"Louie" Season Finale on FX tonight @ 10:30

It's not easy for television shows to gain momentum year after year, but this has been the best season of "Louie" so far.  Besides the plethora of guest spots this season (Parker Posey's performance being the most interesting of them), we also saw a shift in the format of the show.  Instead of easing viewers into the show's subject or tone with stand-up bits like the first two seasons, sometimes we are thrown right into it (as in Season 3, Ep. 5: "Barney/Never" which begins in black and white, no less) and left to figure out what's happening.  It probably means Louis C.K. has become a more confident director/producer, but it also means he can write the hell out of an episode and he doesn't have to rely on the usual structural elements that have worked before in the previous seasons in crafting future episodes.  Tonally, this season could be described as having a bit more of a serious edge to it than the first two, but I don't think the producers of the show are interested in making what could easily be hammered into a one-dimensional sitcom--here's a middle-aged stand-up comedian who is also a divorced single-parent with two daughters who tries his hand at dating while trying to be a good father--add an annoying neighbor and cue the laugh-track.  Because what makes "Louie" funny does not even have that much to do with any contrived situations that Louie finds himself in as the protagonist, which is what most sitcoms are based on.  What makes the show funny is the understanding that despite the unfunny shit that happens to us (the serious, mundane adult stuff), there is still something funny to be derived from our pathetic, ironic, cowardly, childish, knee-jerk , or just plain dumb reactions to them (ex. S3 Ep 7- Louie's dread of visiting his father.)  Some people call it black comedy, but that describes about 75% of real life.  Okay, maybe just my life.

                                                        Louis C.K. wins two Emmy's.  Aids!