Louie: Season 2

I struggle with how to react to Louie and form an overall opinion of the show. It is ostensibly a comedy, half an hour in length and created by a comedian, but it isn't really that funny. That's not meant to be a criticism, though; I'm not even sure if Louis C.K. intends for the show to be very funny sometimes. I've seen three seasons of the show now, and each has been less funny than the last, but also artsier and more provocative. There are funny moments in the second season of Louie. Hell, there are downright hilarious moments. But there are also lengthy chunks of episodes where nothing funny happens. Each episode is only about twenty minutes long after you account for the opening and the end credits, and usually three to five minutes of each episode consists of Louis C.K. doing standup comedy routines. That leaves about fifteen minutes for actual plot, often to be divided into more than one skit or segment. What I'm getting at is that there's precious little time in each episode already, and Louis C.K. fills a lot of it with, well, filler. Artistic filler, usually - nice shots and interesting brief montages set to lovely music - but filler nonetheless. Hell, in one episode, Louie sang the entirety of "Who Are You" in the car. Funny at first, but not really for thirty seconds, let alone the length of the song. And then there are the episodes that aren't really funny at all, but were among the best of the season. There's one, for instance, where Louie's sister dumps her daughter on him for the weekend and he just kind of struggles to connect with her/ There's scarcely a joke in the episode, but it resonates emotionally better than most other stuff on TV in an hour-long format. In a very memorable hour-long episode, Louie travels to Afghanistan with a country singer and a couple of cheerleaders to entertain the troops. Again, very few jokes in that one, aside from the ones Louie tells the troops during his standup routines, but it's a very powerful episode for other reasons. When I use phrases like "transcends its format" or "more art than comedy" it probably sounds like I'm being pretentious, or at least commending the show for doing so. That's not the case, though. Honestly, I think Louie is at least a little bit overrated by fans and critics alike. Just because it's doing stuff unlike anything else on TV doesn't automatically make it incredible television. In my mind, it isn't even close to being the best show on TV, an honor several other people have bestowed upon it these last few years. But it is good. And I do enjoy watching it. And sometimes, I guess that's all that matters.