Note to ambitious young TV writers and producers: The crasser, more debased, more vicious and gutter-brow your offering, the better the likelihood of critical acclaim. Just ask the gang at HBO’s “Girls.” The show’s squalid, morally desolate portrait of its characters and their situations has won it critical raves for its “realism” – a pretty depressing commentary on the culture.

The “less (taste) is more” rule is certainly in effect with a bizarre sitcom on the FX network called “Louie.”