Self-Reflecting TV Shows

In an unusual coincidence, a couple of shows have suddenly become about themselves. It's as though "Dexter," "Californication," and the new season of "Nip/Tuck" (starting next week) are looking in the mirror, examining their own plots and core questions. They have become self-referential -- like "30 Rock," which is the most brazenly meta show of the post-TV-commercial era, only not quite as kooky.

What, you want me to be less obscure? I've been noticing that this season's "Dexter" is about the search for the "Bay Harbor Butcher," whom we know is Dexter. So as the people of Miami debate whether the Butcher is good because he kills murderers or bad because he kills, they are debating Dexter's morality. They are doing what we do when we watch "Dexter."

On "Nip/Tuck," the boys are now in Los Angeles, where they are consulting on a medical show called "Hearts & Scalpels" that's as crazy as "Nip/Tuck." This situation grants "Nip/Tuck" a whole new realm of potential satire -- self-satire. Christian and Sean are laughing at the absurdities of "Hearts & Scalpels," just as we have been laughing at the absurdities of "Nip/Tuck" for four season now.

And then on "Californication," Hank has written a novella about a man who has an affair with a 16-year-old girl who likes to smack him during sex. Which is exactly what Hank did at the beginning of the season, with Mia. Surely, as the novella heads toward publication, the end of the season will find the characters reflecting on the beginning of the season.

Does that make more sense? Writing about this is making me think of an interview I did with David Foster Wallace 10 years ago. The brilliant author of "Infinite Jest" was all about talking about talking, and the great self-consciousness of that conversation is akin to the self-consciousness of these shows. I wouldn't want every TV series to look at itself, but when done well, as it is in these shows, it's really satisfying.