they have on Louie

Episode 3 was one of my favorites of the series, because it so different atmospherically from anything else he's done. I liked that it wasn't afraid to just be what it was, and didn't try to punctuate every poignant moment with a laugh like a lot of comedies do. My favorite Louie episodes feel like they were inspired by daydreams - the kind of what-ifs that everyone probably has when they are spacing out on a commuter train or whatever. They are more impressions than proper stories, and because Louis C.K. is a pretty thoughtful and interesting guy, it's fun to watch. Attach too much importance or too of high expectations on a show like this, and you may miss what makes it magical.

I think the subtle self-aggrandizement beneath his schlemiel-hood thing is a legit gripe about the Louis C.K. persona, but I also think it is way toned down (so far) this season. I haven't really sensed it at all, really. I find that the "reading too many of his/her own reviews" thing is mostly a projection onto the artist by a fan whose perception of the artist's work has been tainted by their own reading of too many reviews. I mean how could anyone possibly sense that without knowing him personally? The dude has a restless imagination, hates repeating himself, loves Woody Allen films, and isn't afraid of failure.

I detected a very subtle yet continuous shift in Louie's character from the beginning to make him nicer, and take the sharp edges off--it wasn't triggered by reading the reviews. it goes hand in hand with cleaning up his apartment, making it tonier, etc....it's just in the nature of taking the show to the next level of popularity. but to me it's losing what made it special

well, there's only so many episodes one can do centered around suicide, war and decapitation. maybe a slight tonal shift is OK

I'd say that tonal shift has been happening in a pretty-much-parallel way in his standup. Maybe he's just, y'know, growing up?

y'all are acting like this season didn't open with him talking about getting a dead puerto rican athlete's dick grafted onto his thigh

That's cute, growing up....nothing to do with selling ad time, who companies like to advertise to, etc....

Right. Which is why he's extended that slightly nicer persona to...an ad-free special he sold on his website.

I find it much easier to believe that he's just changed over time as a person than that he's meticulously altering the material in his show that costs next to no money to make.

I detected a very subtle yet continuous shift in Louie's character from the beginning to make him nicer, and take the sharp edges off--it wasn't triggered by reading the reviews. it goes hand in hand with cleaning up his apartment, making it tonier, etc....it's just in the nature of taking the show to the next level of popularity. but to me it's losing what made it special

― Iago Galdston, Friday, July 20, 2012 6:27 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

thread officially psycho

what's so weird about that? noticing how the style of the show has developed? Jeez, sorry...

are any of the people mad at this show for not being funny appreciating it dramatically/on other levels, or is it just a wasted half hour for y'all?

sometimes. i didn't laugh a ton about the smashed car window ep, but i thought it was provocative. the last episode (the miami one) i thought was unfunny and dramatically superficial. that was a wasted half hour for me. this most recent one i enjoyed.

i thought the miami one was amazing. can see how it would be totally polarizing tho. this one was v. hit and miss to me, but felt like a "typical" louie episode in a way i think the show needs. not every episode can or should be all over the place. he needs the more straightforward observational ones to sort of iterate around.

miami one was my favorite so far this season

Yeah, the Miami one was fantastic.

I was watching last night's and thinking "ooh, who's that hot bookstore girl" intitally...until it became clear that it was Parker Posey and I lost interest immediately.

The asking her out scene was cute, though. And the fist pump.

Posey's still got it

Bookstore's in my old neighborhood, ay

posey was really good! the dynamic of her being the woman-in-the-bookstore & louie having to confront the gulf he was jumping in asking her out was great.

i wondered which book store that was, i didn't recognise it?

haven't seen s3e4 yet.

i watched a few eps from the 1st season a couple of days ago. and yeah, fuck this season. so far.

that was a wasted half hour for me. this most recent one i enjoyed.
--Mordy

If you guys honestly think this way then I think you have an inflated view of television's intended function

what do you mean? how it enjoying/not enjoying a show not the most basic level of television's intended function?

The first sentence, Mordius

It was dumb and boring aka waste zzzz

Can't believe you WASTED a half hour looking at a box whose entire existence is predicated on helping us waste time

Can't believe this glorified conduit for Axe Body Spray advertisements didn't improve the quality my life in the 30 minutes of my life I actively and willfully surrendered to it

What's the beef?

whether shows on tv can be a waste of time given that the device was invented for timewasting. also does this create dimensional wormholes y/n etc zzz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qql0Yi4DxU

"Can't believe you WASTED a half hour looking at a box whose entire existence is predicated on helping us waste time"

oh, that's what is bugging u? this seems like a very minor concern.

y'know Whiney, some people tend to want to enjoy the things they watch on TV

ok caught the Parker Posey ep and really enjoyed. suck it, me of two days ago.

worst use of time travel ever

will kill hitler next time.

yeah I thought the Parker Posey interactions were p cute. And I loved Bamford's grudging hookups with Louie.

ok THAT was an awesome episode. were the last two minutes a stardust memories reference?

Manic Posey Dream Girl