TVSquad

(S0301) - What's with all the parent plotlines on Showtime? First Dexter Morgan becomes a new father, and now Hank Moody on Californication? Granted, it's the perfect penance for a man who has flaunted the consequences of the reproductive act more than the entire British royal family, but it seems eerily similar and way overdone in the world of television.

It does, however, work as an obstacle and a vehicle for conflict for Hank, whose only daughter Becca moves into that awkward living hell on Earth known as "teenagerhood." The opening scene of Hank catching Becca and her new best friend Chelsea stoned out of their gourds pretty much set the tone for some, if not most, of Hank's problems.

How can he tell her to do as he says while still doing what and who he loves most?

Then there's the problem of getting his book sold, which wouldn't be a problem if he didn't have issues of his own and Charlie Runkle as an agent, a man who stands as the evil twin of Entourage's Ari Gold. It's hard to see how anyone can like this man who screwed around on his wife Marcy and lost his old job because he couldn't keep it in his pants, literally. That's probably why the writers gave Charlie such a sleazy and creepy boss Sue Collini, played by Kathleen Turner.

The woman is a walking pervipedia, and every sentence that falls from her jabbering jaw is either a description of a sexual act or an anecdote of a sexual act of her own. She makes a perfect villain or asset for Charlie and company, but every scene of hers just gives me the shakes and not the kind that she's probably thinking about.

And speaking of being creeped out, did the impromptu tuck scene from the author that Hank gets back on the wagon cause your spine to grow hairs just so it would have something to make stand up? Note to self: if anyone ever asks me if they want to see the "pee pee dance," say no. Immediately.

[Watch clips of Californication and other shows at SlashControl.]