Californication

Californication is a Showtime Dramedy starring David Duchovny and Natascha McElhone.

Duchovny plays Hank Moody, a ladies' man and occasional novelist who likes his booze and pot a bit too much. 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. In series two, the happy couple get back together until 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 teacher. In season four, "Fucking and Punching" is revealed to be in fact Hank's book (and therefore reveals he slept with Mia), but he narrowly avoids a statutory rape charge. Season five picks up three years later, where Hank is working for a gangster named Samurai Apocalypse.

Season six is currently^[when?] in production for 2013. The newest season will take place in New York, where Hank's book, "God Hates Us All," will be turned into a musical called "A Crazy Little Thing Called Love." Maggie Grace will play a Catholic school girl in the new season, and Sarah Wynter will play the wife to Atticus Fetch, a music producer for the musical.

Not to be confused with the Red Hot Chili Peppers album of the same name.

Tropes used in Californication include:

• Actor Allusion:
  • 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.
• All Women Are Lustful: And Hank has trouble saying no.
• Amicable Exes: Hank and Karen, for the most part.
  • Marcy and Charlie, to an extent, after her son is revealed to be Charlie's, and Charlie (literally) takes a bullet for Hank.
• As Himself: Rick Springfield, in season 3.
  • He made fun of his own character, claiming he plays "a twisted version of himself," a "Rick Springfield of the past," according to The Other Wiki.
• 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.
• Bigger Is Better in Bed: Marcy's new boyfriend, Stu Beggs (Stephen Tobolowsky) looks very similar to Charlie at first, but then it's revealed that their main difference is not visible when clothed.
  • 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.
• Butt Monkey: Charlie, played for laughs.
• The Casanova: Hank. Sometimes overlaps with Chick Magnet
• Casting Couch: Lizzie's favourite tactic, to Charlie's misery.
• Catch Phrase : Hank's 'Matharfakaaaa' in a falsetto voice.
  • Collini, out.
• Catholic School Girls Rule: Mia attends one, where nearly every girl is Jail Bait. Becca later attends the same school, much to Hank's chagrin.
  • Maggie Grace from Lost is setting her sights to play one in the next season. Ironically, she's very spiritual.
• Cloudcuckoolander: It's Hollywood so expect many bizarre individuals and MadArtists; Eddie Nero and Samurai Apocalypse among others.
• Comic Sutra: Sue Collini knows way more than she lets on. Charlie has trouble saying no.
• Cluster F-Bomb: Lew, most prominently.
• A Date with Rosie Palms: Charlie Runkle is jerking off in his office. Constantly. Doesn't he know there are cameras everywhere?
• 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 completely getting chewed out by his ex are just some of the notable examples.
• Dawson Casting: 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.
  • Averted with Madeleine Martin(Becca), notable given this show is NOT kid friendly
• Deadpan Snarker: Hank.
• Deceptive Disciple: Mia
• Destructo-Nookie: Madeline Zima 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.
• Did You Just Have Sex?: Karen can smell it.
• 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!

• 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."
• Everybody Has Lots of Sex: Especially Hank.
• Fan Service: There is a spectacular amount of nudity in this series, with each season sporting about fifteen to twenty different nude scenes.
• Fille Fatale: Mia
• 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.
• Follow the Leader:
  • Vaginatown, an artsy porn version of Chinatown.
  • Samurai's movie Santa Monica Cop, a ripoff of Beverly Hills Cop.
• Gratuitous Spanish: Hank loves this trope and uses it quite amusingly.
• Hollywood Law: When a cop arrests Hank in Season 2, he completely insults Hank for screwing up with Karen instead of just reading him his rights. When Hank retaliates, the officer gets him in his sweet spot. It doesn't help that Hank's just had a vasectomy, but he recovers soon.
  • 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.
• Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Played straight often.
  • 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.
  • Charlie falls in love with Daisy, despite the fact that she's much younger than him, he's her agent, he was married at the time, she's a porn star, and... well, you get the idea.
  • Jackie is told to be a great writer by Hank, who gets her to quit her job as a stripper. She responds by proposing to him.
• Horrible Hollywood
• Hot for Student: Hank becomes a teacher in season three. You can imagine how that turns out.
  • Richard Bates to Karen, before she met Hank.
• Interplay of Sex and Violence:
  • Hank and Mia, who later names her book as Fucking and punching
  • 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.
• In Love With the Gangsters Girl: Hank and Kali. Samurai does not take this lightly.
  • Samurai forgives him soon enough, especially after Kali professes her love for him.
• Interrupted Intimacy: Charlie has a tendency to be caught by Marcy at inappropriate times.

Marcy: Charlie, are you inside that woman?

• Jail Bait: Mia, and she really cashes in on the jail ramifications.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Hank really loves his daughter. And Karen, too.
• 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.
• Like Mother Like Daughter: At the end of season 5, Becca looks like she'll go down the same road as Karen, as she has fallen in love with Tyler.
  • Becca uses this to justify her getting high, claiming that it runs in her genes.
• Little Miss Snarker: Becca.
• 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.
• Marry Them All: Hank is proposed to by Felicia, Jill, and Jackie all in under five minutes. While he's in a relationship with Karen. Hilarity Ensues.
• Meaningful Name: Eddie Nero has a voracious appetite for... How shall we put this, "deviant" sexual acts. Deviant sexuality is long tied to corrupt morality, which is in turn tied to corrupt societies. Nero was a Roman emperor notorious for his debauched behaviour, and presided over a city that was equally notorious for this too.
• Method Acting: Crazy Awesome Eddie Nero, OMG Eddie Nero! This is him preparing for a gay HIV plus role:

{{quote| 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, gifted me on the inside.

• • It earned him the Academy Award.
• 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 has not gone to trial as of late, however.
• Nipple-and-Dimed: Most women appear topless.
  • Averted with Karen and Marcy, however.
• No Nudity Taboo: Bates. At least, while he's drunk.
• No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup: Hank's new novel. One of the drawbacks of writing it on a typewriter.
  • Although he is seen to generally use typewriters less and less throughout the series.
• Naughty Nuns: The opening scene of Californication.
  • Subverted when we realize that the whole thing was Hank's dream.
• 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.
• Precision F-Strike: Becca.
• Really Seventeen Years Old: Mia, of course, doesn't reveal her true age until after she has seduced Hank.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Charlie and Hank, respectively.
  • Subversion. Hank appears more traditionally manly, but it's often commented that he's "a lover not a fighter", and he demonstrates the capacity to understand emotional nuances much more than Charlie. Justified too, a writer would feasibly need to understand human emotions well.
    • Charlie is still very sensitive to human emotions. Even in Season 2 and Season 3 when he was tumbling down a slope, he managed to sign a couple of clients by sweet-talking his way into deals. It's feasible that during his 20 golden years, he was one of the best agents of his time.
• Screwball Comedy: Many crazy situations spiral into it, specially in Season 3 around Dean Koons' uptight family.
• Shout-Out: Two in the episode "The Trial"
  • Hank donning a suit and remarking that he looks like "a fucking FBI agent".
  • In a flashback, Mia meets Hank while wearing heart shaped sunglasses.
  • Rob Lowe's character looks suspiciously similar to Brad Pitt
• Slipping a Mickey: Hank is a victim of this in the Season 5 finale
• So Bad It's Horrible: Hank feelings about the Samurai Apocalypse movie he gets trapped in. A view shared by the main actress who gives him a blowjob as a reward for some quick good lines added to her role. It does Hank little good; the film crew shows up and Samurai punishes him with a High Altitude Interrogation.
• Spank the Cutie: Charlie Runkle gets to do this to his secretary, to both their pleasure.
• Speed Sex: Charlie is haunted most of the time by it, given his usual performance. He seems to be improving in Season 5, which is fitting because Evan Handler seems to have lost weight for his role.
• Stop Helping Me!: Samurai Apocalypse's unsolicited actions againts Becca's boyfriend put Hank into a world of mess.
• STD Immunity: 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 in Season 2. Hank is suspected to have syphilis, and Karen chides him and his sexual lifestyle. However, Karen has just had sex with Hank, and she never thinks that he may have given the disease to her as well.
  • 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.
• Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: Honestly, Hank really is a Jerkass.
  • Hank isn't unsympathetic, it's just that there are many times where he doesn't believe that there are consequences for his actions and he doesn't always realize that sorry isn't enough.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: All Hank really wanted from his dad was that his dad should appreciate his fame as a great writer and be a good parental figure. His father responds by saying he never read any of Hank's books and never changes his ways. Hank proceeds to blame it all on his father and tries to do everything differently from his father, including never cheating on Karen and being completely self-centered from his newfound fame. It backfires.
  • In reality, Hank's father read every single one of his son's books. He never could face his son when Hank paints all of his fictional fathers in a bad light.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: Becca
  • Also Mia.. in some ways
• Wham! Line: "How would you feel if I had slept with Becca?" -Bill
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Damien. Anyone see him since he derailed the entire last season over his declaration of love?
• 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.
• You Just Told Me: The way Marcy tricks Charlie to reveal the relation between Stu and Lizzie.
• You Make Me Sic: Hank's rant about internet-speak
• Zero-Approval Gambit: Mia's agent tries to make this deal with Hank. Hank is to admit that he slept with Mia so a scandal of epic proportions can occur (and thus her agent could cash in on the subsequent publicity), and Hank can get his book back.
  • Hank violently refuses, to avoid hurting his family.
    • Mia's agent tells the press anyways, so it wasn't like Hank had a choice.