Going from a show about nothing to a show about people yelling at each other is quite the leap but after watching all seven seasons of Curb Your Enthusiasm I can see Larry David’s work all over Seinfeld.
After hearing about the Seinfeld reunion on Curb Your Enthusiasm I watched “The Table Read”, laughed a lot, and decided it was worth it to start from the awkward and uncomfortable beginning. Jenna and I started at the beginning and loved it. It was awkward, embarrassing and hilarious all in one. Curb Your Enthusiasm is far from work safe, but you get so emerged in the dialog that you may not recognize vulgar language until some says something incredibly offensive and then you realize what you are watching.
Classic moments were Larry’s drawn out “pretty good” and whenever he would stare someone down hoping to see the truth in their eyes. Surprisingly, both moments were in a single scene here. Nearly every episode would have us performing some variation of a face palm or head hold while we questioned Larry’s actions. For the most part Larry David was put in terrible circumstances by doing what he thought was right or fair, but it was never seen that way.
The show would bring socially accepted situations or behaviors into question. Things that are accepted “as is” for most of us would get Larry involved in a shouting match with a complete stranger. The show does have a lot of yelling, which is mostly due to not having a script, but that’s how real life goes. You don’t pause for crowd reaction, you continue talking and if you are trying to make a point you just talk louder and force the other person out of the conversation.
In a lot of ways Curb Your Enthusiasm mirrored Seinfeld where nothing would happen. With the exception of a few seasons (The Producers, Seinfeld and restaurant opening) the others carried on without incident and would follow Larry and his friends around various stories and antics. Richard Lewis needing a kidney was a big story but I can’t remember what else happened in that season or how it related. The problem with binging on a show, especially one where the seasons just happen is that you can easily forget what one season was about to the next.
One thing there was never a shortage of was celebrity name drops and appearances from a familiar face. After a while you get used to seeing Ted Danson around or just expect Ben Stiller to be in the next episode, and it was refreshing to have other actors just show up, similar to Entourage but in greater quantity.
After Curb Your Enthusiasm I may venture into It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia to continue the comedy against heavy dramas like Deadwood or Mad Men.
I loved that episode of CYE where evnryoee kept telling Larry what an asshole loser George is, not realizing that he’s based on Larry and that Larry actually likes him. Then he’d get all pissed and fight about it with Jason Alexander who may or may not be playing himself while the real Larry is playing a more georgish version of himself, arguing with the guy who plays George about whether or not George and therefore Larry is an asshole. That scene was more meta than Inception which is exactly why you shouldn’t watch Curb without having watched Seinfeld.Anyway, I too relate to George instead of Larry. Mainly because he’s more neurotic and because unlike Larry, he’s broke and doesn’t have a hot wife.