Louie

Over the past several years, comedian Louis C.K. has gone from being a workaday “comic’s comic” to a household name, guest starring on sitcoms, making myriad late night appearances, and releasing a new hour-long comedy special each year. But with Louie, a semi-autobiographical starring vehicle that effectively juggles tone, genre and style, C.K. has carved out a weekly niche for his talents, both in front of and behind the camera. Acting as star, producer, director, writer, and editor, C.K. has created a series with a true auteur spirit. Louie has no regular cast (except C.K. as a divorced comedian with two daughters, a less successful version of himself), and its plot structure is subject not to television conventions but to the whims of its creator. While many episodes are comprised of multiple short comedic vignettes, increasingly C.K. has used his platform to tell longer stories, as with this season’s sublime “Late Show” arc, wherein the title character trains for an opportunity to succeed a retiring David Letterman. In either form, C.K. comments smartly on the realities of work, parenthood and relationships in visual language ranging from the visceral to the surreal. Louie receives a Peabody Award for creating a clever, absurd space in which the rules of television are rewritten weekly.