(S07E10) "It's the Seinfeld reunion! That's a big deal!" - Cheryl
Yes, it is a big deal. A little over eleven years after we saw Jerry, Elaine, Kramer, and George behind bars, the reunion we've all been waiting for has finally arrived. I'm not sure if this even counts as a category to classify TV shows, but last night's Curb Your Enthusiasm season finale was easily the best "show within a show" episode I've ever seen... of any show.
Jane was kind enough to step in for me and write up last week's penultimate ep and I actually waited until last night to see that one as well -- I watched them back to back. I was struck by how well it all flowed together; how much it actually felt like we were watching a real episode of Seinfeld, even during the table read. However, seeing it play out, scene by scene, in the finale? Talk about nostalgia.
Hey there gentle TV Squad reader! Have you got nothing but time on your hands right now? Do you need a healthy activity to occupy your time? Have you completely lost the will to go on living? Then put down that suicide cocktail and pick a pen or pencil for this "Kramer Counting" challenge!
Someone at Funnyordie.com has compiled all of Cosmo Kramer's entrances from all 174 episodes of Seinfeld into one viral video. I've tried counting them and got three different totals on three different tries. See if you can count the number of entrances. As an added challenge, the only rule I made for myself is that they must include the actual Kramer played by Michael Richards coming through the door, not the guy playing Kramer on Jerry's show-within-a-show, Jerry. I also counted scenes where someone is opening the door for Kramer but not the final scene were Kramer is running out the door.
I gave up during the fourth try since my eyes completely melted out of their sockets, a sign that I should really stop doing something. The same thing happened when I tried to do a review of Michael Strahan's Brothers.
(S07E09) "You don't loan Jason anything ... anything that can be inserted." - Jerry Seinfeld to Larry David, about the pen Larry loaned to Jason Alexander
It's me, the Fill-In Girl! And thank you so much, Jonathan, for leaving me with the mammoth responsibility of writing a thoughtful review about the Seinfeld reunion on Curb Your Enthusiasm. I'll do my best.
First of all, it was really great to see the gang back together again. It's like they've never been apart, and the whole scenario of a behind-the-scenes look at a table read of a Seinfeld reunion show put together by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld was pretty brilliant.
And yet, it fit right in with Curb, bringing in elements like Cheryl being Larry's real wife and are they together or not, and is she a real actress or not...
(S07E08) "Some guy told me to go 'f*ck my face' once. He went to jail." - Officer Krupke
With the Seinfeld reunion coming up quickly (next week's episode is "The Table Read") things kicked into high gear last night on Curb -- especially when it came to the role of Amanda, George Costanza's ex-wife.
It came down to Cheryl and a busy, very popular actress named Virgina Sloane (played by Elisabeth Shue). Right off the bat, that creates a huge conflict since Larry assured Cheryl that she had the role. But beyond that, there were a lot of issues with how "Officer Krupke" played out in terms of conflict. Curb works best when the laughs are organic and too much of this episode felt forced and manufactured.
One of America's greatest TV icons has been officially recognized as one of its greatest humorists. Yes, he's still one of the greatest TV icons, but giving him another honor for his work in TV is like giving Jay Leno a free car.
Bill Cosby received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on Monday at the Kennedy Center.
The event, set for broadcast on PBS on Nov. 4., featured presentations and words from comedy notables such as Chris Rock and Jerry Seinfeld. It also featured a Cosby Show reunion of sorts with Phylicia Rashad and Malcolm-Jamal Warner. It's a good thing Dr. Huxtable didn't take his boy out of the world after all.
(S07E06) "Larry?! You sprayed on Jesus??" - Maureen
For as good an episode as "The Bare Midriff" was, it still had one huge problem that has plagued many past episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm as well. The central conflict -- Maureen's exposed stomach -- was just too much of a stretch (no pun intended). Why's that? The beauty of Curb is how well it sheds light on awkward situations we all relate to. Not so much on this one, because honestly, who in their right mind would think a short shirt like that was work appropriate attire? It wasn't believable, that Maureen thought her shirt was OK for the office. Fortunately, if you were willing to look past the absurdity of the issue, it paid off with arguably one of Curb's top five endings ever.
(S07E03) "This is your plan to get your ex-wife back. Pretty f*cking brilliant if you ask me." - Jeff
Larry David a selfish man? Nooooo. How could someone who's never given, nor has any idea how to give, someone the benefit of the doubt be a selfish guy? Wait - don't answer that. Instead ponder this: the moment we've all been waiting for - the Seinfeld reunion - has finally arrived, and we almost didn't get it because for a brief minute, it hinged on what Larry found more enjoyable, a potential funeral or a potential marriage. Selfish? How about sick.
The beauty of Curb Your Enthusiasm has always been its roots. Born from the mind of a man who launched a show about nothing, Curb is little more than an edgier version that's still... about nothing. It only makes sense that one day we would witness the colliding vortex created by those two masses of nothingness and that day has finally arrived. Well, almost. Season seven of Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm premieres on HBO this Sunday night, September 20, at 9 p.m. ET and having seen the first three episodes, I'll say this about the long-awaited Seinfeld reunion - it's real and it's spectacular.
(S01E01) A lot is riding on this little NBC pet project. Like one-third of their primetime lineup. But despite all their promises and promotions that this was a comedy show, vastly different than Jay Leno's work on The Tonight Show, I saw virtually the same exact show on a different set. That's not necessarily a bad thing if you're NBC. Leno was incredibly successful for a long time on that show. Just call it what it is.
The promise that it would stay topical was brought to fruition. In the opening monologue, just like those Tonight Show monologues of yore, he drops a joke right away about the situation last night at the Video Music Awards involving Kanye West and Taylor Swift. Conveniently, Kanye was a booked guest tonight, as well, so with a little shuffling, he wound up on the chair next to Leno to talk about it.
What if The CW did a new version of Seinfeld the way they've made new, updated versions of Melrose Place and Bevery Hills, 90210? Well, for one thing, there would be a black guy in it! Here's the video from Funny or Die.
As a bonus, we get a sneak peek at another CW remake, ER.
It's been a while since we brought you news that Jessica Seinfeld (Jerry's wife) was being sued for copyright infringement and trademark violations for her book Deceptively Delicious. Author Missy Chase Lapine had accused Seinfeld of copying from her book, The Sneaky Chef, which came out several months before Seinfeld's similar book. Both books feature ways to get your kids to eat healthier foods.
If you're a Seinfeld fan, that is. If you're not a Seinfeld fan, please scroll up or down.
This week's Entertainment Weekly features a new photo of the cast for their Curb Your Enthusiasm guest appearances with Larry David. The cast will be in several episodes this season, playing themselves. The plot will have David getting them together for the Seinfeld reunion that fans want to see and we'll get a behind-the-scenes look at the fictional reunion and the fictional making of that reunion, which itself will be a real reunion.
When it was announced recently that Jay Z, Kanye West and Rihanna would be the guests on The Jay Leno Show on Monday, September 14, I wondered if this was a mini-Grammy Awards show. With all those musical guests, would there be time for jokes? Well, I think Jay must have wondered that, too, because fellow comedian Jerry Seinfeld is also going to be on The Jay Leno Show premiere.
I like Jerry, but I have to admit I'm not too impressed by this booking. It's not like Jerry is a stranger to TV. He's on all the time, and I don't mean the reruns of Seinfeld. Bob posted about Jerry doing commercials in Australia.
Joel reported from the Television Critics Association tour yesterday about the Seinfeld reunion that will take place on Curb Your Enthusiasm this season. Now HBO has released the first photo.
If the meta-ness of my headline confuses you, I apologize. It's the best way I could phrase it, because it's kind of mind-blowing in concept.
At today's HBO session at the TCAs, Larry David came on stage to talk about the upcoming season of Curb Your Enthusiasm. In it, as we all know, he'll be reuniting the Seinfeld cast on the show. And what will they be doing? They'll be working on... a Seinfeld reunion episode.
"The context is that for years I've been asked about a Seinfeld reunion," said David, "and i'd say no it's a lame idea. And then i thought it might be very funny to do that on Curb, and I kept thinking about it and different scenarios of how to pull it off."
When he talked to Jerry Seinfeld and the cast about it, they were all game. "So doiung a Seinfeld reunion show on Curb we'll see writing read through rehersals show being filmed. You won't see the entire show, you'll see parts of the show get an idea of what happened eleven years later."