''Baskets'' is an American

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

television series that premiered on January 21, 2016, on FX. The series was co-created by Louis C.K.,

Zach Galifianakis Zachary Knight Galifianakis (born October 1, 1969) is an American actor and comedian. He appeared in ''Comedy Central Presents'' special and presented his show ''Late World with Zach'' on VH1. Galifianakis has starred in films including ''Th ...

, and

Jonathan Krisel Jonathan Krisel (; born January 4, 1979) is an American director, producer, writer, editor, and occasional actor. He is best known for co-creating the series ''Portlandia'' (for which he also directed and co-wrote in the majority of episodes), ...

; Krisel is also the

showrunner A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also the ...

and director. Galifianakis stars in the dual lead role as Chip Baskets, a failed professional

clown A clown is a person who performs comedy and arts in a state of open-mindedness using physical comedy, typically while wearing distinct makeup or costuming and reversing folkway-norms. History The most ancient clowns have been found in ...

in Paris, who instead becomes a local

rodeo clown A rodeo clown, bullfighter (in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) or rodeo protection athlete, is a rodeo performer who works in bull riding competitions. Originally, the rodeo clown was a single job combining "bullfightin ...

Bakersfield, California Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...

, and his twin brother, Dale Baskets. Galifianakis, C.K., M. Blair Breard,

Dave Becky Dave Becky is an American comedy talent manager and producer. He works with 3 Arts Entertainment and has more than 100 production credits. He has received nine Emmy nominations for his work as an executive producer on the Netflix series ''Master ...

, Marc Gurvitz and Andrea Pett-Joseph serve as executive producers, with

FX Productions FX Productions (FXP) is an American television and in-house production company owned by FX Networks (and jointed with Disney Television Studios), a division of the Walt Disney Television unit of The Walt Disney Company. The studio currently pr ...

as the production company. In 2017 C.K.'s production company Pig Newton had all ties to the show and FX cut after C.K. admitted to sexual misconduct with five women. On May 24, 2018, FX renewed the show for a fourth and final season, which premiered on June 13, 2019. The series ended on August 22, 2019.

Premise

Chip Baskets aims to become a professional clown. After failing to get a degree at a prestigious clowning school in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, he is stuck with a job at a local

rodeo Rodeo () is a competitive equestrian sport that arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain and Mexico, expanding throughout the Americas and to other nations. It was originally based on the skills required of the working vaq ...

in his hometown of

Cast

Main cast

as twin brothers Chip Baskets and Dale Everett Baskets. * Martha Kelly as Martha Brooks, a low-key insurance agent who is Chip's only friend, tolerating his angry and rude treatment of her. *

Louie Anderson Louis Perry Anderson (March 24, 1953 – January 21, 2022) was an American stand-up comedian, actor, author and game show host. Anderson created the cartoon series '' Life with Louie'' and the television sitcom '' The Louie Show'', and wrote fou ...

as Christine Baskets, mother of Chip and Dale.

Recurring cast

* Sabina Sciubba as Penelope (seasons 1-2, 4), a wealthy young French woman, with a modicum of singing talent. She is married to Chip, but only married him to get a

green card A green card, known officially as a permanent resident card, is an identity document which shows that a person has permanent residency in the United States. ("The term 'lawfully admitted for permanent residence' means the status of having been ...

so that she could live in the United States. *Ernest Adams as Eddie, the owner and manager of the Buckaroo Rodeo, who hires Chip because he will give a job to anyone who actually wants to work there for low pay and at huge risk of injury. *Garry and Jason Clemmons as Cody and Logan Baskets (seasons 1-2, 4), Chip's brothers, who are twins. * Ellen D. Williams as Nicole Baskets, Dale's wife. *

Malia Pyles Malia Leilani Pyles (born July 13, 2000) is an American actress. She is best known for her portrayals of Sarah Baskets on FX's ''Baskets'' and Minnie "Mouse" Honrada in HBO Max's '' Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin''. Early life and educatio ...

as Sarah Baskets, Dale's elder daughter. *Julia Rose Gruenberg as Crystal Baskets, Dale's younger daughter. *Ivy Jones as Grandma (seasons 1-2), Chip and Dale's grandma. *Adam Zastrow (season 1) and Tommy Snider (seasons 2-4) as Jode, a former Clown and current Arby's manager, who dates Trinity and is friends with Chip. *

Maree Cheatham Maree Cheatham (also credited as Marie Cheatham, born June 2, 1940) is an American actress, who is known for her performances on the daytime soap operas ''Days of Our Lives'' (1965–68, 1970–71, 1973, 1994, 1996, 2010), ''Search for Tomorrow'' ...

as Maggie, Christine's friend. *Alex Morris as Ken (seasons 2-4), Christine's new boyfriend, who is a Denver-based carpet supply company owner. * Mary Wiseman as Trinity (seasons 2-4), a former clown and current Arby's worker, who dates Jode and is friends with Chip. *

Peter Jason Peter Edward Ostling (born July 22, 1944), also known as Peter Jason, is an American character actor. He has appeared in over eighty films and a hundred television series. He played Con Stapleton in the series '' Deadwood''. He was a frequent col ...

as Jim (seasons 2-4), Chip and Dale's uncle and Christine's brother. *Ryun Yu as Daniel (seasons 3-4), a reverend. *

Andrea Marcovicci Andrea Louisa Marcovicci ( ro, Marcovici; born November 18, 1948) is an American actress and singer. Life and career Marcovicci was born in Manhattan, to Helen Stuart, a singer, and Eugen Marcovicci, a physician and internist of Romanian desce ...

as Tammy Nielman Zemonski (season 4), a life coach.

Production

In December 2013, Louis C.K.'s production company, Pig Newton, signed a deal with FX for him to create new shows for their various networks. FX ordered a pilot episode for ''Baskets'' with C.K. and Galifianakis to co-write, and Galifianakis to star. On August 27, 2014, FX picked up the show for a 10-episode first season with production to commence in 2015. In November 2017, after Louis C.K. confirmed the sexual misconduct allegations against him were true, FX canceled their overall deal with C.K. and his production company, Pig Newton. C.K. would have no involvement in future seasons of the series. ''Baskets'' incorporated several ideas Galifianakis originally came up with for '' Between Two Ferns: The Movie'' but were discarded early in the film's development.

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2016)

Season 2 (2017)

Season 3 (2018)

Season 4 (2019)

Reception

''Baskets'' has received positive reviews from critics.

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

gives the first season 70% with an average score of 7.4 out of 10, based on 36 reviews. The site's consensus reads, "Though its themes may be unpleasant for some and LOL moments are few and far between, ''Baskets'' succeeds on the strength of its deadpan delivery and terrific cast." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the first season holds a score of 68 out of 100, based on 32 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Accolades

Broadcast

Internationally, the series premiered in Australia on January 26, 2016. It aired in the UK on Fox from April 13, 2017.

References

External links

* * {{Zach Galifianakis 2010s American black comedy television series 2010s American comedy-drama television series 2010s American surreal comedy television series 2016 American television series debuts 2019 American television series endings Cross-dressing in television English-language television shows FX Networks original programming Primetime Emmy Award-winning television series Television shows about clowns Television series about twins Television series by 20th Century Fox Television Television series by 3 Arts Entertainment Television series created by Louis C.K. Television shows set in Bakersfield, California