In his seminal video essay “Los Angeles Plays Itself,” a definitive exegesis on the sprawling metropolis and its depiction on screen, critic Thom Andersen takes issue with the city’s nickname. “People blame all sorts of things on the movies,” Andersen argues. “I blame them for the custom of abbreviating the city’s name to ‘L.A.’” Andersen deems the moniker “a slightly derisive diminutive” that indicates “a city with an inferiority complex.” Worst of all, he laments, “When people say ‘L.A.,’ they often mean ‘show business.’”

The HBO comedy “I Love L.A.” is aptly named, because this is not a show about Los Angeles, a diverse and multitudinous place that can’t be defined by a single industry. It’s a show about L.A., or even “L.A.” in quotation marks: a blank canvas for projection by haters a

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