Illusion and reality in Curb Your Enthusiasm

Finally the Seinfeld reunion story within the story of "Curb Your Enthusiasm," and the story of both revolves around the same theme: will George/Larry get back the girl (i.e., estranged or ex wife). I won't give it away. It's a good episode, though by this time in the series we're pretty used to the Seinfeld cast ten years down the road of life and we don't have the same frisson on seeing them for the first time in an earlier episode. In fact, by the time we see them on set and in character, they look pretty much the same as we remember. The Larry David insanity of this episode involves an extended debate/running gag about the contours of the word "favor": when does it require a tip, when must you return a favor, what's the difference between a favor and a chore, etc. That's the kind of riff he does so well, playing around with the nuances of language, culture, modern life. It must make it hell to be him or to be around hm, but like the best comedians he's always pushing you to think about things in new ways, to see the ordinary in a fresh light - artists do this, too. So much of the show, of this whole season of the show, is about illusion: we really see that the whole Seinfeld show is an illusion, filmed on a set, in Los Angeles, by actors who are by no means anything like the characters they portray, what a shock!, but the beautiful trick of this is we're seeing it within a frame of another comedy, which in its own right is filmed on a set, played by actors, etc. He creates the illusion that he, Larry, is real because the Seinfeld cast is "acting," when of course it's all acting, all illusion - Hollywood.

Why a TV show about a TV show is not a TV show about nothing: Curb Your Enthusiasm

The real fun in watching "Curb Your Enthusiasm" as it winds toward its Seinfeld-reunion conclusion is to see how a TV sitcom is actually managed. It's a real kick to see the Seinfeld set - and watch the cast members look at it in awe, as if it's some kind of national monument (maybe it is). And to watch them read the script of the reunion episode - have to wonder whether it's actually a first read-through or if they did a read-through to prepare for the filming of the read-through. Watching the rehearsal is great, too - again, it seems as if they really are working through the material for the first time, so it's either very well directed to look like a rehearsal, or it really is. The plot is again very clever, but some of the crude sexuality is to me out of place - as if David thinks part of the mission is to make this an x-rated pay cable version of Seinfeld (maybe it is). Well, I guess without the crudity it would be just another Seinfeld episode but without the commercials. How does the cast look? Jerry and Jason have put on pounds, Julia L-D has not - she looks great. Richard (Kramer) looks the same and Newman actually looks a little more svelte. He plays a great cameo in this episode. Lots of fun to watch, as the series builds toward its inevitable conclusion, with the question left unresolved so far: will Larry get Cheryl back? She's cast (in the reunion show within the show) as George's ex, and seems to be playing the part well - I thought they'd have her screw up in some way, but no, at least not yet.

Watching Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld riff: Curb Your Enthusiasm

The Bare Midriff episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" is entirely ridiculous but funny nevertheless. You can't buy into the premise, nor are you meant to do so. Larry is writing the Seinfeld reunion, with Jerry, in one of the studio lot offices - actually, this is some of the most interesting material in the series, as it does give you a pretty good idea as to how these shows are written and it seems to be filmed on the real studio lot. A couple of guys sit in an office with a big whiteboard and riff off each other for hours. A good life - but only a handful of people in the world are good enough to do it well, and of course, their very wit and eccentricity, will constantly keep them on the edge and get them into trouble and ruin their relationships with others, even with other show-business eccentrics. This episode, unlike some of the others, takes a turn toward high camp, as Larry reminds a woman of her exhusband killed in a road rage incident many years back (this is comic, actually), Larry accidentally sprays a Jesus picture with piss that looks like a teardrop, leading people to believe there's been a miracle, and Larry ends up on a rooftop, about to fall from the ledge, saved by hanging onto a woman's fleshy "bare midriff" - well, you can see that this episode pushes the comic high jinx a bit past the breaking point. Best scenes are watching Jerry and Larry play off each other, arguing (in whispers) as to who's going to tell the secretary/assistant to dress properly. They're like a couple of little boys - which is what comics do best. They don't grow up.

Where the actors in wheelchairs disbled actors or just playing them on TV?: Curb Your Enthusiasm

"Curb Your Enthusiasm" continues to be funny in the most surprising, totally un-PC ways, but the humor is always generous and uplifting, you're never laughing at characters, it's never mocking - except for the central character himself, Larry David, who can certainly take it, with his success and prowess. Episode I saw last night - Larry meets girl in coffee shop, asks her out, as she moves around the table he sees to his surprise that she's wheelchair bound. This leads to dilemma for him, but he comes to realize that it will be a great asset to his character to show that he's broadminded enough to date someone "handicapped" (he doesn't quite know how to address this issue: are you handicapped? disabled? challenged? - I am right now, she says). Again, the plot clicks beautifully, with the subplot - his public tiff with Rosie O'Donnell leading to a takedown in a fight over who's picking up the tab for lunch, merging with the main plot, in which Larry invites two "wheelies" to the same private party and both show up - so pushes one date into the coat closet - the two "wheelies" chase him through the house while a classical recital takes place (shades of the Marx brothers), he thinks he'll evade them by going up the stairs, but Rosie picks up the pursuit. Insane, very funny in a wholehearted way. I wonder if the two beautiful women in wheelchairs are actually disabled actors. I hope so - not that I wish those two to be disabled of course, but I think it's great that casting is now seeking disabled actors to play the roles of the disabled - old high-school friend Henry Holden leading the charge on that issue.

A little postmodern music box a show : Seinfeld Reunion episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm

I guess it's no news that "Curb Your Enthusiasm" is consistently funny and well-written. I won't have too much to say about each episode, but the Seinfeld reunion episode, aside from blowing me away once again by the clever plot construction, is an amusing little postmodern music box, as we watch a show about characters talking about a Seinfeld reunion, but of course to bring the actors into the show to talk about the reunion show, which they may never do, Larry David does in fact create the (nonexistant) reunion show. And we experience exactly the kind of displacement that the character, Larry David, frets about: oh, he's gotten fat, she still looks great, he's much more sedate in real life, etc. We're watching the aging actors, not the show. All that set off against the subplot of the head of NBC, based on someone of course (Jeff Zucker?), offers comped Lakers tix but they end up being nosebleeders, which drives Larry D crazy. Most viewers should be pissed off at that - what makes you so special? You, can afford the best seats - you ought to be made to sit in the rafters with the rest of us. What a penance! But it's funny nevertheless as he sees the studio head courtside, with David Spade, and feels slighted and calls him on his cell and, through binocks, watches the exec screen the call. Show is building toward Larry (maybe) getting back with Cheryl, who wants a part in the reunion show. Funny dialogues about type of apology - somewhere between grudging and sincere - and about coordinating the tip when you split the tab.

We know it's funny, but the plots are also so well designed: Curb Your Enthusiasm

"Curb Your Enthusiasm" is, as M notes, an R-Rated Seinfeld. Extremely funny, clever, well written or sketched, and, perhaps surprisingly, well designed. The plots are like tight little well-made plays, every element and shtick introduced in the first moments will come back and play a role. Last night watched episode called vehicular fellatio - i don't need to say more about that - but in addition to loving the humor I greatly admired the construction of the story, the craft: Larry can't open a vacuum-packed package (stabs it, stomps on it, etc, who hasn't done that), goes to his current girlfriend (black woman like a young tina turner improbably moved in with him), she bosses him around, he's got to get out of the relationship, he sees a Dr. Phil show in which the guest is a psychiatrist who counsels cancer patients to leave their toxic relationships, Larry gets his girlfriend (a ca patient) to see this doctor, he acts like a jerk in her office, hoping she'll counsel his girlfriend to leave, on the way to a lecture they see the psychiatrist giving a blow job to her husband, girlfriend repulsed refuses to go to the lecture, Larry disappointed, when he goes to the psych office to pay a bill (don't ask - another funny plot twist) she calls him into her office, he tells why his girlfriend dropped out, dr. denies it, hits him, he goes home - oh, god, i'm not going to explain everything - there are more twists and turns - and it loses everything in the telling. It's all worth it for the crazy arguments he gets into about the most mundane things (who should pay for a pair of broken sunglasses), great show.