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''Californication'' is a [[Showtime]] [[Dramedy]] starring [[Agent Mulder|David Duchovny]] and [[Natascha McElhone]].
 
Duchovny plays Hank Moody, [[Anti -Hero|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. [[No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup|One of two copies is stolen when his car is jacked.]] [[The Vamp|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 [[Los Angeles|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 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." [[Lost|Maggie Grace]] will play a Catholic school girl in the new season, and [[Twenty Four|Sarah Wynter]] will play the wife to [[Tim Minchin|Atticus Fetch]], a music producer for the musical.
 
Not to be confused with the [[Red Hot Chili Peppers]] album of the [[NamesName's the Same|same name]].
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=== ''Californication'' provides examples of: ===
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* [[Casting Couch]]: Lizzie's favourite tactic, to Charlie's misery.
* [[Catch Phrase]] : Hank's 'Matharfakaaaa' in a falsetto voice.
** [[The Name Is Bond, James Bond|Collini,]] [[Rule of Cool|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 [[Sex, Drugs and Rock And Roll|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 [[Mad Artist|MadArtists]]; Eddie Nero and Samurai Apocalypse among others.
* [[Comic Sutra]]: Sue Collini knows [[Really Gets Around|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. [[Caught With Your Pants Down|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. {{spoiler|Hank being outed as an [[WhosWho's Your Daddy?|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 [[Facial Dialogue|look puzzled at each other]] and an opportune phone call prompts them to leave.
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* [[Gratuitous Spanish]]: Hank loves this trope and uses it quite amusingly.
* [[Hollywood Law]]: When a cop arrests Hank in Season 2, [[Jerkass|he completely insults Hank]] for screwing up with Karen instead of [[Miranda Rights|just reading him his rights.]] When Hank retaliates, the officer [[Groin Attack|gets him in his sweet spot.]] It doesn't help that Hank's just had a vasectomy, but [[Balls of Steel|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, [[Screw the Rules, I Have Money|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.
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** Hank and Mia, who later names ''her'' book as [[Exactly What It Says On the Tin|''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 [[Screw This, I'm Outta Here|gets the hell out of there.]]
* [[In Love With the Gangsters Girl]]: Hank and Kali. [[Murder the Hypotenuse|Samurai does not take this lightly.]]
** Samurai forgives him soon enough, especially after Kali professes her love for him.
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* [[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 [[Ill Take That As a Compliment|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 Father Like Son|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 [[Jerkass|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 [[Wacky Marriage Proposal|all in under five minutes.]] [[Your Cheating Heart|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.
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** It earned him the [[Academy Award]].
* [[Most Writers Are Writers]]: Hank and others. Philandering aside, Hollywood and literature are two of the main subjects.
* [[NamesName'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, [[Naked People Are Funny|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]]: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiaA9oooK1U The opening scene of Californication.]
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** 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.
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* [[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. [[Exactly What It Says On the Tin|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, [[Fridge Logic|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 [[Sex, Drugs and Rock And Roll|guy who has probably banged thousands of women in his lifetime.]]
* [[Taking the Heat]]: Richard spends a wild night with [[Drea De Matteo|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. {{spoiler|They end up falling for each other.}}
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* [[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 [[You Can't Fight Fate|there are consequences for his actions]] and [[Backhanded Apology|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 [[Parental Neglect|saying he never read any of Hank's books]] and never changes his ways. Hank [[Calling the Old Man Out|proceeds to blame it all on his father]] and tries to do everything differently from his father, including [[Cheaters Never Prosper|never cheating on Karen]] and being [[Lonely At the Top|completely self-centered]] from his newfound fame. [[Like Father Like Son|It backfires.]]
** In reality, {{spoiler|Hank's father read every single one of his son's books. [[Awkward Father Son Bonding Activity|He never could face his son]] when Hank paints [[Freudian Excuse|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?" {{spoiler|-Bill}}
* [[What Happened to The Mouse?]]: Damien. Anyone see him since he derailed the entire last season over his declaration of love?
* [[Writers 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 [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGz6NdLBF2Y rant about internet-speak]
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