Louie Louie!

I already loved Louis CK. Have been hip to his genius writing for years and a fan of his comedy. His new eponymously named show on FX is a twisted delight to watch. It's raw, it's poignant, it's sly and it's sharply funny. The latest episode "Bully" has him being bullied by a high school jock in front of his date. Louie is humiliated by being forced to beg not to have his ass kicked in front of her. Afterwards, his date admits that this was a turn off for her even though, logically she knows Louie did the right thing.

Louie follows the bully home, all the way to Staten Island with the intent to talk to the bully's parents. We, of course get to see how and why the bully became a bully when his dad starts berating and hitting him. Meanwhile, Louie is chased out of the house by the equally violent mother, who takes offense to Louie's suggestion that they curb hitting their kids. The bully's dad comes out after Louie and you tense up in anticipation of what comes next...and here's the beauty of Louie...what comes next is totally unexpected. The two men share a smoke and a conversation about their respective fatherhoods and we learn that the bully dad became a dad at 20. At 20 we are still kids ourselves and the parenting we do is copied from what we know...Get it?

When my daughter was four, she used to hate having her hair washed. Baths were no fun - for either one of us. One evening, during the bath time war, I slapped her. And it reverberated like fireworks in my brain. It wasn't the first time I had hit her. Up until that point it had been smacks on the butt or hand but I also used the threat of spanking often. I was aping what I myself had experienced. But that evening...sitting on the floor of the bathroom, soaked from all the splashing, with my daughters cries echoing off the tiles...I just stopped. My spirit overrode my ego and my mind and said "no more." In that instant I realized that physical punishment was not something I wanted to perpetrate on my little girl. It doesn't work and the "punishments" always have to escalate to meet the ever increasing resistance.

My mother was the punisher in our house. I only ever remember my dad laying hands on me once. Not that he didn't react out of anger in other ways, like throwing a plate of spaghetti at the wall...but my battles with my mother were epic. She would come after me with whatever she could get her hands on and could inflict the most damage with. Her weapon of choice? Wooden cooking ladles, although she whipped a mean extension cord too. That went on until I was sixteen and one day just grabbed her wrists hard and said NO MORE. Those childhood experiences of violence at the hand of a parent - someone who loves us - are the foundation of how we love and parent as adults. You might think this sounds kind of psycho-babbly but it's true. Evidenced by the plethora of spanking/paddling porn.

That evening in the bathroom, I broke the cycle of violent parenting. I know there are a lot of kids out there who need tough parenting but that doesn't need to include corporal punishment.

Enough about me, back to Louie. A fantastic episode with a great message delivered in a clever way. Sometimes a spoonful of funny makes the medicine go down.

Rock on Louis C.K.!

Female Driven movies don't sell...oh wait, they DO!

Is there anything new or groundbreaking about "OBSESSED"? The Beyonce starrer that opened at an obviously unexpected #1 this weekend? Besides Idris Elba and his fine self? No. It's a "Fatal Attraction" retread - and not a fresh one. I guess the big twist is "Oh, we'll make the couple black and the ho white!" Apparently the box office was driven primarily (58%) by women, of which half were 25 or under. Now, that is most likely due to Ms. Knowles (or Mrs. Carter). And who were the other 42%?

Would the movie have done as well on a bigger weekend? With different stars? Better story? Who knows? All I know is - I wish "Hollywood" would make up it's mind about...well, anything but specifically about female driven projects. Television (cable or otherwise) is the current domain of female driven projects. Just about every network has at least one successful skein with a female protagonist.

I have a theory about that. Having just had this conversation last week with my manager (who I love =)) about the new script I delivered. An erotic thriller with a female protagonist entitled "151". It's 'R' rated - for language, sex and violence. Think Joe Eszterhas in his prime...think "Basic Instinct", "The Jagged Edge", "Body Heat", "The Last Seduction." My manager's first suggestion was "Let's take it to Lifetime." .....cricket, cricket, cricket....hello, is this thing on? Don't get me wrong. I'd LOVE to sell something to Lifetime! I'd love to sell something to anyone! But the reasoning behind the logic went like this..."The Women" was terrible and it tanked."

Now, "The Women" was a much ballyhoed project around town for many years. Almost every 'A' list actress was attached to it at one time or another. When the "Sex and the City" movie came out and killed - all of Hollywood went bananas - shocked! shocked, I say that the movie based on the wildly successful and enduringly popular series was doing such gangbuster business. And assuming that we women are out here waiting for just any bullshit movie with a Vajayjay. Obviously, that's not true. Because nobody had an appetite for "The Women" - it wasn't able to draft behind SATC's success. It tanked....with all of our female driven hopes and dreams tied to it???????

I think women, just like men - all being human - are attracted to good escapist fare. Give us an underdog who comes out on top, a person in peril who kicks ass, a misunderstood superhero (or villian for that matter), a story we can relate to and an outcome we can cheer for and we're happy. And these days, with the "all too real" doom and gloom the media is feeding us 24/7, we need that escapist fare even more. And if there's hot sex, cool subcultures, exotic locales and a feel good ass kicking involved - Yahoo! Why should Lifetime have all the fun? I'm just sayin'...

By the way, Idris Elba is a fine Mother F**cker! Loved him since "The Wire" and his turns on "The Office" and "RockNRolla" have deepened that love. I even tried to watch something awful called "The Unborn" because he was in it. Unfortunately he wasn't in the first 15 minutes and I bailed. He also deejays under the name "Big Driis the Londoner" and has produced music with JayZ! He brings it. He is a man; capitol M-A-N, Man! So thrilled to see his career is on FIRE!