Lucky Louie

Last updated
Lucky Louie
LuckyLouie.jpg
Genre Sitcom
Slice of life
Created by Louis C.K.
StarringLouis C.K.
Pamela Adlon
Kelly Gould
Mike Hagerty
Jim Norton
Laura Kightlinger
Rick Shapiro
Jerry Minor
Kim Hawthorne
ComposerMark Rivers
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes13 (1 unaired) [1] (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers Louis C.K.
Mike Royce
Vic Kaplan
Dave Becky
ProducerLeo Clarke
CinematographyBruce L. Finn
EditorBrian Schnuckel
Camera setup Multi-camera
Running time21-30 minutes
Production companiesCircus King
3 Arts Entertainment
Snowpants Productions
HBO Entertainment
HBO Independent Productions
Original release
Network HBO
ReleaseJune 11 (2006-06-11) 
August 27, 2006 (2006-08-27)

Lucky Louie is an American television sitcom created by Louis C.K., which aired on HBO for one season in 2006. As the show's creator, writer and executive producer, C.K. also starred as the eponymous central character, a part-time mechanic at a muffler shop.

Contents

A first for HBO, Lucky Louie was filmed before a live studio audience, in a multiple-camera setup. [2] Inspired by Norman Lear's sitcoms, the show depicts the life of an average working class family while using spartan sets and wardrobe. Dealing with a range of topics including sex and racism, the series uses considerable adult language and featured guest stars best known as stand-up comedians, including Jim Norton, Laura Kightlinger, Nick DiPaolo, Todd Barry and Rick Shapiro.

HBO ordered 12 episodes, which aired during the 2006 summer season, as well as eight scripts for a second season, [3] before canceling the show in September 2006 [4] for numerous reasons ranging from the nature of the show to network economic pressure. [5]

Plot

The show follows the life of Louie, a working class part-time mechanic at a muffler shop owned by his best friend Mike; Louie's wife, Kim, a full-time nurse and the family breadwinner (Pamela Adlon); and their four-year-old daughter, Lucy (Kelly Gould).

Cast

ActorRoleNotes
Louis C.K. Louie Everyman
Pamela Adlon KimLouie's wife
Kelly Gould LucyLouie's & Kim's daughter
Michael G. Hagerty MikeLouie's employer and friend
Laura Kightlinger TinaMike's wife
Jerry Minor WalterLouie's & Kim's neighbor
Kim Hawthorne EllenWalter's wife
Rick Shapiro JerryKim's brother
Jim Norton RichLouie's friend

Crew

Louis C.K. served as creator, star, head writer and executive producer. Mike Royce served as showrunner and executive producer. Other executive producers included Dave Becky and Vic Kaplan. Writers included C.K. and Royce, Kit Boss (co-executive producer), Patricia Breen (executive story editor), Jon Ross (executive story editor), Mary Fitzgerald (staff writer), Greg Fitzsimmons (staff writer), Dan Mintz (staff writer), Dino Stamatopoulos (writer), and Aaron Shure (consulting producer), formerly of Everybody Loves Raymond .

The theme, entitled "Lucky Louie Theme", was composed by Mark Rivers. The animated title sequence was by David Tristman.

Andrew D. Weyman served as the series' main director. Producers on the show were Leo Clarke and Andrew D. Weyman. The associate producer was Ralph Paredes. and the consulting producer was Tracy Katsky.

Episodes

No.TitleDirected by [6] Written by [6] Original air date
1"Pilot" Gary Halvorson Louis C.K. June 11, 2006 (2006-06-11)
Kim's offer of a week full of sex arouses Louie's suspicions of her motives; Louie tries to befriend his neighbor, Walter.
2"Kim's O" Andrew D. Weyman Dan Mintz & Aaron Shure June 18, 2006 (2006-06-18)
Having led Kim into uncharted sexual terrain, Louie is asked to rekindle the magic or face the consequences.
3"A Mugging Story"Andrew D. WeymanPatricia BreenJune 25, 2006 (2006-06-25)
Kim tries to turn the tables on a young mugger, but instead ends up forcing Louie into the role of night watchman.
4"Long Weekend"Andrew D. WeymanLouis C.K.July 2, 2006 (2006-07-02)
With the Fourth of July approaching, Louie impulsively spends Kim's picnic money on an expensive Frankenstein's monster doll he bought over the internet.
5"Control"Andrew D. Weyman Dino Stamatopoulos July 9, 2006 (2006-07-09)
Concerned about Louie's bad eating habits, Kim puts him on a healthy diet that only aggravates the problem.
6"Flowers for Kim"Andrew D. WeymanJon RossJuly 16, 2006 (2006-07-16)
After an argument with Kim, Louie calls his wife a cunt, leading to an abrupt end to what was supposed to be a sex-filled weekend.
7"Discipline"Andrew D. WeymanStory by: Pamela Adlon & Louis C.K.
Teleplay by: Louis C.K.
July 23, 2006 (2006-07-23)
Louie asks for Walter's help in correcting Lucy's rude behavior.
8"Get Out"Andrew D. Weyman Mike Royce July 30, 2006 (2006-07-30)
Tina's rebellious daughter Shannon (Emma Stone) walks out of her mother's life and ends up walking into Louie and Kim's.
9"Drinking"Andrew D. WeymanKit BossAugust 6, 2006 (2006-08-06)
After Louie decides to attend a basketball game with Mike and Rich instead of taking care of his sick daughter, he is arrested for DUI.
10"Confession"Andrew D. WeymanMary Fitzgerald & Aaron ShureAugust 13, 2006 (2006-08-13)
Forced to go to church after pawning Lucy off on Ellen, Louie finds an unexpected ear for his gripes in the confessional booth.
11"Louie Quits"Andrew D. WeymanDan MintzAugust 20, 2006 (2006-08-20)
After discovering that the only reason he got a raise in his job (and got hired to begin with) was due to the "charity" of his wife and friends, Louie quits and looks for new work.
12"Kim Moves Out"Andrew D. WeymanLouis C.K.August 27, 2006 (2006-08-27)
Kim realizes that she hates Louie and decides to move out.
13"Clowntime Is Over"Andrew D. WeymanJon RossUnaired (Unaired)
After Bingo the clown doesn't turn up to Lucy's party, Louie is forced to become "Mr. Pizza Box Man" to the enjoyment of all the children. Other families start contracting his services.

Critical reception

Lucky Louie received mixed reviews from critics and holds a Metacritic score of 47 out of 100 based on 19 reviews. [7]

Home media

HBO released the entire series of Lucky Louie on January 30, 2007. [8] It includes an unaired episode "Clowntime is Over". The DVD also includes four commentaries and a look at the taping of an episode.

Criticism

In August 2006, during the show's run, Bill Donohue, president of the American organization Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, issued a news release about Lucky Louie, calling the series "barbaric". [9] The release provides a bulleted list of content from the show that the organization finds obscene, from the ten episodes that had been broadcast at that time. In January 2007, Louis C.K. was a guest in studio on the Opie & Anthony radio show (co-hosted by Jim Norton, who plays Rich on Lucky Louie). Donohue appeared on the show as a phone-in guest that day, and C.K. started a conversation with him about his comments on Lucky Louie. C.K. challenged Donohue's news release and accused him of misrepresenting the show by taking things out of context. Donohue admitted that even though the press release bears his name, he had never seen an episode of the show. [10] [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Norton (comedian)</span> American comedian, radio personality, actor, author, and podcast host (born 1968)

James Joseph Norton is an American comedian, radio personality, actor, author, and television and podcast host. Norton has been the co-host of the podcast UFC Unfiltered with Matt Serra and the morning radio show Jim Norton & Sam Roberts on SiriusXM Radio since 2016, and The Chip Chipperson Podcast since 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pamela Adlon</span> American actress (born 1966)

Pamela Adlon is an American actress, writer and director. She is known for voicing Bobby Hill in the animated comedy series King of the Hill (1997–2010), for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award. She also voiced Baloo in Jungle Cubs (1996–1998), the title role in the Pajama Sam video game series (1996–2001), Lucky in 101 Dalmatians: The Series (1997–1998), Margaret "Moose" Pearson in Pepper Ann (1997–2000), Ashley Spinelli in Recess (1997–2001), Otto Osworth in Time Squad (2001–2003), and Brigette Murphy in Milo Murphy's Law (2016–2019), among numerous others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louis C.K.</span> American comedian, actor, and filmmaker (born 1967)

Louis Alfred Székely, known professionally as Louis C.K., is an American stand-up comedian, actor and filmmaker. C.K. has won three Peabody Awards, three Grammy Awards, six Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award as well as numerous awards for The Chris Rock Show, Louie, and his stand-up specials Live at the Beacon Theater (2011) and Oh My God (2013). In 2015, Rolling Stone ranked C.K.'s stand-up special Shameless number three on their "Divine Comedy: 25 Best Stand-Up Specials and Movies of All Time" list and ranked him fourth on its 2017 list of the 50 best stand-up comics of all time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nick Di Paolo</span> American comedian, writer, actor and radio personality

Nicholas Rocco Di Paolo is an American stand-up comedian, writer, actor, radio personality and podcast host. He is the host of The Nick Di Paolo Show podcast, and is best known for his appearances as a regular on Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn, the Comedy Central Roasts, The Chris Rock Show, Opie and Anthony, and The Howard Stern Show, as well as recurring roles on Louie, Grace Under Fire, Tru TV's World's Dumbest, and Horace and Pete.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Faction Talk</span> Radio station

Faction Talk is a subscription-based channel on the satellite radio service Sirius XM Radio. The channel first aired on XM on August 6, 2004, as xL High Voltage in preparation for the launch of the American radio show Opie and Anthony several months later, and required subscribers to purchase the channel as a premium, until 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Royce</span> American screenwriter

Mike Royce is an American screenwriter and television producer.

Aaron Shure is an American television writer, director, and producer. He is known for his work on several comedy series, including The Office, Everybody Loves Raymond, Lucky Louie, George and Leo, and The New Adventures of Old Christine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terence Winter</span> American television and film writer (born 1960)

Terence Patrick Winter is an American writer and producer of television and film. He was the creator, writer, and executive producer of the HBO television series Boardwalk Empire (2010–2014). Before creating Boardwalk Empire, Winter was a writer and executive producer for the HBO television series The Sopranos, from the show's second to sixth and final season (2000–2007).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">D. B. Weiss</span> American writer and producer

Daniel Brett Weiss is an American television writer and producer. Along with his collaborator David Benioff, he is best-known for co-creating Game of Thrones (2011–2019), the HBO adaptation of George R. R. Martin's series of books A Song of Ice and Fire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rick Shapiro</span> American comedian and actor

Rick Shapiro is a Los Angeles–based comedian and actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eric Overmyer</span> American writer and producer (born 1951)

Eric Ellis Overmyer is an American writer and producer. He has written and/or produced numerous TV shows, including St. Elsewhere, Homicide: Life on the Street, Law & Order, The Wire, New Amsterdam, Bosch, Treme, and The Man in the High Castle.

<i>Louie</i> (American TV series) American TV series

Louie is an American comedy drama television series that premiered on FX on June 29, 2010. It is written, directed, created, edited, and produced by comedian Louis C.K., who also stars in the show as a fictionalized version of himself, a comedian and newly divorced father raising his two daughters in New York City. The show has a loose format atypical for television comedy series, consisting of largely unconnected storylines and segments that revolve around Louie's life, punctuated by live stand-up performances. The show's comedy consisted of such styles as surrealism, satire, absurdism, and gallows humor.

<i>Louie</i> season 1 Season of television series

The first season of the American television comedy series Louie premiered on June 29, 2010, and concluded on September 7, 2010. It consisted of thirteen episodes, each running approximately 23 minutes in length. FX broadcast the first season on Tuesdays at 11:00 pm in the United States. The season was produced by 3 Arts Entertainment and the executive producers were Louis C.K., Dave Becky and M. Blair Breard. The first season was released on DVD and Blu-ray in region 1 on June 21, 2011.

<i>Louie</i> season 2 Season of television series

The second season of the American television comedy series Louie premiered on June 23, 2011, and concluded on September 8, 2011. It consisted of thirteen episodes, each running approximately 23 minutes in length. FX broadcast the second season on Thursdays at 10:30 pm in the United States. The season was produced by 3 Arts Entertainment and the executive producers were Louis C.K., Dave Becky and M. Blair Breard. The second season was released on DVD and Blu-ray in region 1 on June 19, 2012.

<i>Louie</i> season 3 Season of television series

The third season of the American television comedy series Louie premiered on June 28, 2012 and concluded on September 27, 2012. It consisted of thirteen episodes, each running approximately 23 minutes in length. FX broadcast the third season on Thursdays at 10:30 pm in the United States. The season was produced by 3 Arts Entertainment and the executive producers were Louis C.K., Dave Becky and M. Blair Breard.

<i>Louie</i> season 4 Season of television series

The fourth season of the American television comedy series Louie premiered on May 5, 2014, and concluded on June 16, 2014. It consists of fourteen episodes, most running approximately 23 minutes in length. FX broadcast the fourth season on Mondays at 10:00 and 10:30 pm in the United States with back-to-back episodes. The season was produced by 3 Arts Entertainment and the executive producers were Louis C.K., Dave Becky and M. Blair Breard.

<i>Louie</i> season 5 Season of television series

The fifth and final season of the American television comedy series Louie premiered on April 9, 2015, and concluded on May 28, 2015. It consists of eight episodes, each running approximately 23 minutes in length. FX broadcast the fifth season on Thursdays at 10:30 pm in the United States. The season was produced by 3 Arts Entertainment and the executive producers were Louis C.K., Dave Becky and M. Blair Breard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louis C.K. filmography</span> Films played and awards received by Louis C.K.

American stand-up comedian, actor, writer and filmmaker Louis C.K. began his career performing stand-up while simultaneously making short films. When he was 17, he directed a comedic short film titled Trash Day (1984). His third short film, Ice Cream, won the grand prize at the Aspen Shortsfest in 1993. In the same year, he began writing for Late Night with Conan O'Brien before leaving the next year. His next writing job was on Late Show with David Letterman in 1995, and directed a series of shorts for Howie Mandel's Sunny Skies on television, followed by acting as head writer for The Dana Carvey Show (1997) and a writer on The Chris Rock Show (1997–1999). He voiced a fictional version of himself on four episodes of Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist from 1996 to 2002. He directed his first feature, Tomorrow Night, in 1998, which failed to attract any distributors and was later re-released by C.K. on his website in 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dave Becky</span> American comedy manager and producer

Dave Becky is an American comedy talent manager and producer. He works with 3 Arts Entertainment and has more than 100 production credits. He has received nine Emmy nominations for his work as an executive producer on the Netflix series Master of None and various productions with comedian Louis C.K. He has shared in two Peabody Awards for his work as an executive producer on two FX series, Louie (2012) and Better Things (2016). Becky also serves as an executive producer on Russian Doll on Netflix and Insecure on HBO.

"Halloween/Ellie" is the tenth episode of the second season of the American comedy-drama television series Louie. It is the 23rd overall episode of the series and was written and directed by Louis C.K., who also serves as the lead actor. It was released on FX on August 18, 2011.

References

  1. "Lucky Louie – The Complete First Season". Amazon. Archived from the original on 2020-11-16. Retrieved 2010-09-27.
  2. "About the Show". Lucky Louie website. HBO. 2006. Archived from the original on 2008-05-03. Retrieved 2010-10-05.
  3. retrieved December 10, 2006 [ permanent dead link ]
  4. "retrieved June 18, 2007". Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2007-06-18.
  5. "Louis C.K. on the Words You Can't Say on FX (NSFW)". Tvsquad.com. 2010-06-26. Archived from the original on June 16, 2013. Retrieved 2012-08-05. What did HBO tell you when they let the show go? Ratings are not a big thing for them... No they're not. And they have pressure of different kinds. And at the time, we were hearing a lot of things. One of them was that Warner Brothers was sending word out to every company, that you have to make big cuts. And so I knew that Chris Albrecht was up against it trying to renew us to begin with. I knew he was, he had pressure. And he didn't have enough proof that we were definitely going to keep growing. I think that they are really into critics. I mean, on one hand, NY Times, LA Times, and Shales all loved the show. I mean, those were all positive reviews, and there were others.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  6. 1 2 DVD insert
  7. "Lucky Louie – Season 1 Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More". Metacritic. 2006-06-11. Archived from the original on 2020-11-16. Retrieved 2012-08-05.
  8. retrieved December 10, 2006 Archived November 16, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  9. "HBO's "Lucky Louie" is Barbaric". Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. August 14, 2006. Archived from the original on November 16, 2020. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
  10. Hosts: Hughes, Gregg; Cumia, Anthony; Norton, Jim (January 24, 2007). "Show of January 24, 2007". The Opie & Anthony Show. Textual recap of the show: User "Struff" (September 1, 2008). "1.24.07 SHOW RECAP: Louis CK In Studio, Bill Donohue On Phone". Archived from the original on November 16, 2020. Retrieved February 7, 2011.{{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  11. C.K., Louis (January 24, 2007). "catholiclouie". Archived from the original on March 31, 2009. Retrieved April 14, 2012.