What we read while hiding our golf clubs…

• Food is a big part of Thanksgiving. Which food that is, though, depends in part on what region of the country you’re from. Check out this “infographic” which shows where search queries for different Thanksgiving foods came from geographically.

• Excellent news on the horizon for Aziz Ansari fans: Judd Apatow’s production company has picked up three movies from him and Jason Woliner, including one based on the Randy character from Funny People.

• In honor of Tim and Pierre’s massive waste of a live blog of the Grey Cup, here’s some of Chuck Klosterman’s infamous hypotheticals. Don’t see the connection? Scroll down to No. 9. We’re pretty sure Tim’s crystal ball vision was reified on Sunday, November 29, 2009.

• John S offered his take on the most recent season of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Here are Alan Sepinwall’s thoughts on the season finale, as well as Jonathan Toomey’s of the TV Squad. But I don’t think you’ve heard the last from NPI on this….

• Ever wonder how those quote excerpts from reviews about movies are chosen and edited? Here’s a mildly satisfactory explanation.

• The Blind Side was just made into a movie and is getting pretty good reviews. Here is Michael Lewis’s original NYT Magazine article on Michael Oher.  Michael Lewis’s seminal sports book, Moneyball,  played a pretty big role in previous posts by Josh and John S.

• Speaking of baseball and sabermetrics, as free agency hits, here’s an older piece from Patrick Brown of The Millions about baseball and its relationship with the Internet, including an in-depth analysis of gamecasts and the polarizing nature of J.D. Drew.

• For people who like movies and graphs, it doesn’t get much better than xkcd’s breakdown of Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Jurassic Park in graphical terms. Or does it? Vodkaster put together a subway map of the 250 best movies of all time, with different genres represented as different lines. Excellent stuff.

Yes, that’s what it felt like earlier this week when I caught the last episode of the current season of Curb Your Enthusiasm; Larry David’s hilarious comedy on HBO.

For all of you whom I don’t wish to know who do not know who Larry David is; he only just created Seinfeld along with Jerry Seinfeld all those years ago.

Anyway he plays himself in CYE and in the current season he gets back the old cast for a Seinfeld reunion culminating in last night’s episode.  So my reality twisted and my perception of what was real warped as I watched Larry play himself, Larry play George for a minute whose character is based on Larry, Jerry playing himself playing himself etc etc.

It was sublime. I loved it. It had quotables, it had Seinfeldisms and it had Larry Davidisms

…on the other hand…..

….Mocha Joe!………….

…….do you respect wood?…………..

…….acting without acting……………….

……Madoff!…………………

from http://bonkersinhonkers.wordpress.com

I’m a bit late with this review (it’s the one with the bare midriff).  Taken in the round, this was probably no more than average ‘Curb’.  But it was elevated by – and you know what I’m going to say here – the scenes in which Jerry Seinfeld and Larry sat back and shot the shit.  I mean, c’mon – it was like getting a window into the creative process which fuelled ‘Seinfeld’ itself as Jerry and Larry riffed on the appropriate use of the car horn, and the unfeigned pleasure they were clearly both taking from it was the icing on the cake.  Larry could hardly keep a straight face, and generally didn’t even try.

(As for the spurious controversy about the splashback and the picture, I’m not going there.  Except to say this: as an adherent, more or less, of the faith which was allegedly being mocked – come off it.  We’re big boys and girls, are we not?)

Happy Slapsgiving, or Thanksgiving everyone.  At this time every year the writers of JoeOnTheTube get together in one post and talk about what they are thankful for as far as TV goes.  I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

DarinIsLost-

• I’m thankful for Lost.  It has survived long enough to come to its natural conclusion.  Most serialized TV shows get cancelled before their time and an ending is simply fabricated.  Let’s hope they end this right.
• I’m thankful for being able to pause live TV.  I can start an American Idol results show 2/3 of the way through, skip past all of the filler and still catch the ending right along with the rest of the world.

JoanieCan’tDance-

• This year I am thankful for Psych, How I Met Your Mother, The Office & 30 Rock for making me laugh; All the Real Housewife’s for sharing all the crazy drama; and to SYTYCD for the entertainment. I am also thankful for my DVR. Without you, I would never get to enjoy all of my favorite shows.

Morate-

• The return of Curb Your Enthusiasm. The near-heroic levels of sarcasm on this show warm my heart. It’s been nice to see the Seinfeld cast again too, but Larry’s the true star of the show.
• I’m not sure who gave the programming controls to the Metalheads out there, but I’d like to buy them a shot of Jagermeister. VH1’s That Metal Show and Fuse’s Talking Metal are standouts of the resurgence. Rawk!
• Via Netflix, I’m catching up on Dexter. I totally missed it the first time around due to my lack of Showtime. This show is dark and dirty, and did I mention the main character has very few redeeming qualities? I can see why the networks were so afraid of this show. Dig it.
• The wife is thrilled to have a second helping of So You Think You Can Dance this fall. And, as you married guys know, it’s good to have a happy wifey.

Her & Him-

• HER: Tony’s truth serum induced rescue of Ziva on the season opener of NCIS.
  HIM: I absolutely love NCIS. The season opening was pretty great.
• HER: The Good Wife.
  HIM: Have never seen The Good Wife – don’t need to, I already have one. (Love ya babe)
• HER: Tom DeLay’s broken whatever that finally bumped him off Dancing With the Stars since the judges were apparently too dumbstruck by his ridiculous old man Republican hip shakin’ booty to do it.
  HIM: Ok, I’ll say it, I’m ok watching Dancing With the Stars – the women’s dance outfits are worth the time.
• HER: My husband doesn’t watch NASCAR.
  HIM: I don’t get NASCAR – go straight, turn left, go straight, turn left – um, ok?!
• HER: Phineas and Ferb.
  HIM: Phineas and Ferb
• HER: My daughter has finally outgrown Noggin.
  HIM: Unfortunately, she’s picked up watching videos on CMT with her mom. :-/
• HER: PBS.
  HIM: PBS is now on our radar again.
• HER: There are only a few weeks when the Mavericks and the Rangers overlap. Even fewer since the Rangers blew the last half of the season.  (I’m not saying I’m thankful the Rangers blew the last half of the season. I was rooting for them. But come on, how freaking long can one season be? Oh wait, that question can be answered by the NBA.)
  HIM: Yep, I love watching sports on TV
• HER: Grey’s Anatomy is good again.
  HIM: Grey’s Anatomy is good again.
• HER: That we only have one TV in our house and I am frequently reminded of the depths of my husband’s love. Case in point – last night, he watched Donnie Osmond take home the Glitter Ball trophy on Dancing With the Stars, even though the Mav’s were playing.  I’ll return the favor, of course, when I watch seven football games with him on Sunday. But that’s why God created DVR. Which I’m also thankful for.
  HIM: Yep, I love watching sports on TV

JoeOnTheTube-

• I’m thankful for my wife, who let’s me watch as much TV as I want.  I’m thankful for my newborn son whom I look forward to imparting my love of TV on, but I promise to make sure he goes outside and plays as well.
• I’m thankful that Ed O’Neill and Katey Sagal, or Peg and Al Bundy one of the most iconic married couples in the history of television, have found home on two of the best shows on TV.
• I’m thankful for the two best new shows of the season, Modern Family and Glee.
• I’m thankful for HBO and their wonderful shows True Blood, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Big Love, Bored To Death, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency,and of course the upcoming mini-series The Pacific.
• I’m thankful that AMC has started producing quality television that rivals any other network on TV, including HBO.  Mad Men and Breaking Bad are both amazing.
• I’m thankful that Kurt Sutter created the world of Sons of Anarchy, and took us along for the ride.  As season two comes to an end I can honestly say that I believe it is currently the best hour of TV on.
• I’m thankful for the great people who write for this blog.  You make my life easier, and I really appreciate it.
• I’m thankful for this blog and all its readers.  When I started this thing about a year and a half ago I never imagined that anyone aside from a few of my friends and family would read it.  This month we’ve had over 30,000 visitors, and that blows my mind.  We have some big changes coming up, and I hope that everyone keeps coming back.  As long as you are reading we will be watching.

Solid ending to Curb Your Enthusiasm on Sunday.  I think Seinfeld in clips is better than most programs on TV.  Only Larry could care about rings on a table.  I did not realize Virginia was Elizabeth Shue.  Where has she been?  All is right with the world and I suspect this is the final season of Curb.  Though if I were NBC, I would offer Seinfeld part ownership of the network to put a show on TV.  Nothing could possibly beat last week’s episode with Michael Richards who might have won  an Emmy for his role.  Him and the Black Jew might have been the funniest thing ever put on TV.

Interview by Sarah Toshiko on Wednesday, November 25, 2009.

So Eric!! Hiiii!! I haven’t seen you in a minute! First off I just want to thank you so much for doing this interview with me.  I will be honest, I’m semi afraid of how ridiculous your answers are gonna be….HAHA.  So you’re having a great year as I can see!  I just saw you on the finale of Curb Your Enthusiasm, which is my favorite show!  Let’s get this interview started…shall we? :

1. So…. how did you even get started in acting/comedy?

Doing open mics in boston. Shit sucked.

2.OOOh…ouch, open mics are so hard!  What would be a dream part for you to get, or who would you want to work with?

I wanna work with OJ Simpson. i think it’d be intense.

3.OJ Simpson….yes that would be “killer” to work with that guy *cough*.  So who are some people you look up to and admire?

Mike Tyson, Noam Chomsky, Leslie Nielsen, Margaret Mead,”Weird Al” Yankovic, Latrell Sprewell.

4.What are some roles that people might have seen you in?

I was in Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Invention of Lying recently.

5. AWESOME!!! Do you love what you do for a living?

Kinda. It’s up and down, you know?   I feel like my mind is like a rubix cube with half of the stickers peeled off.

6. I feel that way all the time…when I drink.  So if you were offered a million dollars to eat raw horse testicles, or kiss a man who has walked barefoot in dog pee for the last 3 hours, which would you choose?

Hmmmmmmm… can i pick both?

Yes.  Yes you can Eric.  But unfortunately that voids out the million dollars.  But at least you leave with something after this interview right?   Thank you soooooo much for doing this interview with me and not scaring away all my readers with your answers….your hair might though.  Kidding.

-Sarah

In case we haven’t made it clear yet, we’re pretty big fans of Curb Your Enthusiasm here at NPI, and we were rather excited for Season Seven. Now that Season Seven has concluded, though, it’s worthwhile to go back and compare our expectations to what we actually got.

Back when F.P., Josh and I went over our expectations for this season, I mentioned that I thought Larry’s relationship with the Blacks would be the main storyline of this season, with a potential Larry/Loretta/Cheryl love triangle developing; the Seinfeld reunion, I said, would be more of a secondary plotline. Well, I was right that the Seinfeld reunion was not the primary story: the show was only central to three episodes, and incidental to two others. But I was way off on the Blacks. Loretta and her family were sent packing in the second episode of the season, “Vehicular Fellatio.”

I can’t say I was upset by this development. I thought there was a lot of potential in the Larry/Loretta pairing, but, as Josh and F.P. each pointed out, there was also the tendency to do trite or obvious jokes with them. Season Six and the first two episodes of this season gave Larry plenty of opportunity to flesh out his dynamic with the Black family. And while the first two episodes were very strong—particularly the second episode (“Do you know what it’s like to have cancer?” “No, but I know what it’s like to be with someone who has cancer.”)—I never really missed Loretta or Auntie Rae during the rest of the season.

What made the decision to ditch the Blacks even more palatable was the decision to keep Leon. Leon’s announcement that he did not plan on leaving with the rest of the Blacks was one of the best lines of the season:

Larry: “So I guess this means you’ll be…”

Leon: “—going upstairs and eating this fucking Chinese food in my fucking room.”

Leon is probably the best character added to the show since Marty Funkhouser, so keeping him around was a smart move. But Leon must have spent a lot of time eating that Chinese food. For some reason, he only appeared in two episodes after the show made a point of keeping him. Hell, Jeff’s daughter had almost as much screen time. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the two episodes in which Leon did appear (“Denise Handicapped” and “The Table Read”) were the best of the season.

“The Table Read” was a particularly brilliant episode, as it gave Leon the opportunity to interact with the Seinfeld cast, and Michael Richards the opportunity to address his controversy. The show handled this rather delicate scenario rather well, showing that Richards was contrite, but willing to poke fun at himself. It also led to one of the funniest scenes of the season, with Leon pretending to be Danny Duberstein.

Besides Leon’s scene with Richards, though, the penultimate episode of the season was strong from top to bottom. It was the rare instance of pretty much every joke working, from Larry getting into a texting relationship with a nine-year-old (“NO I DON’T WATCH WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE! I’M AN ADULT!!!!!!!!!”), Marty Funkhouser’s lurking around the set, to Larry David stand-by jokes about tipping and germophobia. It also gave us the first look at what the fake Seinfeld reunion show looked like.

One of the recurring jokes throughout this season was other characters repeatedly saying that a reunion show could “make up for the finale,” despite Larry’s adamant insistence that the Seinfeld finale was a good one. I’ve always been on the fence with regard to the Seinfeld finale: On the one hand, there were almost certainly funnier ways for the show to end. On the other hand, I feel like there would have been no ending for a show as plotless—even by comedy standards—as Seinfeld that would have satisfied everyone. Most sitcoms have a romantic plot that the finale can conclude (Friends, Cheers, The Wonder Years) or some other natural endpoint, such as a radio show ending (Frasier), kids moving out/away (Fresh Prince, Boy Meets World), or criminal charges being dropped (Arrested Development). Seinfeld, though, was a show about nothing, so having a finale in which “something” happens would betray that ethos. At the same time, though, a finale in which nothing happens would seem anticlimactic.

The Curb quasi-reunion demonstrated the kind of bind a finale/conclusion puts Larry and Jerry in. The plot of the reunion show is George’s attempt to win back his ex-wife, but this is clearly just an excuse for the Larry of the show to write about his own life (as he did by putting elements of his “life” on Curb into the fictional reunion, including the plots of “The Doll” and “The Car Pool Lane” in the Seinfeld script) and cast Cheryl in the show as part of his plot to win back his ex-wife.

I’m quite confident in saying that, were this a real reunion show, I would be pretty underwhelmed. For one, the plot we get to see reveals a Seinfeld universe that is more or less the same and yet jarringly different. Jerry lives in the same apartment and they’re all still friends, but Elaine has a kid? And Jerry was the sperm donor? And George was briefly a millionaire? Even more out of character, the fake reunion included jokes about Bernie Madoff and iPhone apps; one thing that made Seinfeld great was its resistance to doing anything for the sake of appearing “edgy” or “relevant” or “contemporary”—the show just was those things, without taking jokes from the headlines. And as for the romantic plot of the finale, well, Larry probably put it the best in the finale: “We don’t do endings like that. It’s all bullshit. What couples get together at the end?”

I’m not quite sure if this was intentional—the Larry of Curb seemed satisfied with the reunion show—but the message of the finale-within-the finale seemed to be, “See? You wouldn’t really have liked any finale I could have given you.” That doesn’t mean it didn’t lead to some very good Curb moments, though. Adding Jerry into the mix allowed us to see the clear rapport between he and Larry fuction somewhere besides the commentaries on Seinfeld DVDs. The tension between Larry and the rest of cast also led to some great moments, such as Larry calling Jason Alexander’s book (Acting Without Acting) a pamphlet. And even if the episode they were filming wasn’t one I wanted to see, getting a look at what it was like to film and create one of the greatest shows of all time added some excitement to the last two episodes.

The final two episodes also brought the central story of this season—Larry’s attempt to win back Cheryl—to a natural conclusion. For a while, it almost seemed like Larry David’s take on a pedestrian romantic comedy, as Cheryl overhears Larry confess his love for her through her car’s tinted windows (the very windows Larry himself had chided earlier in the episode) and comes to Larry’s house for the finale. But, of course, Larry can’t leave well enough alone, and he interrupts their make-up scene to ask Cheryl to call Julia Louis-Dreyfus and admit that she was the one who left the ring stain on her coffee table. It’s open to interpretation whether or not this is just a return to form for Larry and Cheryl, or if this will be enough to prove to Cheryl that Larry has not changed at all.

Overall, Season Seven started very strong, with the conclusion of the Black storyline and the introduction of the Seinfeld reunion, and ended very strong, with the casts of both shows coming together. Unfortunately, there was kind of a lag in between. The middle of the season featured only one standout episode (“Denise Handicapped”), with two average ones (“Officer Krupke” and “The Black Swan”) and two sub-par episodes (“The Hot Towel” and “The Bare Midriff”); for a show as consistently great as Curb Your Enthusiasm, this was a rather disappointing stretch. I’m going to resist making broad judgments like “Worst Season Ever” or “This Show’s on Its Last Legs,” because Curb is a show that often watches better the second time, and because the last two episodes were so satisfying overall. We probably won’t see Curb on again until 2011 at the earliest, but if and when an eighth season comes around, you can expect another epic NPI preview.

* Sad: Republicans have successfully convinced their followers that climate change isn’t real.

* Nate Silver: How Bad Could Obama Screw Up and Still Beat Sarah Palin?

* Ezra Klein on fixing the filibuster and SCOTUSblog on fixing the Court.

* Blueprints for nerds. Via Kottke.

* New Jersey in the news! This one seems a bit too much, even for Jersey.

* From Dan’s Facebook feed: Behind the scenes of Curb Your Enthusiasm: Jason teaches Larry how to be George.

* And, from Tim, Muppet Bohemian Rhapsody.

So, in the past couple weeks, there have been a few “top tv shows of the decade” lists released. The most notable lists include The Hollywood Reporter, Paste Magazine, and The A.V. Club. Basically, here’s how the lists top tens shake down:

Hollywood Reporter:           Paste:                                                A.V. Club:

10. Modern Family              10. Mad Men                          10. The Shield

9. Lost                                9. Buffy the Vampire Slayer     9. Deadwood

8. 24                                  8. Battlestar Galactica             8. Lost

7. 30 Rock                            7. Lost                                  7. The Office (U.K.)

6. Mad Men                         6. The Sopranos                     6. Breaking Bad

5. Damages                          5. The Office (U.K. and U.S.)  5. Mad Men

4. The Shield                        4. The Daily Show                 4. Freaks and Geeks

3. Curb Your Enthusiasm    3. The West Wing                   3. Arrested Development

2. The West Wing                2. The Wire                              2. The Sopranos

1. The Sopranos                   1. Arrested Development         1. The Wire

As always, I’m gonna have to side with the ol’ AV Club on this one. Even more than I like their list, though, I hate the Hollywood Reporter’s. No Wire? No Arrested? No Breaking Bad? Modern Family after half a season? Pretty rough. So this got me thinking, and even though I haven’t seen as many shows as these critics (my most notable unwatched items are probably Mad Men and The West Wing), I threw together my list:

10. Lost: ABC

Guilty pleasure doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel about Lost. The writers cheat, trick you, and jerk you around, but damn it’s fun to watch.

9. 30 Rock: NBC

The show wasn’t really on my radar for a while, until I started seeing episodes after watching The Office. Now I’m lucky to cast the end of Jim and Pam’s happy adventures before turning into NBC’s funniest show since Seinfeld.

8. Curb Your Enthusiasm: HBO

Just saw the end of the most recent season. It was pretty funny, but still a bit disappointing after last season’s ending. Having said that, seasons 3 and 6 were about as funny as TV gets.

7. South Park: Comedy Central

This show was always funny, and at times downright brilliant for so many years. It’s a shame that Parker seems to be phoning it in over the past two or three seasons.

6. It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia: FX

All the aforementioned lists love Damages and The Shield, but I’ve picked another FX show. Two years ago, Sunny would have been in the top 3, but a couple of lackluster seasons have lowered it in my eyes.

5. The Sopranos: HBO

The show was groundbreaking and provided some truly great drama, but I still have a lot of bad things to say about this “masterpiece.” It is certainly the best acting and cinematography I have ever seen on the tube, but the writing miffed me at times, and the ending was terrible in my eyes (not specifically the infamous final scene, but the entire second leg of the final season).

4. Frisky Dingo: Cartoon Network

Stop the Presses! What?!? Most of you have probably never heard of the short-lived, serialized superhero spoof from Adult Swim, but find someone who has, and they’ll probably quote your ear off.

3. Breaking Bad: AMC

While the rest of the world watches Mad Men, I’m eagerly awaiting the next sneak peek of BB. Bryan Cranston’s acting is more than deserving of his two Emmys, and the character arcs over two seasons have left fans drooling for more.

2. Arrested Development: Fox

What more is there to say? This was the funniest, most clever comedy I have ever seen. I’m still finding jokes I’ve never noticed on fourth and fifth viewings. AD was the perfect combo of subtle humor and slapstick. It was brilliantly written, acted, directed, and damn near everything else (marketing comes to mind as a flaw). Quite frankly, this is the show that made me realize TV could be as funny as the movies…

1. The Wire: HBO

… still, I didn’t have much faith in dramas. Then I saw the Wire.

Nuff said.

It feels like just as this season was getting going, it has ended. Because Curb seasons are only 10 episodes long, they definitely never overstay their welcome, but its also a little frustrating that the show ends just when you’re getting into a rhythm. However, that’s pretty much my only complaint with last night’s extra long finale in which Larry David pulled off the difficult feat of making a satisfying conclusion to this season while also providing some closure for Seinfeld fans left cold by that show’s finale. It wasn’t the non-stop riot last week’s episode was, but it was a nice wrap-up that featured one of the greatest gags in the show’s history.

At the beginning of the episode, things are looking great for Larry. The reunion is going great and he and Cheryl are closer than ever. But things start to unravel and, as always, its Mocha Joe’s fault. Before we get into specifics, I just have to say how much I loved the repetition of Mocha Joe throughout this episode. He was never just Joe, always Mocha Joe. Anyway, Larry asks Mocha Joe to carry some jumper cables to the office where he’s delivering the coffee. Mocha Joe agrees to, expecting a tip. Larry doesn’t tip him, assuming its a favor, so, instead Larry has to agree to pick up coffee beans all the way down in Hollywood. Larry drives all the way down there, but the store is closed and, even worse, it causes Cheryl to cancel on their semi-date. Larry doesn’t even get credit for the favor since the store was closed.

But things start to heat up with successful pampheteer author Jason Alexander (how priceless was Seinfeld’s passive-aggressive comments towards Jason Alexander on the topic of Acting Without Acting). Larry starts to notice how close Jason and Cheryl are getting and he starts to worry that she may be falling for him. Actually, though, Cheryl seems to be falling for George, who is really just a fictionalized version of Larry (who, in the Seinfeld reunion, wins back his ex-wife, who is really just a fictionalized version of Cheryl). A lot of really funny escalation leads to Larry rewriting the whole finale so that George doesn’t get his wife back, which causes Jason to walk off the set and gives us the moment that this entire season has been building towards, perhaps the spark that gave Larry David the idea to do this entire season: Larry David plays “Larry David” playing “George Costanza,” a fictionalized version of Larry David. The comic agility that it took to get the season to this point and make it feel totally natural is pretty amazing, even for someone as skilled at crafting Rube Goldbergesque comic scenarios like Larry David. And its a testament to his ability as a performer that the bit didn’t just feel like a gimmick; instead he knocked it out of the park. It was a truly ingenious moment and a great climax for the season.

And the ending was also spot-on. Larry quits the reunion and watches it at home, laughing along with the show’s happy ending. Then he seems to get his own as Cheryl shows up, having also quit. It seems like the season is going to end on a positive note but, as Larry said when pitching the new ending to the cast, “that’s not what we do.” Thus reemerges Larry David: Wood Detective, who clearly has greater respect for wood than Cheryl.

Before I wrap this up, I wanted to mention how satisfying the Seinfeld portions of the episode were. While all four actors have done a long series of not-very-good projects in the ten years after Seinfeld’s demise, they clearly still have a great feel for the rhythms and intricacies of their characters and it was great to see them back in it again. Additionally, by using the format they did, the reunion got to feel like a long string of jokes without the need to actually tie them together with any sort of plot.

With that, another season of Curb ends and I must say I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it. I think this has been a step up over the last two seasons and added a lot of classics to the Curb Hall of Fame. As usual, its hard to tell whether there will be more episodes or when that might be, but for now, we can be satisfied that Larry David has put together another round of top-notch comedy.

Jonah’s Score: 91

Tangled Up In Wires Grade: A

A season finale da sétima temporada de ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’, que reuniu todo o elenco de ‘Seinfeld’ novamente, foi o episódio mais visto da série nos últimos cinco anos.

Cerca de dois milhões de pessoas assistiraram ao episódio no domingo a noite. O número é 24% maior quando comparado a season finale do sexto ano da série, em 2007.

Se somarmos exibições na TV, as reprises por DVR e as exibições no HBO On Demand (streaming), ‘Curb’ fecha a temporada com uma média de 5.1 milhões de telespectadores, audiência 36% maior que a da temporada passada.

Worst Show: The Cleveland Show (Episode: “Ladies’ Night”) – I watch The Cleveland Show afraid that if I miss it, they will finally have a funny episode.  I’m still waiting for that funny episode.

The Power Rankings: (may contain mild spoilers)

10.  How I Met Your Mother (Episode: “The Playbook”) – While I enjoy Barney’s single shenanigans, I’m still slightly bothered how the Barney/Robin relationship which the show invested us all in has dissipated so quickly.

9. Parks and Recreation (Episode: “Hunting Trip”) – This is slowly becoming my favorite show on NBC Thursday nights.

8. It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia (Episode: “The D.E.N.N.I.S. System”)

7. Glee (Episode: “Ballad”) – Not as good as last week but still a step in the right direction.  I don’t think I can truly love this show until the two pregnancy secrets are revealed (especially Terri’s)

6. Community (Episode: “Environmental Science”) – Andrea and I sang “Somewhere Out There” at Sing Sing Karaoke at around 5 AM in the morning inspired by this episode.

5. The Mentalist (Episode: “His Right Red Hand”) – Like sci-fi shows, crime procedurals have mythology episodes and with The Mentalist, any episode that involves Red John is infinitely better than run-of-the-mill episodes.

4. Friday Night Lights (Episode: “A Sort Of Homecoming”) – I’m really getting tired of Landry getting attractive girls but the end of this episode was just sad.

3. The Big Bang Theory (Episode: “The Adhesive Duck Deficiency”) – Episodes where Penny and Sheldon spend most of the episode together >>> all other episodes

2. Curb Your Enthusiasm (Episode: “The Table Read”) – Leon (JB Smoove) completely stole this episode! “I Danny Dubersteined the shit out of him!”

1. Sons of Anarchy (Episode: “Service”) – The only thing that bothered me about this episode is that conflicts that have been building all season got resolved a little too smoothly (unless some people are playing possum). For all the praise I’ve given Katey Sagal (Gemma), Ryan Hurst (Opie) has been equally amazing.

Danny Duberstein can white the shit out of it.

Lunes 23 de noviembre

HBO ESTE, 18:15 hrs, SKY 450, CABLEVISION 632

HBO OESTE, 21:15 hrs, SKY 453, CABLEVISION 633

Curb your enthusiasm HBO 2009 "the reunion"

Larry se rehusaba por completo a una reunion del programa SEINFELD, pero cuando se da cuenta que esto le puede ayudar a recuperar a Cheryl, accede a la idea. Larry se molesta con Jason Alexander cuando este se rehusa a compartir consejos importantes, así como cuando consiguen boletos para los Lakers.

The Curb Your Enthusiasm/Seinfeld reunion culminated in what is certainly to be one of the most iconic moments in television history. After accusing Jason Alexander (a.k.a. George Costanza) of having an affair with his ex-wife, Cheryl, Jason quit the Seinfeld reunion – leaving a gaping hole in the cast.

Who was to reprise George’s role?

Well, Larry David fanatics can all rejoice. Our curiosity regarding the actual similarities in character between George and Larry has now been satisfied. This scene literally made me jump from the couch in gleeful laughter. Brilliance. Utter brilliance.

Larry seems to think highly of Derek as well…

Random inconsequential ish from the weekend/this morning that is filling my lunch break:

1) The AMAs were handed out, and Rihanna wore this Marchesa gown that a lot of people are hating on. Sure, it looks kinda like she wrapped a wall stencil around herself, but it is a very cool wall stencil. I actually liked the look, though I can’t say the same about the red eyeliner she wore, making it look like she had just cried vampire tears of blood. Also AMA related: J.Lo’s fall. Her music might suck, but girl knows how to bounce back without missing a beat. Props.

2) The newest Twilight movie just came out, and even if you aren’t down with teen vamps, you can probably still appreciate teen hotties. Unless you are Miley Cyrus, though, who asserted that she didn’t like Twilight because she didn’t “ believe in it.” (wtf?) Yeah, Miley, because the writer, director, actors, and crew were trying to pull the wool over your eyes…hoping that you would think struggles of  supernatural teenagers as they also deal with relationships and high school were REAL. But they couldn’t trick you! You can still like Harry Potter though. That was a documentary, for reals.

3) Not a huge Seinfeld addict, but the Curb Your Enthusiasm show-within-a-show, reunion-that’s-not-a-reunion aired last night. And even though I have a like/hate relationship with CYE, the show still got a some good laughs out of me. My fave moment? When Larry has the ludicrous idea of playing George and forces the rest of the cast to try it out. The worst moment? Anything “Mocha Joe” related. Pure annoyance every time.

4) Alicia Keys released images of a hideous, sappy-looking new jewelry line. Love her music, and even her acting is tolerable, but is a jewelry line really necessary? Almost all of these “beautiful, unique pieces” have a short novel written on them. I like that you write your own music and lyrics, Alicia, but you don’t need to write your own jewelry too. (You can check out the hideousness in a slide show here.)

Enough internet, back to work. TTYL guys.

]]> http://chezcurby.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/new-curb-your-enthusiasm-review-10-seinfeld/ Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:09:00 +0000 CurbFan http://chezcurby.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/new-curb-your-enthusiasm-review-10-seinfeld/

An incredible end to an incredible season. A tour de force of comedy, brilliantly weaving Seinfeld with wood, coffee and the term “having said that”…

Obviously Larry’s writing is impressive but, as I’ve said before, he does not get nearly enough credit for acting. He deserves an award for his work in this season, or the very least a nomination. Granted, sometimes he goes too far and it becomes farce but it’s still very funny.

A lot of great moments came about due to the Mocha Joe character, like the look of horror on Larry’s face when Mocha Joe asked Larry for a favour in exchange and then Larry begrudgingly accepting. Then there was Larry trying to be as sympathetic as possible while talking about Jason’s dogs being put down and best of all was Larry hatefully smiling his way through tipping Mocha Joe.

One of the reasons I’ve not watched much Seinfeld is because I find Jerry really annoying, but after this season I’ve come to like him. I still think his acting is really dodgy for the main star of one of the biggest shows ever (he’s like the comedy version of Matthew Fox), but some of the best scenes this season were with Larry and Jerry and I hope he comes back if there is another season.

I loved the recurring “having said that” joke. “A comedian goes up on stage, ‘You people are a bunch of morons. Having said that, I’m very happy to be here.’” Of course it was nothing compared to the wood joke, that was just brilliant. So many great wood-related lines: “I respect wood. I revere wood. I’m considerate of wood”, “Oh, so you discriminate amongst wood”, “You’ve demonstrated a consistent lack of respect for wood, as I see it.”

Larry asking asking Susie “Do you respect wood, Susie?” might just be my favourite Curb moment ever. It was obvious that the coffee/wood conundrum would pop up again in the final scene but I didn’t care, I was hooked at that point and I just wanted to see Larry ask it one more time. “Do you respect wood?”

And Larry’s reaction to Cheryl not knowing whether she respects wood or not was another great job by LD; as was his disgust at Cheryl and Jason being all pally on the set, his reaction to Julia doing her impression of a lying Larry and especially the look on his face after Susie said she’d beat the shit out of him if she had some wood.

The final scene was quite something. I thought it was really heart-warming when Larry confessed that the scene they used was better than the one he wrote and when Cheryl said that they belong together. Hell of a happy ending; the Seinfeld reunion worked out, Larry got Cheryl back leaving possibilities for another season and Cheryl got a reminder of why she left Larry in the first place. Tremendous stuff.

There’s a lot of talk about how this was the finale that Seinfeld deserved but let’s not forget that the original Curb finale got a similar reaction to Seinfeld’s. I think that if we never get another episode of Curb then this was a perfect finale. Let’s all pray for another season though, and let’s pray that we don’t have to wait two years to get it. I can’t go through the withdrawal again, although I am in the process of rewatching CYE from the beginning and compiling a top ten list of quotes per season so look out for that.

Thanks for reading these reviews, Curb fans. And please feel free to comment and let me know what you thought of the finale.

Confira vídeo com uma cena da season finale de ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’, com participação de Jerry Seinfeld e Jason Alexander.

Well I’m big enough to admit when I’m wrong.  I had predicted that somehow Larry would screw up the Seinfeld Reunion show and it wouldn’t happen.  I was partly right, but in the end the show must go on.  It was a great way to end this season, and possibly the series of Curb Your Enthusiasm.  I’ll get to that later.

The rehearsals are still going on and Cheryl is rehearsing with Jason Alexander in the diner.  Everyone things Cheryl is doing great, especially Larry.  The two ex’s are starting to hit it off again and make plans to get together later that night at Cheryl’s house after the party that Julia is throwing for Jason Alexander’s new book, “Acting Without Acting.”  As Larry is leaving he see’s Mocha Joe, the lot coffee guy who Larry asks for a favor.  At the party Jerry Seinfeld tells Larry that Mocha Joe was a little upset that Larry didn’t tip him.  At that point Julie Louis-Dryfus pulls Larry aside and asks him if he left a ring on her table.  Larry proclaims his innocence,but Julia isn’t buying it.  Larry spots Mocha Joe outside and confronts him about what he was just told by Jerry.  In order to make it even Larry agrees to do a favor for him, going to pick up his coffee beans in West Hollywood.

Larry get’s stuck in traffic and is going to be late to Cheryl’s so she cancels.  Larry was also late picking up the beans and the place is closed.  The next morning Larry finds out that Cheryl had Jason Alexander over in his place, and starts to get jealous of the time they are spending together.  This obviously is the beginning of the end.  Larry does all he can to catch the two of them together just to confirm his suspicions.  At the same time he’s looking for who really left the ring on Julia’s coffee table.  At one point Larry even catches Jason in Cheryl’s dressing room, but Jason escapes through the bathroom window before Larry can confront him.  Larry tells Cheryl, “You’re not attracted to him, you’re attracted to George! I’m George!” In the end Larry ends up writing a new script for the show that gives Cheryl and Jason less screen time together.  This outrages everyone and Jason quits.  Larry offers to play the part since it is based on him anyway, and it doesn’t go so well.  For the betterment of the show Larry quits.  He tells Jeff (at least I assume it was Jeff on the other end of the phone) that since he did this all to get Cheryl back and that didn’t happen he decided to quit.

Larry is sitting at home watching the show as it airs, and he seems happy.  When Cheryl is supposed to come on screen Larry is shocked to find out that Virgina (played by Elizabeth Shue) is playing the part.  At that point the doorbell rings and it’s Cheryl holding some Mocha Joe’s coffee.  The two make up and Larry might have also discovered who left the ring on the table.

Like I said it was a great way to end.  No one is really sure if the show is coming back or not.  Larry David is mum on the thought of a 7th season, and HBO hasn’t said anything either.  I personally hope it comes back, but if it doesn’t it’s nice that Larry ends on a high note for once.

Thoughts and Observations:

• “Act without Acting.”  Brilliant.  It’s almost as if they were summing up Jerry Seinfeld’s acting style.
• “I respect wood.  I revere wood!”
• Jerry explaining why Larry can’t play George, “He’s an icon. She’s an icon. He was an icon. [points to self] Icon. [points to Larry] No-con!”
• It would have been great if Leon showed up in the final episode.  He was underutilized this season.  I love Leon.
• Was it cruel that Jason Alexander left his dogs in the hot car all day long?
• I really didn’t think the finale was that bad, but boy they kept bringing up how bad the cast thought it was.  That’s the problem with things like finales, they will never be as amazing as you want them to be.
• Jerry and Larry really are just the same.  Jerry Seinfeld could have played Larry David on Curb Your Enthusiasm and it might have been just as good.  The scene where Jerry gives Larry Larry’s stare to tell if he was lying was great, and dead on.  Jerry even describes them as “twins in the womb.”
• Michael Richards really was under utilized in this episode, and maybe all season.  I hope this helps vindicate him after the trouble he got into.
• We got to see almost 15 minutes of the fake Seinfeld Reunion show on Larry’s TV.  It really was great.  For a while there I thought we would see the whole episode.
• I complained a bit about the whole seaosn being a little far fetched, but I really did love it.  It was great seeing the whole cast back together again for the first time on TV.  This really was almost as good as a real Seinfeld reunion and in someways maybe it was better.