Curb Your Enthusiasm

By asepinwall@starledger.com (Alan Sepinwall) In the end, the episode provides the exact kind of happy endings that "Seinfeld" itself eschewed: the reunion comes together and is terrific, and Larry and Cheryl get back together, albeit with Cheryl getting an instant reminder of why she left the guy in the first place.

By asepinwall@starledger.com (Alan Sepinwall) • Four faces of Sam Malone - Cheers, Becker, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Damages • Canadians - Doug McKenzie (SCTV), young Alanis Morissette (You Can't Do That On Television), Constable Benton Fraser (Due South), Robin Scherbatzky (How I Met Your Mother)

By asepinwall@starledger.com (Alan Sepinwall) There may have been funnier episodes of "Curb" this season ("Vehicular Fellatio" comes to mind), but none have felt as satisfying on so many levels as "The Table Read." It worked as an episode of "Curb." It worked as a quasi-"Seinfeld" reunion, and as a kind of DVD bonus feature about what lif...

By asepinwall@starledger.com (Alan Sepinwall) I have to watch the "Mad Men" finale in a few minutes(*), so no time to do a full-length review of tonight's "Curb Your Enthusiasm." Two points: 1)How do people feel about Elisabeth Shue and John Schneider both playing characters rather than themselves, and what that says about the "Curb" f...

By asepinwall@starledger.com (Alan Sepinwall) A bit hung over from last night's World Series game, and I have a full plate today at the office, so no time for a full "Curb Your Enthusiasm" review. I didn't love "Black Swan," but it was a good example of a type of "Curb" episode we haven't had a lot of this year, in that Larry was in the right for m...

By asepinwall@starledger.com (Alan Sepinwall) After last week's out-and-out dud, "Curb" rebounds somewhat with "Denise Handicapped," which didn't work overall but at least had some funny isolated scenes: Larry struggling to make out with Denise, Leon scolding Larry for his technique ("You did your dizzle on her?"), Larry's Blac...

By asepinwall@starledger.com (Alan Sepinwall) Spoilers for tonight's "Seinfeld"-ian "Curb Your Enthusiasm" coming up just as soon as I figure out why Christopher Walken was on the boat... "You know those reunion shows, they're so lame, really. They never work, the actors are 10 years older. It doesn't look right. I don't think so." -LarryTh...

By asepinwall@starledger.com (Alan Sepinwall) The rest of the episode dealt, hilariously, with rules of etiquette governing oral sex and automobiles, with occasional interludes for Larry to attack a vacuum-sealed package (which led to one of the better "Curb" episode-ending jokes in a while), and guest stars Sharon Lawrence and L...

By asepinwall@starledger.com (Alan Sepinwall) I know everybody's eager for the "Seinfeld" gang to turn up in a couple of weeks, but I'm just as happy with smaller moment like the liquids/solids debate, Larry's theory for a pre-break-up agreement ("As soon as I say 'apricot,' it's over"), the argument over the thermostat, or the unspo...

By asepinwall@starledger.com (Alan Sepinwall) In today's column, I review the start to the new season of "Curb Your Enthusiasm," including the "Seinfeld" reunion storyline that begins with the third episode. So, so glad to have both "Curb" and "Seinfeld" back in my life, to varying degrees.

By asepinwall@starledger.com (Alan Sepinwall) In today's column, I talk with Ted Danson about his supporting turn on HBO's "Bored to Death," which debuts Sunday after "Curb Your Enthusiasm" (the topic of tomorrow's column). As I say in the column, I found the show very hit-or-miss (and am not sure how often I'm going to blog about it, esp...

By asepinwall@starledger.com (Alan Sepinwall) Over at NJ.com, I have details of how the next season of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" will feature the long-awaited (and entirely fictional) "Seinfeld" reunion.

By asepinwall@starledger.com (Alan Sepinwall) Once upon a time, "Jon & Kate Plus 8" was a "take one for the team" show in our household, because my wife liked seeing how Kate dealt with the logistics of 8 kids, and because I had subjected her to more than enough "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "Dexter" and their ilk over the years.

By Alan Sepinwall As I recall, last season had a similar trend -- a few good episodes at the start, followed by a long stretch of catastrophe -- and I don't know how much longer I can stick around to see if things improve. It's emotionally draining to watch this show even when it's funny. The last few weeks ahve jus...

By Alan Sepinwall Finally, that's two bad "Curb Your Enthusiasm"s in a row. This one was, I guess, partially redeemed by the sight of Larry and John McEnroe -- Larry's equivalent in the world of tennis -- screaming at each other outside the party, but the rest was a mess. The internal logic didn't work at all. I un...

By Alan Sepinwall Brief spoilers for "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "Saturday Night Live" -- I have two columns to write today but will try to hit some of the other Sunday shows (Desperate Housewives, Brothers & Sisters and Brotherhood) in a separate post if I have the time -- coming up just as soon as I buy Ja...

By Alan Sepinwall Like I said in the column, this was my favorite "Family Guy" episode in quite some time: all pop culture humor and no straining for plot or character, which the writers don't care about. I was, however, amused that even within an all-spoof episode, MacFarlane and company still had to go on ta...