Louie wrapped up its fifth season on FX last night, and if you were wondering why it only lasted eight episodes, HitFix has found the answer. During a panel discussion with HitFix last week, Louis C.K. revealed that he originally wanted to delay production on season 5 so he could film it in the fall instead of winter, but at the last minute he smoked a lot of pot, wrote down a bunch of ideas he thought were great, and asked FX exec John Landgraf to call off the delay:
Then, the night before FX chief John Landgraf was going to announce the delay, C.K. smoked a lot of marijuana, felt a burst of inspiration for stories he wanted to tell this season, and wrote pages and pages on his computer, breaking out all of what he felt would be an amazing season. He called Landgraf and asked if he could produce on the original schedule; a frustrated Landgraf told him they had already allocated most of his budget to other shows, and the best they could do was a half-season. So C.K. agreed, Landgraf announced that, and in the sober light of day, C.K. finally read what he had written… and it was gibberish. He didn’t use a single idea or joke from it in making season 5. Don’t do drugs, kids. Or, at least, don’t make big decisions while high.
The panel recap has other interesting bits about how Louie episodes are filmed and structured, C.K.’s thoughts on season 4, and what it was like using his “one chance in his career to really scare the audience†with the nightmare episode “Untitled.†Read the rest over at HitFix.