I've been hearing rave reviews about Episodes and finally got around to checking it out for myself. So, did the series live up to the hype? Absof*ckinglutely! It's actually a very good and a funny show. In a nutshell, Sean and Beverly have a very successful show in Britain when an American Producer convinces them to do an american version of their hit series. Along the way to getting their new show on the air, the concept and characters go through drastic changes with the final product having nothing to do with the original. This is basically a 'behind the scenes' take on Hollywood. Think along the lines of Ricky Gervais Extra's series from a few years ago.

The biggest draw episodes has going for it, is the return of Matt LeBlanc who is "mis-cast" in the lead role for Pucks, which is what facilitates all the changes. Matt is playing a stylize version of himself, which really isn't Matt at all. He is basically playing Joey Tribbiani, the character he made famous on Friends. On the show within the show, he is playing a character very much like that of Joey. But even when off camera, this is vintage Joey and I am okay with it. I'm a huge fan of Friends and this is basically another spin-off show, his second one, since the other spin-off didn't last long.

A lot of inside jokes are peppered through the season for some good laughs. The only negative I have about Season 1 is that it's only 7 episodes long. I really hate it when a Network doesn't give us the minimum 13 episodes per season. Anything less than that just feels like I have been cheated. Anyway, I highly recommend this as a Rent for you folks looking for something good to watch. I for one will be Buying this and all the other seasons for sure.

I don't know where it was shot, but the whole thing feels different when it comes to sets and exterior shots from other shows. I thought it was just because they had a DP that wanted to do something a bit different to set themselves apart from other series. There's no mistake where Californication is shot at, that's for sure.

I just realized that I never gave Season 1 a Star rating the first time I reviewed this one. Well, the first time around it got 5 Stars. This time around, I should bump it up to 20. It's just so damn good. Funny. They do save the best for the final episode, particularly the fight scene which had me howling with laughter, more so than the first time I watched it. I can't help but want to bust on the entire series of Friends and watch it all over....again. The upside to not do that is that I now get to dive right into Season 2 of episodes. Wheeeee!!!

Never heard of it. If my Library has it, I will definitely check it out.