When you say the word “history” out loud, it’s usually met with a chorus of groans. “I hated history in school! All those dates and crap! So boring.” It’s depressing.

History, if taught right, is a story.  (That’s why it has “story” embedded into it. No joke.) It’s not names, dates, and places. It’s blood and sex, with a dash of art and higher aspirations. It’s the stuff you pay to watch in theaters or on HBO but with the kicker that it actually happened.

I couldn’t be happier that television has decided to take that idea and run crazy with it. The new trend on cable is taking finding some notorious era of history, populated with sex and swearing, and spin a few seasons out of it. HBO kicked off the trend with Rome and Deadwood (and promptly broke our hearts in the process), and now Showtime and Starz have taken up the gauntlet.

Showtime has been happily running around Renaissance England with The Tudors, which is about to wrap up in its fourth season now that Henry VIII is coming to the end of his wives. While it’s played a little fast and loose with history, it’s been a sumptuous watch, and fans won’t have to look far for a replacement.

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We’re all pretty big fans of the original Showtime series Weeds around The Flickcast offices. The show has managed to stay strong and innovative since it’s launch back in 2005, with plenty of plot twists and fan favorite cameos. One of the main reasons we love the show so much is the use of the ensemble cast, especially any major story arcs with Andy Botwin, played by Justin Kirk.

We recently got a chance to sit down with Justin about the show, his work on the recently released season five DVD, and where he sees the upcoming season going. One cool feature on the DVD is a collection of the University of Andy web shorts. We asked Justin where the idea came from, and he knew that it was already going to be a success.

The writers had done various web-based content over the years. I don’t know if you remember ‘Good Morning, Agrestic’, which was a faux public access channel, but it was all meant to be for the web and DVD’s, which inevitably turned into a big hit. There’s also a new round out right now. We are only 3 episodes deep into round 2, which is going on right now.

One of the biggest events of this past season was the jump ahead six months and the story progressed. Justin was more than excited about that idea when he first heard about it.

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Those who caught last week’s season premiere of Showtime’s original series Californication can give themselves a congratulatory pat on the back. Thanks to the astounding viewership, the show has already been picked up for another season. The episode had 821,000 viewers, which is more than twice as many as the first season initially got.

For those who aren’t on the bandwagon, the series stars David Duchovny as Hank Moody, an at-one-time successful writer, who has hit a bit of writer’s block and relies on vices like booze and women to help him cope. Being on Showtime, this becomes one of the bigger appeals to some watchers as an “adult show.”

The show has some great supporting characters to play alongside Duchovny as well, including Natasha McElhone (Ronin), Pamela Adlon (King of the Hill), Madeline Zima (The Nanny) and Evan Handler (Sex and the City). Also, there are enough celebrity cameos to make any Entourage watcher turn their head.

Keep this season going strong by catching episode 3 of Californication’s third season this Sunday on Showtime at 10pm ET/PT.