Louis C.K. returned to FX for the second season premiere of 'Louie' (Thu., 10:30PM ET on FX) picking up tonally right where he left off, awkward and hilarious. The most awkward moment, though, didn't involve Louis at all.

His seven-month pregnant sister stopped by, and it was her screams that awoke Louis, his daughters and even his neighbors. So Louis had to learn how to make friends with the neighbors so he could get his sister to the hospital and someone would be able to stay with his daughters.

But it was at the hospital that the source of his sister's pain became awkwardly -- and loudly -- apparent. We can only imagine what the hospital bill would be for that gaseous burst. Clearly, she felt better afterward, but just wait for that sticker shock.

Louis C.K. took an important step toward recovery in admitting that he was an occasional addict. On 'The Tonight Show' (Weeknights, 11:35PM ET on NBC), C.K. talked about how much more difficult it is to get high when you're in your 40s.

"When you're 43, if you want to get high you've got to wait until you hurt your back," he explained.

But the beauty of that, is that doctors give you great medicines like Percocet. "When I get Percocet, I am a Percocet addict," he told Jay Leno. "I don't refill it, but during that bottle, if I drop it and you pick it up, I'll suck your **** to get it back!"

Leno wasn't quite prepared for this shocking visual, so he had C.K. repeat it while he was drinking some water so it could get the spit-take it deserved.

'Louie' (10:30PM ET Thursday, FX) isn't one of those shows where you need to give it half a season before you decide whether it's for you or not. The terrific 'Louie' is such a fully formed, cogent expression of comedian Louis C.K.'s distinctive mind that you'll know a few minutes into the first episode whether his sensibility aligns with yours.

Without giving too much away, in the first scene of the season, one of Louie's kids makes a casual statement that is heartbreaking. The kid doesn't know what she's said is hurtful; she's just being honest. There's zero melodrama in the scene, and Louie's reaction to his daughter's statement is funny because it's both realistic and brutally honest.

He doesn't punish the kid at all, but the rawness of his eventual reaction is painfully hilarious. It's a reaction I can picture having myself.

E.B White famously summed up the general attitude toward analyzing humor when he compared it to dissecting a frog: "Few people are interested and the frog dies of it."

'Talking Funny' (Friday, April 22, 9PM ET on HBO) avoids killing the frog by taking four of the biggest stand-up comedians in the business -- Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Ricky Gervais and Louis CK -- and putting them in a casual setting to interview each other.



Comedy nerds will be satisfied with the level of details, and casual fans will be happy to hear the big names swap stories. The quartet shareS a certain amount of familiarity, with CK being the common connection between them. He wrote the screenplay for the Rock vehicle 'I Think I Love My Wife,' played a supporting role in Gervais's 'The Invention of Lying' and, as Louis mentions in the special, angered Seinfeld when opening for him in Boston years ago. Louis was still making a name for himself, and he introduced Seinfeld as the best comic in the world, something that automatically set up expectations Seinfeld then had to meet.

We've reached the time of year when people talk about all the ways they're going to change in the new year. They want to lose weight, swear less, spend more time with friends, etc. But we all know what happens to New Year's resolutions... they're usually broken or discarded by the time you trudge to work after the holidays are over.

So the folks here at TV Squad decided to do something a little bit different; for the most part, instead of giving ourselves resolutions to follow, we've decided give the powers that be running the various networks our wish list of what we're looking to see on TV in 2011. We're very generously giving our resolutions over to the TV folks, hoping to benefit the greater good of TV fans anywhere. If any of these come to pass, you'll know who you can thank.

During the FX executive session in front of TV critics, the cable network's president, Jon Landgraf, made two announcements:

-- 'Louie' is being picked up for a second season, to air around the same mid-summer timeframe when the first season was aired. Even after five weeks, Landgraf was very happy with the show's performance, citing audience growth via DVR of over 60 percent for last week's episode.

-- The network has picked up a new series from Ben Grant and Tom Lennon from 'Reno 911!' Called, 'USS Alabama,' this is a mostly-improvised show about a dimwitted crew on a space station. So think the dimwitted cops in Reno, translated to space. Yes, sounds pretty funny to me, too.

More from FX later today...

While waiting for his date, Louie disrupted a naked neighbor on 'Louie' (11PM on FX).

" ... Please keep it down out here because I'm not wearing any clothing and you're yelling is making me feel vulnerable," the naked neighbor said. Louie apologized, but the neighbor had other ideas in mind.

"I'm not wearing any clothing at all," she said. "Do you understand?" Louie knew where the woman was heading and flat out asked her to just show him her naked body.

Taken aback, the neighbor revealed herself and proceeded to call Louie a pig in various different voices. What a weirdo.

Way back in January, Louis C.K. came to the TCA press tour to promote his new FX show, 'Louie,' which was originally set to bow in April. After his panel discussion, Louie was nice enough to sit with me for a wide-ranging, very personal, 45-minute interview about the new show, which finally debuts on June 29 at 11PM ET. In the interview, he spoke about how he filmed the stand-up segments that punctuate the stories told during the series, and he also talked about dating at 41 (now 42), balancing being a dad with being a successful entertainer, and why he can't be on 'Parks and Recreation' anymore.

What follows is an edited transcript of that interview; if you want to read the nearly-complete transcript, click here. In it, he goes into detail on how unfairly he thinks HBO treated his last series, 'Lucky Louie,' and he discusses the words and phrases you're not allowed to say on FX. I know he's talked about it briefly in interviews, but this is the most extensive version yet. And it's easily the dirtiest thing we've ever published here at TV Squad.

This morning, FX was in the house here at the Langham Huntington, with panels for Damages, Justified -- a show based on an Elmore Leonard character, starting Tim Olyphant -- and Louie. The last show stars Louis C.K. as himself, as it intersperses scripted vignettes about a newly-single dad stand-up comic in New York with bits of new stand-up material.

I got a chance to speak to Louis after his panel, and we had a great talk, highlighted by the list of words he could and couldn't say on FX; it'll probably be the dirtiest thing we've ever published, but it'll be worth it.

During his panel, however, one of the last questions was about the whole Conan/Leno debate. You'd think Louis would have sided with Conan, who gave him his first shot as a comedy writer. He did, but he had an interesting take on the matter: Why would Conan want the old moldy Tonight Show instead of a show with his name on it?

(S02E07) Pikitis! I loved this episode. After hitting a real low for me two weeks ago, last week's episode was an improvement, but this week's really lived up to its potential. Even Andy, who I haven't been completely thrilled with as a character this season, was hilarious ("I'm not crying; I'm just allergic to jerks!"). It's also really nice to see people on Leslie's side. How awesome was Dave with her? I wasn't so sure about him when he first showed up, but he's becoming more and more fun every episode he's in.

So we find out that Leslie's mortal enemy is a high school kid who just happens to have a name that's a lot of fun to yell in anger. Which, of course Leslie's mortal enemy is some 16-year-old punk. I will say this though: he's good: Between hiring the fake mom off of Craigslist and his janitor disguise that he used to break into the Parks office, maybe Leslie wasn't being completely ridiculous when she classified him as a James Bond-type criminal mastermind.

(S02E04) Last week, I talked about how I was beginning to identify with Leslie Knope. This week, I have to say that I identify with her a lot less, but that's mainly because my dating life hasn't been anywhere near as awesome as hers. I have never downed Ambien instead of Tic-Tacs, I have never had a dude show up for a date with another woman, and sadly, my sleeve (or any other clothing item) has never caught on fire. All this says to me is that I haven't lived, man.

I also really like what they're doing with the Dave character. I was afraid that they were making him kind of stupid, but that wasn't evident in this episode. He was just kind of bumbling and charming again. Plus, it was super-sweet how he wasn't scared away when she showed up to his house drunk. Because really, if you can't show up at some dude's house and ask him if he's impressed that you remember it's a bathroom and not a whiz palace, then what's the point of life?

(S02E03) This is how I know Parks and Recreation is growing as a show: Leslie Knope has not only stopped being a one-dimensional season one Michael Scott impression, but she has grown into a character with whom I can identify. If I ever found myself judging a beauty contest with a chick in a hooker dress talking about how if it were up to her and her family, it would be called "Ourmerica," and not "Theirmerica," I would have a difficult time holding my brains inside of my head.

I don't think I would have an elaborate, laminated scorecard with a section for the "Naomi Wolf effect," but I could definitely see myself in a room arguing with my fellow judges about the brains of the other contestants. And Like Leslie Knope, I probably would have lost. Such is life.

Louis C.K. just shot a new comedy pilot for FX. He plays a stand-up comic dealing with divorce and fatherhood. It's hard to imagine where they come up with this stuff when you consider that C.K. is a stand-up comic and a divorced father.

And, just to push the boundaries of creativity one level higher, FX is calling it Louis. (Strangely enough, rumor has it there's another pilot already called C.K. about an animated chicken working as a trauma nurse at a downtown hospital in a post apocalyptic future.)

One of the top stand-up comics working today and a former writer for Conan O'Brien and Dana Carvey, C.K. has yet to see his own TV projects take off. His 2006 HBO show Lucky Louie never got on the pop culture radar.

Comedian and actor Louis C.K. recently spoke with the AV Club about his career, including his latest stand-up special for HBO, and his short-lived HBO sitcom, Lucky Louie, an uncensored and often uncomfortably candid series shot like a basic sitcom, but without the restrictions of network TV.

I liked Lucky Louie. I didn't think it was perfect, but those moments I didn't like (stiff dialogue, some moments felt a little too forced) are common for all new shows as they work out the kinks and improve in subsequent seasons.