Compared to SATC and 6FU, there is no character development. But the show is consistently funny and entertaining. I think people don't have a feel for the characters, like they did George or Kramer. Larry does have that lost look as he screws up, like George used to have, the latest example being when he messed up the baptism.
Mostly, the plots are well-crafted, like the episode where he's caught in the bathroom and the little girl goes screaming to her parents that he has something hard in his pants. The whole ep. sets up that one gag.
Yeah the show is totally centered around Larry and this limits the show. It's basically a show with just George with no other characters like Jerry, Elaine, or Kramer to make up sub-plots. I think Larry is a bit too edgy for the mass-public to like him; they would hate him too much. I myself love it but, I have a weird sense of humour.
The last few episodes have been very ironic and well executed,often linking the begining to the very end like you mentioned. I'm hoping there is a 3rd season in the works. Anyone know?
HBO only. It's now ending it's second season of ten episodes. It's created by and features Larry David, the co-creator of Seinfeld and the person on whom George is based.
For example, a couple of episodes featured Larry and Jason Alexander trying to develop a show. Jason says something like he's sick of being typecast as George, who did idiotic things. This sets Larry off, who says he stole an answering machine tape and was in the contest.
But they don't delve too much on his connection to Seinfeld, just the stupid situations he gets himself into.
<<<But they don't delve too much on his connection to Seinfeld, just the stupid situations he gets himself into.>>>
His connection to "Seinfeld" is mentioned on nearly every episode. That's what Larry David (both the TV character and real guy) is best known for. Not too many "Sour Grapes" references, though.
^^^^^^ "Art is often hailed as the grandest expression of human spirit, but we know now ... that the grandest expression of human spirit is whatever it takes for a man or woman to rush back into a burning building to save more people."
For me, that was close. It was a fine moment, definitely in the Top 5. But personally, the poolside "Cobb's Salad" screaming match with the guy in the wheelchair just destroyed me and still does every time I see it.
"...The Cobb Salad was invented by Bob Cobb in 1936..." in that "nyanny nyanny poo poo" kind of voice...said by a grown man. Holy Crap. Absolutely trumps anything on a network prime time sitcom right now...
Also in my Top 5 would be the HBO meeting about the Shrimp Salad.
Larry David's Character on TV is prime for study at the collegiate level for film majors and writers. One of the most intriguing aspects of Larry on "Curb Your Enthusiasm" is that at the first sign of trouble, Larry panics. He empties his gun. He grabs anything he can to take whatever cheap shot he has to take, even if it makes him seem petty, like in the argument with the HBO guy over the shrimp salad. And, the beauty of it is the ammunition for those cheap shots is all so delicately and inconspicuously set up at the beginning of the episode.
I say that Larry David has reinvented the sitcom with "Curb." What's gonna be lame is when one of the broadcast networks wheels out their version with their own "scripts" and their own hand-chosen "star" to try to capitalize on Larry's popularity with a "Curb"-type prime-time show. They'd be better off hiring Larry to become a consultant who comes in and fixes what's wrong with the sitcoms they already have on the air instead of using that money to try to make their own Curb-type "It's Like, You Know" series (**ack**).
I really, really, hope Larry keeps doing this show...even if it's just a few episodes a year it gives us some quality TV to look forward to. And, also to see how/if Larry's Character evolves. He has many, many options.
Yeah but I see bits of George in this obsession with trivia, like the origin of the Cobb salad. And as the show alluded to, David is suppose to be mega-rich after his Seinfeld deal. So for him to nitpick about how many shrimp he got is like George thinking that the actor playing Kramer in the Jerry sitcom pilot stole the box of raisins.
When Seinfeld started out, they made a big deal about how the show was about nothing. I think Larry David himself made up some slogan, like "No hugs, no learning" to denote that Seinfeld was not going to be sentimental nor was it going to try to advance some socially-positive message. But from this social satire beginnings, the character did develop distinctive traits. By the end of the show, the characters were protrayed as selfish, immature types. Could be that David is trying to go back to pure satire and is not interested in character development at all. It's well-known that David was not involved with Seinfeld in the end.
The other part is the crude language, which is used effectively. Like Julia Louis Drefus said, HBO is liberating because she gets to say "fuck" or "cocksucker."
I laugh so hard I almost cry in nearly every episode but one of my favorites is the one where his wife thinks he has a fetish for large asses. He of course denies it by burying himself deeper as only Larry can do. ......The look on her face at the end of the show when she opens up the letter/ticket from DMV and theres the pic...a rather wide rearend of the mom of his agent with him staring right at it. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh poor larry
Very interesting. As any Seinfeld fan worth his salt (salt? "These pretzels are making me thirsty!" ) knows, Bob Cobb was the 'real' name of The Maestro, played by Mark Metcalf. I wonder if there's a connection.
I think Larry David is basically using this show to burn off old "Seinfeld" scripts that never made it. Many of his little back-and-forths are distictly Seinfeldian, as are the subplots where tiny aspects of society are held under scrutiny. I caught the Halloween episode where his house was vandalized after he refused treats to some kids who weren't wearing costumes. His rationale was that they had to at least have made an attempt in order to 'earn' the treat. Anyway, he called the cops but they refused to file a report, they said "on any other night, sure", but not on Halloween. They got into this big discussion on 'social contracts' and basically David was left frustrated. This could have *easily* been a Seinfeld episode plot, and I'd bet anything that that's what it was originally intended to be.
Dave (would *much* rather have seen Costanza left frustrated.)