Californication is a Showtimedramedy created by Tom Kapinos and starring DavidDuchovny, Natascha McElhone and Evan Handler.Duchovny plays Hank Moody, a ladies' man and occasional novelist who likes his booze and pot a bit too much. When he is first introduced in the first season, his life has slowly fallen apart as his significant other Karen leaves him and he fails to produce any kind of written work. After accidentally sleeping with Mia, the underaged daughter of Karen's new fiancé, he proceeds to write his new novel, "Fucking and Punching" (something akin to a present-day Lolita) about the affair. One of two copies is stolen when his car is jacked.The other copy is stolen by his underage lover, who is seeking to carve out a niche as writer for herself; she knows that Hank cannot claim his book back because doing so would require him to admit sleeping with her. In the final episode of the season, nevertheless, Karen and Hank get back together, as Marcy and Charlie's marriage becomes more and more dysfunctional.In series two, the couple undergo tumult after Hank discovers he may have accidentally fathered a child prior to his vasectomy. Hank ends up writing the biography for the troubled producer Lew Ashby, who dies of a drug overdose in the penultimate episode just as it seems as though his life is turning back around. Charlie becomes the agent for a pornstar named Daisy; after getting into a relationship with her, Charlie subsequently divorces Marcy. Hank publishes the biography before falling back into favor with Karen; this is cut short as Karen starts a job in New York, leaving Hank back in abhorred Los Angeles with his daughter Becca, who has taken a liking to the city of angels.During series three, Hank deals with Becca's puberty and his new job as a professor in a college after inadvertently causing Richard Bates, a renowned professor, to revert to alcoholism. Shenanigans ensue when Hank sleeps with his TA, his student who moonlights as a stripper, and the Dean's wife, though this eventually blows over. In the finale, Mia's producer reveals Hank's indiscretion with Mia to the public after Hank refuses to reveal it himself, and Hank once again falls out of favor with his beloved.In season four, "Fucking and Punching" is revealed to be in fact Hank's book (and therefore reveals he slept with Mia), and the season centers on Hank's subsequent trial. Meanwhile, Hank has to deal with his book becoming a movie in the midst of rape charges being brought upon him. Thankfully, Hank is sentenced to three years' probation instead of being branded as a rapist, while Marcy realizes that Charlie fathered her child. However, Karen and Hank part ways in the finale when Hank moves to New York while Karen, this time, looks after Becca in Los Angeles.Season five picks up three years later, where Hank works for a gangster named Samurai Apocalypse, and gets into hot water after he sleeps with the gangster's girlfriend. Hank must cope with his daughter dating a Jerk Ass much like himself. Karen has married Richard Bates, her former college professor; Marcy gets married to millionaire director Stu Beggs, who had previously directed "Fucking and Punching". Charlie must cope with his ex-wife getting married to a director and being the father of their child. In the finale, Marcy divorces her husband, Hank finishes Samurai's script (after Charlie takes a bullet for him from the angry gangbanger), and Bates accepts his homosexuality and divorces Karen.Series six begins with Hank getting admitted into rehab and meeting Faith, a band groupie who toured with legendary rockstar Atticus Fetch; Fetch wants to make a rock opera from Hank's book, "God Hates Us All", much to Hank's chagrin. Faith bonds with Hank and their relationship becomes very intimate; meanwhile, Charlie and Marcy slowly reconcile and get remarried in the season finale. Hank eventually leaves Faith to follow Karen.The show premiered in 2007, the seventh (and possibly last) season is currently filming and set to air in 2014.Not to be confused with the Red Hot Chili Peppers album of the same name, or with SoCalization, a trope that is often called "Californication" outside this wiki (especially in the western US)note It's usually associated with Southern California-style suburban sprawl, though it's also used to refer to the "big city" attitudes that many Californians bring with them when they move to places like Colorado and Oregon..
During season three, Ken Marino from The State made an appearance. He's best known for his character Louie, The Guy Who Says His Catch Phrase Over and Over Again. After successfully cock-blocking him, Hank tells him to make a cup of tea and "dip his balls in it".
When Hank's lawyer makes him wear a suit for his court hearing, he notes that he "looks like an FBI agent."
Charlie Runkle and Evan Handler are Jewish.
Possibly invoked whenever Duchovny himself checked himself into sex rehab during the filming of season 2.
In the Season 6 opener, Hank tells Karen that she looks "like a Sascha or a Pascha, definitely an -ascha." Karen is played by actress Natascha McElhone.
Hank continually refers to Marcy as "Smurf" (usually "Cokey Smurf"). Pamela Adlon played Kelly on The Factsof Life ; during the episode "Small But Dangerous," Jo refers to Kelly as "Smurf."
Adaptation Decay: In-universe. Hank is so unhappy about the movie adaptation of his book God Hates Us All that he is hostile towards the film director and makes remarks about the time he slept with the man's wife. A brawl and a cell ensue.
Bi the Way: Bates. Everyone is relieved from this revelation, however.
Blackmail: Mia does this to Hank, who can choose between waving his stolen book goodbye or being charged with statutory rape with an outrageous family scandal on top of it.
Hank has a huge penis. And he never is shown to leave a girl unsatisfied.
Breast Attack: Charlie Runkle suffers some serious nipple damage while attempting to have a threeway with his wife and his secretary. This is later referenced during the third season.
Cloud Cuckoo Lander: It's Hollywood so many bizarre individuals and MadArtists appear time and again; Eddie Nero and Samurai Apocalypse are two of the regulars.
Cringe Comedy: Charlie constantly. The season 6 plot of pretending to be gay and the following "Date With Rosie Palms" events arguably the worst. Hank often gets involved in these by association, by ruining the relationships of other people.
Dinner and a Show: Every time Hank is at a dinner party, you can expect something or another to happen. Hank being outed as an accidental father (though this proves to be false), Marcy admitting the real father of her child, Hank tearing his daughter's boyfriend to shreds, and Hank getting completely chewed out by his ex are just some of the notable examples.
Mia, whose age of 16 is an important plot point, is played by an actress who is in her early 20s, and visibly so. The fact that she looks much older is also an important plot point. It also doesn't help that Madeline Zima is 5'8".
Averted with Madeleine Martin (Becca), notable given this show is NOT kid friendly.
Deadpan Snarker: Hank is incredibly quick and sharp-tongued, he has a poignant and casual remark for every situation. Many are equally witty and offensive.
Destructo Nookie: Mia punches Hank while riding him. In season 4 Sasha Bingham does the same after being goaded into it by Hank, after she asked him how hard Mia punched him.
Disposable Vagrant: Eddie Nero muses about going on one of his crazy escapades and invoke the trope. Hank and Charlie look puzzled at each other and an opportune phone call prompts them to leave.
Eddie: I think we should kill someone tonight. I mean like a hobo or something. (ringtone) Hank: Thank God!
Averted with Karen. Still, she is a bit insane to have a 15-year on-and-off relationship with Hank.
Exactly What It Says on the Tin: When Mia tries to publish Hank's manuscript as her own, she describes it as a book "with lots of fucking and punching." "What's the title?" "Fucking and Punching."
Fanservice: There is a spectacular amount of nudity in this series, mostly female, with each season sporting about fifteen to twenty different nude scenes. Seasons of thirteen half-hour episodes here.
Tim Minchin's first introduction to co-star Natascha involved double doors and lots of nekkid.
Flanderization: Charlie goes from a capable agent and helpful friend in season one with a weakness for kinky women to a retarded manchild in season four who will stick his weener in anything with a pulse and actually tells a sex story in court. Seriously, the man has been a very successful agent for twenty years prior to the series, he should know better than that.
Justified with Samurai Apocalypse. Samurai isn't arrested for shooting Charlie in the middle of a freaking movie set, but then again, he's a fucking mobster.
During their first meeting, Trixie actually seems to care for Hank, despite the fact that he has nothing to pay her (and has an ugly confrontation with her pimp). Trixie is even a recurring character, and they form an amiable relationship soon enough.
Recreated later with the actress Sasha, only with Hank encouraging her to hit him ever harder.
I Need a Freaking Drink: Richard Bates takes one look at Hank, one look at a whore he cheated on Karen with, and one look at Karen. He immediately downs a bottle of the nearest alcohol and gets the hell out of there.
Jizzed in My Pants: Charlie Runkle gets off in a strip club during a lap dance at this moment. He tries to present it as a compliment. The stripper doesn't respond so well either way.
Laser-Guided Karma: Whenever Hank sleeps with a woman who isn't Karen, it will bite him in the back. Hard. Even when the resulting mess isn't really Hank's fault. Especially when it isn't Hank's fault.
Luke, I Am Your Father: Charlie to Stuart. Especially after Marcy had been in a relationship with Stu Baggs for a while, and Charlie was supposed to have had a (successful) vasectomy.
Eddie Nero has a voracious appetite for... "deviant" sexual acts. Nero was a Roman Emperor notorious for his debauched behaviour who presided over a city that was equally notorious for this too, and it would get worse. The name also makes an obvious connection with Robert De Niro, with whom he shares the extreme implication with a role.
Eddie: I took a man in my mouth. I played his skin flute like Kenny G, like Kenny G on ecstasy [gargles] And then he gave me his gift, gave it to me on the inside.
This becomes even funnier when, in a later season, it's revealed that the recepient of that blow job was none other than Richard Bates.
Most Writers Are Writers: Hank and others. Philandering aside, Hollywood and literature are two of the main subjects.
Name's the Same: This was grounds for lawsuit by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The case did not reach a courtroom.
Nipple and Dimed: Most women appear topless. Averted with Karen and Marcy.
No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup: Hank's long anticipated novel in the first season. One of the drawbacks of writing it on a typewriter. He gets savvy and starts to use digital media throughout the series.
Oh Crap: A muffled one of epic proportions when Hank discovers that Mia is not only 16 years old, but also the daughter of Karen's fiancé, and to compound it even more, a close friend of Becca's.
Pals With Jesus: Hank is rather casual when speaking to Jesus.
Hank: Hey, big guy! You and me. We've never done this before, but... desperate times call for desperate measures.
Papa Wolf: Hank takes this to varied degrees of overprotectiveness towards Becca. He immediately takes a disliking to every single one of her boyfriends, even if they aren't complete toolbags. And when Becca has her first period, he fights the husband of a woman who took the last pair of tampons in the store.
Plagiarism In Fiction: A major plot arc when the young woman Hank slept with in the first episode is revealed to be Mia, the sixteen-year-old daughter of Hank's ex-wife's new fiancé, who goes on to steal the manuscript for his new book and threaten to reveal that they had sex (which would get him charged with statutory rape) if he tells.
Runaway Bride: Bill's daughter points out Karen still has feelings for Hank, but Karen goes through with the exchange of vows, only to run away with Hank at the after-wedding party.
Screwball Comedy: Many crazy situations spiral into it, specially in Season 3 around Dean Koons' uptight family.
Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Charlie and Hank, respectively. Zigzagged as Hank is manly but not unemotional, and sometimes more empathic than Charlie.
Share the Male Pain: Hank is quite reckless during the recommended cooldown period after he gets a vasectomy.
Slow Clap: Hank in the fourth episode of season 2, after his daughter defends her interest in The Satanic Bible against criticism from Julian, a self-help author whose work she describes as "gobbledygook".
Many characters (especially Hank and Charlie) never think twice about having sex with a prostitute, stripper, or just a random woman they meet at a bar. The show is called Californication after all.
Played With again in the 3rd season. Surprisingly averted with Marcy and Charlie, for they both start taking antibiotics the minute Charlie is suspected to have an STD. They seem pretty STD-conscious... until Marcy starts having sex with a guy who has probably banged thousands of women in his lifetime.
Taking the Heat: Richard spends a wild night with some skank who shows up at his home the next day. A noble Hank sets-up a farce in a pure Screwball Comedy fashion where she is his girlfriend, so Karen won't be unhappy about the infidelity. Hilarity Ensues.
The Sponsor: Bates gets one, Gabriel, to help him quit his alcohol addiction. They end up falling for each other.
The Swear Jar: Hank Moody has this arrangement with his daughter - both ways. She gets most of the money.
Totally Eighteen: Discussed when Hank Moody discovers the attractive socialite that seduced him at a book store (while reading his book no less) is actually 16... and the daughter of his ex-girlfriend's current partner. The mistake is a major plot point for the rest of the series as the girl in question keeps the threat of blackmail pointed at Hank.
Unsettling Gender Reveal: Charlie discovers too late that an affective hooker was not a she. Charlie is the only one not amused.
Hank's upcoming and accidental paternity is one of his main concerns in season 2, but it turns out Hank and "Dalí" are not responsible. Hank celebrates like a hooligan.
The father of Marcy's child is also uncertain for a while.
Writer's Block: Hank is pestered by it at the start of the show and from time to time, but once he is back on track he is so good and witty that he basically has a One-Hour Work Week job.
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