Larry David’s Help a Bald Brother Out, Would You?
You know something is funny when you ask yourself, “Oh f***, did her brother die from that,” before sending out an annoying, massive CC: July 4th email to your family’s family. Here we have the simplest of premises: Larry David, clad in signature blazer and T-shirt, delivering an anti-”The More You Know” PSA informing why the Silent Killer is cramping the style of the follicle-doomed. I have a flawed, patented pre-rehab theory that Jack Nicholson’s hair loss inspired him to become the greatest actor of a generation, but Larry David pwns the cul-de-sac to the point where it’s a eugenic advantage. Balding men haven’t received such a bold mission statement since Kingpin. Enjoy or die.
More HBOmigoodness: Gandolfini's Secret, Curb's Future and a Searing Cincinnati Kiss
Hey all, it's Korbi again with more TCA goodness to share…
You know, I think we all adore HBO, but yesterday I do believe I fell more deeply in love with the pay cabler and its talent. Not only did Larry David turn the Curb Your Enthusiasm panel session into a stand-up routine—except, you know, he was seated the whole time—but I finally, after almost five years in Los Angeles, came face to face with Dylan McKay (also known as Luke Perry of John from Cincinnati).
Oh my, I’m getting giddy just thinking about it. Jen, too, had her own fangirl moment with another member of the Cincinnati cast. Apparently Garret Dillahunt kissed her! Okay, just on the cheek, but still! Dude, there’s just so much to tell, I don’t know where to begin…
First of all, James Gandolfini was here to promote his upcoming HBO documentary Alive Day, in which he interviews 10 Iraq war veterans wounded in the line of duty. Gandolfini refused to answer any Sopranos-related questions, telling a reporter the day wasn’t about him, but he did stick around to hang out with us at the party—where Jen was astute enough to point out that the TV mob boss’ drink of choice is none other than the somewhat emasculating appletini. Yes, he was sipping on 'em all night and still had one in his hand when I exited the bash around midnight.
All Entourage members were in attendance as well. Also observed by Jen? If you shout "Hey, E!" loudly in the vicinity of Kevin Connolly, aka Eric "E" Murphy, he might turn his head and wonder what you want. Just a fun little game you could play if you ever run into him out and about. But Jen opted, instead, to have an actual conversation with him, during which she learned that as bright and ambitious as he may be, don't look for Connolly to direct or write an Entourage ep anytime soon. He claims to not be much of a writer, and while he's directed other projects before, an Entourage clapboard with his name on it isn't in the cards.
By the way, Entourage fans, HBO treated us to an advanced screening of the Medellín trailer, which, as you may have heard, might be getting leaked onto the web this weekend. I have to tell you, it isn’t half bad, and you too will be able to peep it at www.medellinthefilm.com sometime in the next couple days.
All right, now bear with me as I gush to you over my Dylan McKay (aka Luke Perry) encounter. My childhood boyfriend was the first celeb I spotted when I walked into the party and though it took me three drinks before I worked up the cojones to approach him, it was so totally worth the wait.
He was a doll, you guys. First of all, he has no frickin’ clue what the hell John from Cincinnati is all about either. He said David Milch called him on a Friday, asked him to meet for lunch and then said, “Can you be on set Monday?” He accepted without hesitation. Apparently, when David Milch asks you to work with him, you don’t ask questions.
Luke did, however, divulge that he’s “not a believer,” but John is certainly making him think: “Listen, I like to go to work, crash the car, kiss the girl and go home. And that‘s what people like to see me do. But this show is keeping me awake at night.” If he only knew how many of my preadolescent nights he kept me awake…
And FYI, Luke Perry is not one of those actors that gets pissed off when you bring up the project he’s best known for. When I asked him if he was still close to any of his 90210 co-stars, he whipped out his cell phone to show me that the last person he dialed was “JP” (Jason Priestley). Melt.
Flight of the Conchords’ Jemaine and Bret also made me a bit weak in the knees. They’re adorable in person, but FYI, Bret’s engaged to be married, so back off ladies (yes, Mel, that includes you). The boys shared quite a bit of hilarity about their rise to fame. Stay tuned for that info in an upcoming FOTC-centered blog item…
Okay, some Curb Your Enthusiasm scoop? John from Cincinnati stars Rebecca De Mornay and Ed O’Neill may appear on Curb this season! Ed O’Neill had a whole conversation about improv with Jen.
Well, actually he insists it’s not exactly improv: “It’s actually ‘lazzi,’ the former Al Bundy said. “I believe the term comes from the commedia dell'arte." You don't say? According to Ed, in lazzi, the situation is provided to the actors in advance, and they play off one another while heading in that general direction; this sets it apart from improv, which is just contained chaos. Huh! Who said HBO parties aren't educational?
More Curb scoop? The upcoming premiere episode is fall-off-your-chair funny. Look forward to learning Larry’s surefire method of getting out of a party you don’t really want to attend. And trust me, it’s way better than Dane Cook’s strategy…
Also, tennis legend John McEnroe will be guesting this season. But perhaps the best news of all is that Larry David is totally open to additional seasons of Curb. Apparently, the word that this year would be the last was just BS: “I say every season is my last. I would never do it if I thought I’d have to come back and do it again…When [last] season ended, I went back to my office and I was sitting at my desk and I thought, ‘Hmmm, I have nothing to do…this is very uncomfortable,’ and so [I decided to do another one]…[A seventh season] is possible. We'll have to see what I‘m thinking when I get back to my desk.”
Mr. David then told one of the reporters he was a schmuck, asked another reporter if he’d sufficiently answered his “stupid question” and made it clear that Curb is not a Jewish show: “I'm not one of these guys who goes, ‘Hey, I’m a Jew, I’m a Jew, I’m a Jew.” Hmmm, good to know…Ahahaha! The man kills me. I heart him.
Newsweek examines if Seinfeld still holds up after ten years
Wow, it’s hard to believe that it’s been ten years since Seinfeld aired its monumental finale. Newsweek decided to celebrate the anniversary by having two of its writers debate whether the show has held up over the years. One minor problem with the article, though: the arguments made on either side don’t make any sense.
One of the reasons Marc Peyser didn’t think the show held up was because, after watching the show’s reruns for the first time in years, he found that “The pacing - no show had ever packed in so many scenes, some of them lasting a few seconds - now seems formulaic and forced.” Well, duh, of course it seems formulaic now, since almost every sitcom that has come since has adopted that method of storytelling.
If he had argued that the later episodes became formulaic, I’d be more inclined to agree; after Larry David left, the writers were too busy trying to shoehorn plots for each main character into each episode to make sure the stories flowed together well or were even very funny.
Peyser then goes on to say that the plots were incredibly insignificant, about clothes and meals and George Steinbrenner rants. But then he says that’s why people likd the show. He blunts that contradiction, though, by saying we’ve outgrown the show now, using M*A*S*H, Mary Tyler Moore, and Taxi as three examples of sitcoms that people haven’t outgrown. I beg to differ in one case: how many people now say the last four seasons of M*A*S*H were preachy and unfunny? I guarantee people weren’t saying that back around, say, 1981 or so.
David Noonan’s article in support of Seinfeld was even worse, though. Did he argue that the show still holds up because of Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer? Because of the funny plots? Nope; he decided that the key to the show’s longevity was Uncle Leo, Morty and Helen Seinfeld, Newman, Frank and Estelle Costanza, and Jackie Chiles. It was the side characters that made Seinfeld so great! Oh, and the sets! The sets were awesome!
Excuse me while I bang my head on a table. I loved the side characters as much as the next guy, but without the Big Four, the show would have never worked. And I don’t think I ever really took notice of the sets, aside from the fact that Jerry had a blue-and-black couch early on before it gave way to the all-grey couch (Noonan noticed Jerry had a a white coffee table early on, something I never even caught).
How about this: If you still laugh at the reruns, then you think the show has held up. If you don’t laugh, then the show hasn’t held up. I’m in the first camp. How ’bout you? Let me know in the comments.
[via Pop Candy]
Seinfeld ready for a new sitcom? (updated)
Remember last October when Jerry Seinfeld was all over NBC promoting Bee Movie? Well, maybe there was more going on with Jerry and the Peacock people than just honey-related promos. PageSix.com is reporting today that Jerry Seinfeld is in talks with NBC for a new series.
You have to assume that if there’s truth to this, the network is probably bending over backwards to secure a new Seinfeld. Heck, if Jerry wanted to do a series about a forensic scientist who also does comedy on the side, they’d greenlight that, too! Will they call it Seinfeld Redux? Seinfeld Squared? Seinfeld Deux?
Whatever the name, it won’t be another Seinfeld like the one with Elaine, George and Kramer. It seems that Jerry — like millions of others — is enamored with the pseudo-realism of Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm. Jerry’s proposing a show like that, with Jerry in the Larry role. Of course, you have to point out that in Seinfeld, Jerry was playing Jerry. He had the same last name. He wasn’t Jerry Simmons or Jerry Smith, like Danny Thomas became Danny Williams on Make Room for Daddy or Andy Griffith became Andy Taylor on The Andy Griffith Show.
This new Jerry show will launch in June and will supposedly reveal an even more exaggerated Jerry than we saw on Seinfeld, and like his previous sitcom, will be New York based. Perhaps this time around, instead of being a show about nothing, Jerry might opt to be a family man, reflecting his reality today as a husband and father of three. Can’t you just see it, Jerry and Jessica and the kids waiting for a table at a Chinese restaurant…
(Update: Actually, it seems this isn’t happening after all.)