# Baskets on FX **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 16, 2016, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baskets-on-fx/746300 "2016-02-16T22:43:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2016, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baskets-on-fx/746300/1 "2016-02-16T22:43:28Z")
Anybody watching this show? Funny, quirky, dark, and sad all together. I’m really enjoying it so far. I know Galifinakis’ humor can be an acquired taste but he really plays the loser character well who starts to make you feel sympathetic towards him but then pulls the rug out from underneath you by being a complete idiot and/or jerk. The other characters are great as well. Especially the casting of Louie Anderson as his mother. It’s only 4 or 5 episodes in so far into it’s premiere season but it’s got me hooked. ---
**Author:** ![BrassyPhrase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea666f/32.png) [@BrassyPhrase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrassyPhrase)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2016, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baskets-on-fx/746300/2 "2016-02-16T23:01:32Z")
Love it! Watching it and missing it until the next ep. Who knew Louie Anderson was that good of an actor? “That is not a dog. That is a goddamn coyote.” ---
**Author:** ![amaguri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@amaguri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amaguri)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baskets-on-fx/746300/3 "2016-02-18T18:25:07Z")
It’s certainly unique 🙂 I enjoy it. And like almost everyone else, I’m really surprised and impressed by Louie Anderson. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baskets-on-fx/746300/4 "2016-02-18T20:22:12Z")
I read a bunch of reviews saying that Louie Anderson was great, before I started to watch, so I was less impressed. Not to say that he’s not doing a good job, just that I guess the surprise factor worked for everyone else. Go in with low expectations! Overall, it’s amusing. It reminds me of Louie (which makes sense given that Baskets is produced by Louie CK) but with a consistent storyline instead of his wife changing into different people with different backgrounds each episode, etc. and, of course, Zach Galifianakis is a better actor than Louie CK. I enjoyed the first several episodes and will probably watch all of the way through the end, but so far it’s not had a strong enough pathos nor strong enough whimsy to quite live up to the potential of the concept. I’ve chuckled a few times, but it’s a bit hard when the only actor who had any energy on screen at all was a one-off character (the Juggalo guy) that got jettisoned from the series after his one episode. The series needs to do a better job at varying tone. Even when Baskets gets all angry and loud, the tone of the scene still comes across as subdued, quiet, and considered somehow. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baskets-on-fx/746300/5 "2016-02-18T20:46:12Z")
The first episode or two seemed really to whack the viewer over the head with the idea that it was sponsored by Costco, but the later episodes (at least of the ones I’ve seen) are starting to be a little less obvious about it. That’s the one thing that’s a little off-putting about the show. And of course there’s the fact that the main character, Chip Baskets, hasn’t picked up that the insurance agent Martha is interested in him. Unlike, say, his French wife who has zero interest in him. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baskets-on-fx/746300/6 "2016-02-18T21:16:22Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > And of course there’s the fact that the main character, Chip Baskets, hasn’t picked up that the insurance agent Martha is interested in him. He realizes. In one episode, he yells at her, “Martha, stop hitting on me!” ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2016, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baskets-on-fx/746300/7 "2016-02-20T15:40:32Z")
And while riding in the car after visiting the wife, he says to her in a snide way, something like ‘jealousy is an unattractive thing, Martha.’ I loved the mother dispatching the wife back to France. Mom is no dummy. I love this show inordinately, every couple of years a show comes along where I don’t know a thing about it, but I know I absolutely have to see it. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2016, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baskets-on-fx/746300/8 "2016-02-21T16:36:16Z")
“Today I did a dance in drama and everyone laughed.” “Everyone laughed? I gotta see this dance.”