cheryl hines-related stories
Posted Nov 23rd 2009 8:38AM by Jonathan Toomey
Filed under: OpEd, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free

(
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.
Continue reading Review: Curb Your Enthusiasm - Seinfeld (season finale)
Posted Nov 16th 2009 4:25AM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: OpEd, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(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...
Continue reading Review: Curb Your Enthusiasm - The Table Read
Posted Nov 9th 2009 8:06AM by Jonathan Toomey
Filed under: OpEd, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free

(
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.
Continue reading Review: Curb Your Enthusiasm - Officer Krupke
Posted Nov 2nd 2009 1:10AM by Jonathan Toomey
Filed under: OpEd, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free

(
S07E07)
"Look, it may have been an accident, but you're a murderer." - Marty
Blame is a funny thing. In the absence of facts, the owner of the blame (i.e. the person at fault), is about one thing and one thing only -- public perception. Spin a good yarn and you can make 'em believe whatever you want. However, when you're Larry David, getting past the hurdle of your own reputation can be an issue. If you listen to even half the stuff that Larry says, why would anyone want to believe a guy like him?
Continue reading Review: Curb Your Enthusiasm - The Black Swan
Posted Oct 26th 2009 10:15AM by Jonathan Toomey
Filed under: OpEd, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free

(
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.
Continue reading Review: Curb Your Enthusiasm - The Bare Midriff
Posted Oct 19th 2009 8:40AM by Jonathan Toomey
Filed under: OpEd, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free

(
S07E05)
"Have you noticed if she has any proclivity for chopsticks?" - Larry
It's amazing to me that the main topic of last night's Curb Your Enthusiasm, people in wheelchairs, has never been tackled by Larry before. I'm sure there have been a few wheelchair jokes in the past that I'm forgetting, but this? This was a full-blown, inappropriate mess of incorrectness and every second of it was brilliant. Save for "The Reunion," this was easily the strongest episode of the season. Wheelchairs, wrestling Rosie O'Donnell, and the return of Leon! How can you go wrong?
Continue reading Review: Curb Your Enthusiasm - Denise Handicap
Posted Oct 12th 2009 3:20AM by Jonathan Toomey
Filed under: OpEd, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free

(
S07E04)
"Was there a stipulation on the gift certificate? Three hundred dollars and "take me"?" - Susie
I was afraid this might happen. As exciting as it is, even the long awaited Seinfeld reunion doesn't have the power to sustain an entire season of Curb Your Enthusiasm. After last week's reunion, I expected a lull and with that in mind, there's really no reason to be disappointed because this episode had some very funny moments. Unfortunately, not even Christian Slater's caviar addiction could save the day with such fond memories of last week's landmark half-hour still on my mind.
Continue reading Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Hot Towel
Posted Oct 4th 2009 9:31PM by Jonathan Toomey
Filed under: OpEd, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free

(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.
Continue reading Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Reunion
Posted Sep 27th 2009 11:12PM by Jonathan Toomey
Filed under: OpEd, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free

(
S07E02)
"I don't like you. Why would I want to hug you?" - Larry
Larry David is not all about appearances. It's rare to see him masking his true intentions when most of the time he has absolutely no problem saying how he feels or asking for what he wants. But, much like the episode of this title indicates, when you're talking about a blowjob in a car (or anything crass or uncomfortable), it helps to dress it up a little.
Continue reading Curb Your Enthusiasm: Vehicular Fellatio
Posted Sep 21st 2009 1:02AM by Jonathan Toomey
Filed under: OpEd, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free

(
S07E01)
"I'd rather have the thieves than the neighbors - the thieves don't impose." - Larry
Larry David is back, and I feel uncomfortable. Awkward moments, off-color comments, and instances of sheer disgust were all there in tonight's season premiere of
Curb Your Enthusiasm. If you sit back for a second and actually consider all the different elements that made up this episode, it's pretty impressive. More often than not, an episode of
Curb is just as intricately plotted out as an episode of
Lost.
Continue reading Curb Your Enthusiasm: Funkhouser's Crazy Sister (season premiere)
Posted Mar 30th 2009 7:02PM by Nick Zaino
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Casting, Reality-Free

One of my favorite things that
Reno 911! does is to weave in guest stars with little or no fanfare, and to just let them mix it up with the cast. I smile every time I see Patton Oswalt as a role-playing geek running, in full chainmail, from Dangle & Co. Or Paul Rudd as a Lamaze coach. Or Cheryl Hines as trailer trash (there has been a lot of trailer trash).
It's never a big deal, it's never announced to promote the show. It's just people who are good at what they do goofing off and having a lot of fun, which is what the rest of the cast is doing anyway.
Looks like the new season, which premieres Wednesday at 10:30PM, will continue that tradition. Here's a bit with Jonah Hill, uncensored.
Continue reading New cast members, same old Reno 911! - VIDEO
Posted Mar 25th 2009 11:03AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Interviews, Celebrities, Reality-Free

There aren't many actresses out there that you could affectionately call a "broad," but Megan Mullally's one of them. Ever since she came on the scene a decade ago as the caustic and spoiled Karen Walker on
Will & Grace, Mullally has shown that she can be bawdy with the best of them.
Now, after a foray into the talk show world and a turn as a disabled and ugly -- but desirable -- chief of medicine on Rob Corddry's web series
Children's Hospital, Mullally is back on series TV, on ABC's new comedy
In The Motherhood (premiering Thursday at 8 PM ET), which was based on a
web series that took episode ideas from submissions by real moms. In the series, Mullally plays Rosemary, a "bad ass," as Mullally calls her, who has raised the perfect son even though she's an imperfect mom.
In this quickie interview, Mullally talks about the new show, about a rumor that she was in a catfight with her co-star Cheryl Hines, about how Rosemary and Karen could be the new Odd Couple, and running her Kerry Weaver-esque
Children's Hospital character past Laura Innes.
Continue reading Megan Mullally: The TV Squad Interview
Posted Sep 8th 2008 10:02AM by Brett Love
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
That line between web content and traditional television just continues to get blurrier. ABC has ordered 13 episodes of In The Motherhood. In case you missed it, the show didn't start out with the traditional pilot formula. It's a web-based show starring Jenny McCarthy, Leah Remini, and Chelsea Handler. The three of them play girlfriends and the stories told come from real stories submitted by mothers from across the country. Or, people pretending to be mothers. You can watch it at the show's site, if you're curious.
Continue reading ABC orders In The Motherhood
Posted Jan 8th 2006 2:07PM by Tom Biro
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Cable

On Sunday night, Oxygen debuts its latest comedy,
Campus Ladies, featuring Carrie Aizley as "Joan" and Christen Sussin as "Barri," two
middle-aged women who up and decide to go back to college after catching Barri's husband cheating on her and some time
after the death of Joan's husband. The premiere also features Jane Kaczmarek as the friend who tries to convince Joan
and Barri to give up on this idea, and the whole shebang is produced by Cheryl Hines of
Curb Your Enthusiasm
fame.
The first thing I've got to say is that the whole concept and execution is completely over the top.
Between the ladies somehow impressing the sorority girls enough that they end up dissing roommate Paige (played by
Miranda Kent) to showing Barri hung up in some sort of sex swing at the end of the second show, it's pretty out of
control. If that's not enough proof for you, check out the
first post on the
Campus
Ladies blog, which might add at least one set of words to your phrasebook. Having not watched a ton of Oxygen
programming before (read: none), I can't gauge exactly what level of quality this show is supposed to have, but you can
tell it definitely aspires for
Absolutely Fabulous. Joan and Barri are
pretty much completely clueless when it comes to what's going on on campus, doing exactly what your mom might do were
she put in similar social situations. In a way, that's what made this show a bit predictable. But what caused a few
laughs for me was when everything "worked out" for them and they weren't shunned away. Plus, seeing Joan do
keg stands and watching dorm neighbor Abdul (the Iranian guy who can get you anything you need, including ladies
unmentionables - he thinks) check Barri's tongue for orange condom residue was just too much. If you're into a lot of
"I can't believe they got into that situation" humor (which Ms. Hines is surely responsible for), then this
is probably a show you'll dig.
I'll definitely say that most folks won't "get it" when it comes
to this show, but that's the same for
Curb or
Reno 911, I think. Over at the Oxygen site, the
producers are promoting the show by
offering a free shower gel,
evoking thoughts of the pair doing the "hot naked lady" thing in the dorm shower - a scene that you pretty
much have to see to believe.