Basketed

Baskets will be ending this season.

If that sentence sounds like nonsense, I'm not surprised--the FX show isn't that popular.  Baskets happens to be a sitcom (well, it's a half-hour show) co-created by and starring Zach Galifiankis.  The final episode--its 40th in four seasons--will air on August 22.

Galifianakis plays Chip and Dale Baskets, twin brothers who look the same but are very different.  One is a quiet sort of guy who has studied clowning in Paris, the other is a loud, fairly intolerant guy who's unsuccessful at business and marriage. They both live in Bakersfield, about 100 miles north of Los Angeles.  There's also their mother, Christine--played by Louis Anderson, who won an Emmy for the role--and Chip's long-suffering friend Martha (Martha Kelly).

I'd call the show a comedy, but much of the humor comes not from gags, but from observing losers who try to make the best of their lives but don't quite know what to do.  Things happen, to be sure, but over the four seasons, they don't add up to that much.  I suppose one reason the show has lasted as long as it has is that it's got some critical attention and has been nominated for awards.  Also, Galifiankis is a somewhat famous name whom FX might want to be in business with, as was Louis C. K. who helped create the show.

I rarely laugh at Baskets.  The parade of sad characters failing to make much out of their lives, but occasionally having small moments, is intriguing, but hardly uproarious.  Yet it has held my interest.  I've made it this far as a (reasonably) faithful viewer.  I'll be sad to see it gone, even if I was never sure what the point was.