Louie

Late last year we learned the saddening, if expected news that Louis C.K. would step back from Louie once again, perhaps taking a Curb Your Enthusiasm approach with periodic returns. It doesn’t seem as if a few months have changed the comedian’s mind, as both he and FX “just don’t know” if and when Louie will return.

FX’s Louie auteur Louis C.K. famously handles most aspects of the Emmy-winning series himself on a minuscule budget, but did you know the comedian even provides his own cameras? Or that it only shoots three days a week, to accommodate custody of his real kids? Reload your morning misery with the 31st episode of ‘You Think You Know TV?’ which hits the Comedy Cellar for ten misanthropic facts of FX’s Louie.

The 2015 Emmy Awards have made us laugh all night, but now it’s time to recognize an actual TV series for such an honor. 'Veep' has officially taken home the statue for Outstanding Comedy Series, beating out some impressive competition.

As fans of Louis C.K. and FX’s Louie have experienced since the third season, the revered comedian’s creativity and hectic schedule occasionally place longer gaps between seasons than fans would like. Bad news, we’re afraid, as Louie may take its longest “extended hiatus” yet, even as Louis C.K. remains in business at FX.

FX has released a flurry of news from the ongoing Television Critics Association press tour, between a renewed Strain and its hottest premieres, but the latest news might prove more worrisome. After six seasons, Archer will move to FXX (gaining a new companion series), while FX has officially granted Louie star Pamela Adlon her own series.

Finally no longer dumping the announcement at 5:30 A.M. PT, while half the critical populace sweat through Comic-Con, the 2015 Emmy nominations are here! A few major surprises and omissions, as well as some well-deserved chances at the gold, but who's up for at 2015, as presented by Brooklyn Nine-Nine star Andy Samberg? Let's find out!

FX Emmy darling Louie will again come to a close tonight with Season 5 finale “The Road Part 2,” a notably shorter eight-episode run than some of its predecessors. Many assumed the truncated order owed to comedian Louis C.K.’s grueling schedule and past hiatus requirements, but nope! He was just high. Allow us to explain.

The big question everyone has been focusing on following last night’s episode of Louie is this: did Pamela sexually assault Louie? The answer is, obviously, yes. He said no, she aggressively persisted while gently shushing him, an act that felt so intimately real. Louie has treaded similar territory before, in last season’s “Pamela Part 1,” in which the roles were reversed as Louie aggressively forced Pamela to kiss him — it was both emotional and physical assault for Pamela, who resents anything resembling feelings. But in “Bobby’s House,” the tables are turned, as Pamela not only assaults Louie, but thoroughly emasculates him, as well.

Louis C.K. years earlier broke our hearts with the news that FX’s ‘Louie’ season 4 would be pushed to 2014, and while season 5 will have its own caveat of reduced episodes, we’ll have the Emmy-winning dramedy back even sooner than we hoped. ‘Louie’ season 5 has set its official April premiere, while FX has also plotted the debuts of Billy Crystal’s ‘The Comedians’ and 2014 breakout ‘You’re the Worst.’

Top 10 lists rank among the more unusual aspects of movie and TV criticism, and as my colleagues Ryan McGee, Matt Singer, and Mike Sampson’s own 2014 favorites will attest, the end-of-year celebration format brings with it a unique mixture of personal favorites and artistic juggernauts...