12. HANK TRIUMPHS
"Californication"
First season finale, Oct. 29, 2007
"The Last Waltz"
The first season of this dark romantic comedy showed how David Duchovny's Hank Moody had moved to Hollywood and lost both his dignity and the love of his life, Karen. It was the sometimes repetitive - if always entertaining - tale of a smart man hitting the skids. But the season finale redeemed both Hank and the series, as it gave us Hank running off with Karen, and Karen deserting her wedding to another man. It was a giddy dramatic moment, like the wedding scene in "The Graduate." Of course, season two will be filled with the consequences of that act of passion.
(Randy Tepper/Showtime)
