Showtime renews Californication for a fourth season

Little more than a week after Season 3 of Californication premiered to record-breaking numbers, Showtime announced today that it wants more of David Duchovny and the rest of the cast from the raunchy comedy.

The network’s president of entertainment, Bob Greenblatt, said Showtime expects to air a 12-episode fourth season in 2010.

Season 3 opened with viewership up by 57 percent from Season 2 (the lead-in from a record-breaking Dexter premiere sure didn’t hurt).

So far, just two episodes into Season 3, Hank’s already knocked a teetotaling professor off the wagon, offended the dean at the university that’s hired him to teach creative writing, and alienated young Becca, whose adolescent angst has fully taken root.

Tune in this weekend to see who our favorite washed-up writer pisses off, and who he turns on. Californication airs on Sundays at 10 p.m. Eastern.

Image: Courtesy of Showtime