Last night was the series finale of “Californication” on Showtime. This has easily been one of my favorite shows ever on TV. Early on the writing was comical, sexy, controversial and left me binging new episodes as I caught up three seasons into the show

But even as a big fan of the show, I have to say the last couple of seasons have been disappointing. It’s almost like the writers were expecting that season to be the last and phoned it in until the found out “crap, we need to leave this open for another year!”

Hank Moody is probably a top five all-time television character for me. I’d be lying to you if I didn’t point out I often found Moody to be someone I could relate to given my life and some of the situations I have gotten myself into.

While the Moody character often was seen as someone with little self control and his own worst enemy, in the end he cared deeply about those who were close to him and was always trying to do good for them despite the mess he found himself in.

It’s corny to say, but his character has made me write more about my life experiences to get them down on paper. Someday it might be a book, or maybe someday I’ll go all Hunter S. Thompson and “gonzo” some of those experiences into something that might be entertaining.

As for the finale itself, it was pretty unfulfilling but most finales are especially when they try to tie everything up all neat and perfect. It seemed like this entire season was thrown together as a way to get “hot chick” Heather Graham onto the show, add an awkward young character and inspire Moody to get right with his life. The season was funny and had it’s share of fun moments, but nothing like the seasons where Professor Bates was running around naked, Mia was hitting on Hank or when Lew Ashby had to do one more hit before seeing the love of his life.

Those seasons tore at your heart, made you laugh and grew you closer to the characters.

This year had none of that.

I’m happy with how the entire show ended and I won’t spoil that for you. However, in my opinion this series ended when Hank got off the bus and came back knocking on Karen’s door.

To me the show will always be remembered for those big emotional moments, the breakdowns and probably the best soundtrack ever for a television show. You heard everything from Tommy Stinson to the Rolling Stones, Foo Fighters, Elton John, Warren Zevon and unhead of artists like Beth Hart or even solo stuff from Johnny Thunders.

Every week, I was downloading new music. Even if I had heard the songs 1000 times, the way they were intertwined in the show gave them that much more meaning.

The great thing about the show being over is the ability to go back and watch it all over again or even turn a few new people onto it. Unlike most shows on premium movie channels, Californication is only a 30 minute weekly show. So anyone looking to plow through a few episodes can take a few hours to check out the show and determine if it is worth the watch.

I’d highly recommend it to anyone who likes edgy humor, crazy emotions and the occasional naked female. The show certainly has plenty of that. And I’m not going to try to convince you it’s always tastefully done.

Goodbye Hank Moody, you will be missed. I’ll do my best to not replicated every mistake you made along the way. Although I’d certainly take the happy ending.