10:30-11 p.m.
Sunday, June 11
HBO

Think of "Everybody Loves Raymond" with an X rating for language and simulated sex and think of the Barone family barely able to afford a modest apartment ... and you still wouldn't have "Lucky Louie," but you'd be getting close. That's because, in his own way, Louis C.K. also offers a version on an Everyman, albeit one with a lifestyle largely unseen on TV since "The Honeymooners."

Louis C.K. plays Louie, a part-time muffler shop worker. His wife, Kim (Pamela Adlon), is a nurse whose job includes benefits, so she works full time while he takes care of their daughter, cute-as-a-button, 5-year-old Lucy (Kelly Gould).

The show is based on the comedy of Louis C.K. and there's no shortage of laughs. In the premiere, Kim offers to reverse a months-long pattern of sexless nights, much to Louie's delight. His happiness fades, however, when Mike (Mike Hagerty), Louie's thrice-married friend, recognizes the change as a ploy by Kim to become pregnant again. Louie's objection to that is purely financial. He doesn't think the budget -- already stretched to the max -- can afford another family member.

There's some logic to Louie's thinking but, more than that, it reflects a resignation with his life. He's neither a schemer nor a dreamer. Louie's not as cynical as Al Bundy, but he is just as pessimistic. When his daughter keeps peppering him with "Why?" questions, Louie's ultimate answer is, "Because God's dead and we're alone." It gets a laugh but this is not a throwaway line; it's Louie's guiding philosophy.

That hangdog attitude detracts from Louie's appeal. Equally important, it transfers the focus to vivacious and assertive Kim whenever the two of them share a scene. While Louie might be everything we'd expect from a part-time muffler shop worker, Kim surprises us with a sense of social consciousness and a concern for healthy living. Her personality inhabits the screen even when she's out of the picture.

There is an expectation that an HBO series will be unfettered by network standards and practices, but "Lucky Louie" uses its license in odd ways. It has plenty of coarse language. Too much, perhaps. It makes you wonder if it is there only because HBO permits it and not because it is true to the characters. At the same time, Louie and Kim engage in simulated sex with clothes on, and before the distracting laughter of a studio audience. That's not HBO, it's TV.

With the departure of "Sex and the City" and the long hiatus of "Curb Your Enthusiasm," HBO could use a little luck with a new comedy. There's a talented cast waiting to provide it, but it may not happen until Louie becomes a more dynamic sitcom hero.

LUCKY LOUIE
HBO
Circus King Prods., 3 Arts Entertainment, Snowpants Prods. and HBO independent Prods.
Credits:
Executive producers: Louis C.K., Mike Royce, Vic Kaplan, Dave Becky
Producer: Leo Clarke
Creator/writer: Louis C.K.
Director: Gary Halvorson
Director of photography: Bruce Finn
Production designer: Naomi Slodki
Editor: Brian Schnuckel
Music: Mark Rivers
Set decorator: Julieann Getman
Casting: Juel Bestrop, Jeanne McCarthy
Cast:
Louie: Louis C.K.
Kim: Pamela Adlon
Mike: Mike Hagerty
Tina: Laura Kightlinger
Lucy: Kelly Gould
Walter: Jerry Minor
Ellen: Kim Hawthorne
Rich: Jim Norton
Jerry: Rick Shapiro