Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 7 Report

As originally reported in my preview video, I will be reviewing a different show every day this week....

As we finish up this week-long feature, we conclude things with a laugh. A very hearty laugh. And why shouldn't we? It's Saturday, we've got less than a week until Christmas, and that snow storm wasn't NEARLY as bad as they said it would be (not for me, anyway). Oh, and I finally found that damn Ming Ming Wonder Pet doll. There are a lot of reasons to be happy!

Naturally, the Seinfeld reunion story arc is what has everybody talking. And even though it would have been great if more of the season was devoted to it, I must say that I found it utterly hilarious. And I also have to commend the crew for coming up with a pretty clever premise to do a reunion special. I must also admit: The various storylines they came up with were pretty cool. It focused mostly on George, and for good reason. His arc was the absolute best. The iToilet? Bernie Madoff? C'mon!

And ever since, what, the second season, I've absolutely loved the tense, borderline hostile relationship between Larry David and Jason Alexander. These two are absolute gold together. It's great how, nine times out of ten, they don't even raise their voices at each other. They manage to express such disdain and contempt with mere facial expressions or hand motions or a subtle tone.

I also couldn't help but laugh at the whole concept of Cheryl becoming attracted to Jason because of the behavior he exhibits while acting as George -- a character that is based on her ex-husband. It was also great seeing Larry's attempt at explaining this phenomena to her.

In a lot of ways, Jerry was a real highlight for me as well. It's commendable that he was willing to take such a significant backseat to his co-stars in what was essentially HIS return to television (isn't he the only one who hasn't made an attempt -- at that point -- to return to TV?) using his show as the backdrop. Nonetheless, I found him utterly hilarious and very natural. He appeared more than any of his cohorts this season, and I think that's a good thing. While I found Larry's interactions with Jason the funniest, I think a big reason why it works so well is because it's so sparse. Having said that, I think the banter between Jerry and Larry could happen every week and maintain its level of humor.

Michael Richards probably appeared the least -- and, likewise, Kramer didn't really seem to have any arc whatsoever on the reunion episode -- which was a bit curious. It's also a bit strange that he's the only cast member that hadn't appeared on the show until this point (even before that scandal). Nonetheless, I applaud them for referencing Michael's racist rant, as it was a gutsy move. Then again, at this point, what does Michael Richard have to lose?

In non-Seinfeld related stuff, Larry managed to make, like, three different references to tipping this season alone. I love those. It makes me sound so cheap, but for the life of me I just don't understand tipping (but yes, I still do it). And any argument that could be made simply makes no sense to me. I mean, when people make the argument that wait staff, for instance, only make about $2 an hour and this is how they make all their money -- that just makes me think that something is severely wrong with that industry's standards, and that perhaps it should be re-evaluated. But I do love how Larry brings up the point that you can't ask anybody in the service industry to do anything whatsoever without them expecting a tip of some sort (on the show, of course, the workers behave in very extreme ways). As the show points out -- you're not simply "doing your job" and there are no favors.

If I have any disappointments with this season, it's that we didn't see more of Leon. That guy was the shining star of the previous season!

Of course, it wouldn't be Curb Your Enthusiasm without a little controversy. In one episode, Larry's -- ahem -- stream was a little volatile, and as such he sprayed a little urine on a painting of Jesus in somebody's bathroom (???) I couldn't help but laugh at those who were offended. Not because they were actually offended, but because of the argument they made. They said something along the lines of, "How would Larry David feel if somebody peed on a photo of his mother." C'mon, have these people ever watched the show? The guy integrated his own divorce into the series. I don't think he'd bat an eyelash at something like that.

Anyway, excellent season -- but I wonder what they could possibly do next season to top it.








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