With a name like “Californication”, you have to expect the series will contain a lot of sex, and so it does. So what, there’s a lot of sex on TV these days; look at The L Word or Queer as Folk, both of which portrayed numerous playful romps in the bedroom.

In contrast, the sex in Californication is mostly sad, or desperate, or mean. In some sense this makes the series a more effective drama. It starts out just a little bit titillating, but soon you realize the characters are horribly lonely, living shallow, meaningless lives. At least, that sure is the way it looked to me.

Despite that, there are drops of humor here and there which help to lighten the mood. And the way the characters are portrayed (written and acted) is much better than in your typical prime time soap opera. Their personalities are pretty consistent and complex (in contrast with their shallow and meaningless lives). This makes me curious to see if the quality continues into the second season.

The plot itself is not really my cup of tea: it’s about a writer (boring!) living in LA (more boring!) feeling sorry for himself (again!), and his pathetic attempts to regain the love of his life, with whom he has a tweener daughter. All very yawnsome, if it weren’t so well done.