TV.com

Louie Season 1 Episode 1

Pilot

Favorite

Watched It I've Watched This 2

Next
Episode

AIRED: Jun 29, 2010

8.2

User Rating

102 votes

Your Rating: 10
Your Rating: 9.5
Your Rating: 9
Your Rating: 8.5
Your Rating: 8
Your Rating: 7.5
Your Rating: 7
Your Rating: 6.5
Your Rating: 6
Your Rating: 5.5
Your Rating: 5
Your Rating: 4.5
Your Rating: 4
Your Rating: 3.5
Your Rating: 3
Your Rating: 2.5
Your Rating: 2
Your Rating: 1.5
Your Rating: 1

Rate Now

EPISODE REVIEWS
By TV.com Users

Write A Review

Episode Summary

EDIT

Louie accompanies his daughter on her class field trip, but the bus ends up getting lost, stranding everyone in Harlem.

FAN RECAP

Fan Episode Reviews (5)

Pilot

8.0

By AJLane-TCP, Apr 23, 2012

Recently divorced, Louis C.K. deals with raising two young daughters, dating, and performing stand-up comedy. While funny and unique on its own, "Louie" definitely pays homage to "Seinfeld." Both shows are even set in the same city. However, "Louie" intersperses stand-up comedy clips throughout the first episode, as opposed to "Seinfeld," which only showed a stand-up clip at the beginning and end of each episode. Louis C.K. is a grittier, angrier comic than Jerry Seinfeld, so "Louie" should prove to be independent of the earlier show, but die-hard "Seinfeld" fans may not find "Louie" to be quite the same.

The Good:

-Louie puts the African-American kids in the window seats because the bus ends up in Harlem.

-"Can I spend the night?! Jesus!"

The Bad:

-"Louie" seems a little bit like 'Seinfeld.'moreless
DO YOU AGREE?
1 0

Flag
Share Hide
great

8.5

By futuramarama, Oct 09, 2011

what i liked- the bus driver leaving because he was mad at how louie was talking to him, the way his date leaves via helicopter at the end of the second segment, louie's story about his dog, his daughter's infection (the fact he would say that whilst on his date), the guy knocking on the door saying he needed to take a big dump, and then leaving, so the date thought it was louie, the naked woman in the apartment, amongst other things.

this was a pretty funny premiere episode. i like this show because it is funny, but it also is dark when it needs/wants to be, particularly later on in the season. this was a fun episode. somewhere in the B range is going to be my final grademoreless
DO YOU AGREE?
1 0

Flag
Share Hide
Painful to watch... in kind of a good way.

8.0

By noelveiga, Sep 09, 2011

Louie is Louis C.K. perhaps more than Curb Your Enthusiasm was ever Larry David. David was playing himself in a metatextual game one step beyond Seinfeld. C.K. has throw his hands up in frustration and just shot a few stand-up routines that feel like him feeling contempt for himself and the world.

Where Seinfeld and even David put themselves in a self-reflective light, being uncomfortable in a world that seemed to be crazy but had its own weird sense of consistency, Louie is the only sane person in a world that is crazy because it's mind-numbingly normal. He's the only one who realizes his 4 year old daughter has a vagina or that there are people dying around him all the time, only he doesn't really care. Everybody else selectively blocks the ugly in life. Louie C.K. points at it and laughs and then gets really, really depressed about it.

And all of that is praise, if that doesn't come across. Louie is the kind of ha-ha funny that feels uncomfortable after the fact and never lets up. It is also shot in a pretentious quasi-Woody Allen style that has been so out of fashion for the last decade it's almost cool again, with all the student film camera angles and forced reaction shots (I don't feel a metajoke here, it's just CK is not a very experienced director, probably, but it works).

It's the definition of a "not for everyone" show, as even people who enjoy it can feel the echo of a thousand frozen, horrified smiles on unprepared casual viewers every now and then. But it's a good thing that it exists.moreless
DO YOU AGREE?
6 1

Flag
Share Hide
The pilot

3.0

By thefanof, Jan 14, 2011

In the spirit of Seinfeld and It's Garry Shandling's Show we get another sitcom that features a lot stand-up, but this was just too much. I get that Louis CK is a well-respected comic, but not only was his material really not that funny, it took up over half the episode. If I wanted to watch a Comedy Central stand-up special I would watch it.

The actual scenes were mildly amusing, but it is just too over the top. There is a difference between your character being attacked, and him just being embarrassed for 30 minutes straight. At least on Curb Your Enthusiasm Larry David got a few moral victories throughout the episode.

Hopefully the show improves, but this did not impress anyone.moreless
DO YOU AGREE?
1 18

Flag
Share Hide
The pilot

7.5

By JaCkKbAuEr2424, Dec 01, 2010

I've always been a huge fan of Louis C.K's stand-up routine, and he's been in a fair amount of movies and other TV shows where his persona remains the same but the comedy remains the same as well. This show has a lot of promise, but right now, it feels a lot like the new show it is. There are some pretty great stand-up moments, and the actual episode content was good, but it felt like it could be way better. The show is great, and the writing is obviously very smart, but it just needs to stretch its legs and establish some more characters and what not.

The pilot begins with Louis C.K talking about dating during a stand-up routine (similar to Seinfeld would do in his episodes). The stand-up mirrors what happens in his life as we cut to some scenes of Louis going on a date with a woman who doesn't like the way he smiles when she looks up at him (her reaction gets funnier and funnier) and doesn't enjoy being told about his daughter's.. eh.. "nether-regions." By the time we reach the end of this little vignette and we see Louis awkwardly bend in for a kiss, it was hilarious. The show is painfully awkward the way Curb and Seinfeld is sometimes, and right now, the only thing wrong with the show is that it's all awkward and nothing else. I agree with thefanof's review about the fact Larry David sometimes got some moral victories. Then again, this is a pilot, so there's time for stuff like that.

There's no denying the show is good though. Or at least will be good. The show got funnier as it went along.. the bus stuff at the start was weird and kind of pointless, but the show got funnier and funnier as time went on.moreless
DO YOU AGREE?
0 0

Flag
Share Hide

See All Fan Reviews

Cast & Crew: STARS

EDIT

Louis C.K.

Himself

See All Cast & Crew

Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

EDIT

Ashlie Atkinson	Teacher	Guest Star
Kathleen Butler (III)	Naked Woman	Guest Star
Hadley Delany	Lilly	Guest Star

See All Cast & Crew

Watch Online

Episode Photos

Louie C.K. on Louie from the Pilot episode.

© 2010 Fox Broadcasting Company
Louie C.K. on Louie from the Pilot episode.

© 2010 Fox Broadcasting Company
Louie C.K. on Louie from the Pilot episode.

© 2010 Fox Broadcasting Company
Louie C.K. on Louie from the Pilot episode.

© 2010 Fox Broadcasting Company

See All Photos

Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

FILTER BY TYPE

TRIVIA (0)
ADD TRIVIA
- ADD TRIVIA from this episode.
QUOTES (0)
ADD QUOTES
- ADD QUOTES from this episode.
NOTES (1)
ADD NOTES
- Original International Air Dates:
  Czech Republic: July 6, 2012 on Prima family
  EDIT SHARE
ALLUSIONS (0)
ADD ALLUSIONS
- ADD ALLUSIONS from this episode.