Curb Your EnthusiasmReturning tonight after an almost two-year hiatus, HBO's Emmy winning Outstanding Comedy Series stars cantankerous misfit Larry David, co-creator of the historic Seinfeld show. This man was the real-life inspiration for George Costanza, a bit of trivia noted on this show as actual Seinfeld actors and other famous people appear as themselves here. Yes, in real life, Larry won a certain "contest" and ate pastry that he found in a garbage can, etc., just like lovable loser George Costanza did on TV.
A sometimes tough series to watch and appreciate, each cringe-inducing episode basically builds to a climax based upon a sequence of misunderstandings involving its unlikable, annoying main character, Larry David, who (like Seinfeld) basically seems to playing himself as in real life. Sometimes the payoff works and sometimes not, but what is fascinating to me, besides the Seinfeld-type humor turned up a notch, is that this show is shot without a script. Larry himself, a producer and writer of many of Seinfeld's classic episodes, creates a basic outline for each show, upon which the actors improvise lines in every scene. Fascinating!
YouTube clips (warning: adult language)
3 comments:
Hi Jerry,
It's Elizabeth, your friend Mary L.'s sister!
I was going through my bookmarks and I found your blog. I guess Mary must have sent it to me ages ago (or something).
I am so excited that the new season of Curb Your Enthusiasm has started. It's def. one of my favorite shows of all time (B and I have watched each series at least twice). We don't have cable, so we'll have to wait until the DVD comes out, but the good thing is that we can then watch them all at once in a huge marathon.
P.S. I think that Elvis peanut butter cup thing sounds disgusting!
It was great to hear from you, Elizabeth! I thought about looking up you and Bruce during my recent visit to Portland, but that was quite a hectic week and I couldn't get it together.
Regarding Curb, a third of the way into the new season and it is very uneven so far. The first episode simply was not funny. The second was funny, but had some needlessly gross elements. The third was a little better... it seems like it always takes a few episodes to get things up to speed. Many people regard Season Five as the weakest so far, but I really, really liked Kamikaze Bingo, The Ski Lift (best ending ever!), and, to a lesser extent, The Korean Bookie... those three may be my favorites of all time so far. My least favorite season was Four, when Larry joined the case of The Producers and had permission to cheat on his wife... lame.
Stay tuned!
I don't yet know how to edit these comments to correct spelling and tighten things up, sorry...
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