Seinfeld good, Larry Sanders different league.

You know it makes sense!!

True, 'The Larry Sanders Show' is brilliant. In my last post, I stated that Seinfeld was the best sitcom I've ever seen. I was not thinking of The Larry Sanders Show when I said that. I'll say this: They're my TWO favorite sitcoms.Of course, it benefits from being on HBO where the characters can say the REAL things that REAL people say (including foul language that makes shows more realistic).

Imagine if the Seinfeld characters could curse. Just look how funny the one episode where they kept 'bleeping' out the curse words was.

Michael wrote in message ...

louv wrote:

What difference does that make? Cursing in itself is not funny. So what if it makes a show more realistic? It doesn't mean the show's better or funnier because of it. In the episode you mention, it was the bleeping that was funny, and the way they constructed that plot around it. It wouldn't have been half as funny if we had actually heard the words. Seinfeld's funny enough like it is; there's no need to toss in a lot of language just to make it more realistic.

Keith Davenport wrote:

I also enjoy The Larry Sanders show. Although it is well written it follows a formula that is just too predictable. Rip Torn does a great acting job as Arthur. I just watched The Cincinnati Kid where he played Slade, (a mean vile character), while TLS show was on - so I flipped - it was interesting to see the actor in a part 30 years ago and now - at the same time - twilight zone sort of...

The main difference between the shows is that we can all identify with the characters in Seinfeld - we see a little of ourselves and others in what they do. The Larry Sanders Show has characters that we watch. I feel more like a voyeur watching that show than an audience.

And about the language, Jerry as a comedian, decided early in his career he would not resort to foul language to get easy laughs. Notice all the sexual themes he did on the show - masturbation, homosexuality, oral sex, birth control, sexual deals, group sex, etc... but never used a dirty word in those or any other episode. That's intelligent writing.

The News Guy(Mike) wrote in message [email]...

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Good point Mike but he did devote an entire episode to the question in "The Non-Fat Yogurt" where he gets caught swearing in front of a kid. He was bleeped out of course and even moralized on the subject which is something he rarely does.

Mo

My point was not that cursing automatically makes it funny. It was that, as in real life, most people (not all, but most) come upon situations in life where they curse. I didn't say it is funnier because they curse. Just more realistic. And I didn't blast Seinfeld at all. I said that Seinfeld and The Larry Sanders Show are my two favorite sitcoms. I didn't even say which I prefer, because quite honestly, I don't know.

Keith Davenport wrote in message ...

louv wrote:

I see your point, and I agree with you. Both shows are great, and there's no point debating which is better. My point was that the fact that the characters don't curse on Seinfeld often serves to make the show funnier. They are forced to find other words to express the same ideas, and the results are some of the best wordplay on television. For example, much of the humor in "The Contest" came from the way the characters completely avoided saying the word "masturbation". There was also the great "this-that" conversation in "The Deal" and George's hilarious "it moved" speech, when he is worried that enjoying a massage from a man makes him homosexual.