Curb Your Enthusiasm

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Curb Your Enthusiasm

Curb Your Enthusiasm title card
Format Sitcom
Created by Larry David
Written by Larry David
Starring Larry David
Cheryl Hines
Jeff Garlin
Susie Essman
Theme music composer Luciano Michelini
Opening theme "Frolic"
Country of origin United States
No. of seasons 6
No. of episodes 60 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s) Larry David
Jeff Garlin
Gavin Polone
Robert B. Weide
Camera setup Single camera
Running time approx. 30 min.
Broadcast
Original channel HBO
Original run October 15, 2000 – present
External links
Official website

Curb Your Enthusiasm is an Emmy Award- and Golden Globe Award-winning American comedy series starring Seinfeld writer, co-creator, and executive producer Larry David as himself, and produced and broadcast by HBO. The series was inspired by a 1999 one-hour mockumentary titled Larry David: Curb Your Enthusiasm, which David and HBO originally envisioned as a one-time project. Six seasons of the series have been produced and aired on HBO between 2000 and 2007. A seventh season began production in December 2008.[1] As of late 2008, HBO has been promoting the upcoming season for Fall 2009.

Contents

[edit] Concept

The show stars Larry David as a fictional version of himself, accompanied by fictional re-creations of his real friends, usually played by themselves. Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen, Wanda Sykes, and Richard Lewis have all had recurring roles as characters based on themselves.

The show is set in Santa Monica, David's real place of residence. As his character, David is notoriously disliked by the residents of Santa Monica for his outlandish behavior, inappropriate remarks, and self-centered attitude. David often expresses sentiments of being misunderstood rather than rude. A frequently recurring line of his, usually spoken after such a misunderstanding, is "You can't even leave your house anymore," in reference to his frequent altercations with friends and acquaintances.

Most episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm follow an unusual plot structure. Each episode typically involves David becoming involved in a situation beyond his control, which he then perpetuates with his intellectually narcissistic and inept behavior. His actions, intentional or not, tend to be put back on him in related situations later in the episode. An example of this type of story can be found in episode nine of season one, in which David accidentally tries to bribe a maitre d' with a prescription that he mistook for a twenty-dollar-bill. This later leads to David being forced to root through the restaurant's dumpster in search of the prescription, which his wife needs in order to obtain medication for a rash.

[edit] Characters

  • Larry David — Self-centered, misanthropic and regularly difficult, Larry creates awkwardness and discomfort in social situations. His problems are often caused by his own neuroses and an obstinate faith in his own understanding of ethics and etiquette. At the same time, he usually has good intentions but often finds himself a victim of circumstance and social convention. The real life Larry David has commented that he could never be the way he was on tv because he is a lot more cautious when it comes to social tension.
  • Jeff Greene (Jeff Garlin) — One of Larry's few friends, Jeff is his sympathetic manager whose marital problems and avid interest in pornography entangle Larry in embarrassing situtations. They are frequently seen golfing together. Jeff and his wife, Susie, have a daughter named Sammie, who expresses a liking for Larry.
  • Cheryl David (Cheryl Hines) — Larry's long-suffering wife, who often expresses annoyance with his behavior, even in situations beyond his control. She is an active member of the NRDC.
  • Susie Greene (Susie Essman) — Jeff's wife. She has a highly explosive temperament and reacts with near violence to benign grievances. She and Jeff have an "on-again, off-again" relationship. She often uses Larry as a scapegoat for her marital problems, often times calling him a "four-eyed fuck."
  • Richard Lewis (as himself) — A neurotic stand-up comedian who is recovering from alcohol and drug problems. He is one of Larry's oldest and closest friends, both having moved from New York City to Los Angeles to pursue their comedy careers. Despite this, his relationship with Larry is often volatile and complicated. Often, Richard becomes the victim of Larry's follies, causing Richard to blame Larry for almost everything wrong in his life. Ironically, he is usually more sensible than Larry.
  • Marty Funkhouser (Bob Einstein) — One of Larry's oldest friends. Despite this, he and Larry tend to disagree on many topics such as whether or not he is too old to be called an orphan, and he also argues that Larry is his best friend, which Larry constantly tries to refute. He has a wife, and one daughter Jodi, who is a lesbian. He is often very methodical and by-the-book about most of his actions and puts much emphasis on family first, making sure the entire family takes one opinion on a certain matter. Despite that, he has been known to take credit for things which may or may not necessarily apply to him.

[edit] Guests

Guest stars frequently appear as themselves. Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen and Wanda Sykes have recurring roles as friends of the Davids while Shelley Berman plays Larry's father. Former Seinfeld stars Jason Alexander and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, along with Martin Scorsese, David Schwimmer, Mel Brooks, Ben Stiller, and Michael York have had recurring roles as themselves. Other celebrities from outside the entertainment world have also made guest appearances as themselves, such as John McEnroe, Hugh Hefner, Shaquille O'Neal, Muggsy Bogues, Alanis Morrissette, Gary Player, Nathan Lane and Senator Barbara Boxer. Actors who have featured as fictional characters include Dustin Hoffman, Sacha Baron Cohen, Steve Coogan, Stephen Colbert, Bob Odenkirk, Bea Arthur,Ed Asner, Mekhi Phifer and Vivica A. Fox.

[edit] Plots

See also: List of Curb Your Enthusiasm episodes

Other than Season 1 (2000), seasons of Curb Your Enthusiasm are loosely linked by a story arc — but most episodes still have their own separate plot.

  • Season 1 (2000) — The first season introduces us to Larry's post-Seinfeld world, where despite his wealth, a loving wife, and a best friend, he manages to offend everyone around him. It is not long into the series though that we realize that Larry David is his own worst enemy. He is accused of having an adultery-implying erection due to having trousers that are so baggy that they "bunch up" when he sits down; feuding with a shoe salesman; getting blamed for a newspaper typo after submitting an obituary for Cheryl's aunt; reacting offensively to drinking from his friend's mother's glass; and unintentionally causing someone to believe that his uncle is an incestuous pedophile.
  • Season 2 (2001) — Larry David pursues a new television project, first with Jason Alexander, and then Julia Louis-Dreyfus. The premise: an actor who starred in a megahit sitcom finds it difficult to maintain a sturdy career afterward because of the public's perception of type casting. Larry pitches the idea to various networks, but eventually ends up alienating or offending everyone he makes a deal with, and anyone else attached to the project.
  • Season 3 (2002) — Larry joins a restaurant venture with a group of investors that includes Ted Danson and Michael York. A sub-plot involves Larry being cast in a Martin Scorsese movie.
  • Season 4 (2004) — Larry works with Mel Brooks, Ben Stiller and David Schwimmer to star on Broadway in The Producers. He also struggles to fulfill his wife's tenth anniversary present to him — a one-time-only act of adultery.
  • Season 5 (2005) — Larry's friend, comedian Richard Lewis, is in dire need of a kidney transplant operation. Purely out of paranoid guilt, Larry offers one of his own to Richard if Richard cannot find a suitable donor in time. Larry then makes many concerted, ridiculous efforts to find Richard a kidney donor. Larry explores the possibility that he may have been adopted, due to a potentially misunderstood word his father said (and no longer remembers) while in the hospital — Larry hires a private investigator (Mekhi Phifer) to look into it.
  • Season 6 (2007) — Cheryl and Larry shelter a New Orleans family named the Blacks (Vivica A. Fox and J.B. Smoove) in their house, after a hurricane destroys the Blacks' home. A distracted phone call between Larry and Cheryl causes her to re-evaluate their marriage dynamic and they soon separate, Larry thus returns to the dating scene.
  • Season 7 (2009) — Currently in production stages. Cheryl Hines has confirmed that she will be returning to the show.[2] It has been confirmed that the principal cast of Seinfeld will be appearing together in several episodes.[3] It was also reported in the April 27, 2009 issue of People Magazine that Vivica A. Fox will be returning to the series. In response as to whether she would be Larry's wife on the show, all she says is "Larry David is my man! And I am still making his life chaotic."

[edit] Critical response and awards

List of Curb Your Enthusiasm awards and nominations

Since its 2000 debut, the show has enjoyed wide critical acclaim and a steadily growing, dedicated audience[citation needed] that has helped it emerge from its early "cult"-only status.[citation needed] Through 2004, it has been nominated for twenty Emmy Awards (winning one), and has received a Golden Globe for best television comedy (2003). It is the sixth-highest rated TV show on metacritic.com.

Slate magazine named the characters of Cheryl David and Susie Greene as two of the best on television and as reasons they were looking forward to the return of the show in fall 2007.[4]

Curb Your Enthusiasm has received 28 Emmy nominations with one win, Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series for Robert B. Weide for the episode "Krazee-Eyez Killa". The show has also won a Golden Globe Award for Best TV show - musical or comedy, a Directors Guild of America award and a Writers Guild of America award for Comedy Series. The show has been nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series since the first season, but has never won one.

[edit] The Juan Catalan incident

In 2003, Juan Catalan, a resident of Los Angeles, was cleared of premeditated murder charges against a material witness (a crime eligible for capital punishment) after cut-out footage shot for the "Carpool Lane" episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm showed him and his daughter attending the Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Atlanta Braves baseball game some 20 miles from the crime-scene, resulting in a $320,000 settlement against the City of Los Angeles.[5][6]

[edit] Inspired shows

[edit] Media

[edit] Book

A Curb Your Enthusiasm book was released October 19, 2006, published by Gotham Books (ISBN 1-59240-230-5). The book contains stories from Larry David's past, original interviews and commentary, episode outlines, episode guide, and over 100 full-color photographs.[10]

[edit] DVD

All six seasons have been released in full season DVD sets in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia.[11]

[edit] Music

The show is punctuated between scenes with music orchestrated by Wendall J. Yuponce (first season), and from a music library company called Killer Tracks (seasons two to five). The opening and closing theme song (not mentioned in the credits) is "Frolic" by Italian composer Luciano Michelini. David heard the music used in a bank commercial years before the show was created and thought it had a lighthearted, joyful quality, so as to balance the show's otherwise downcast, gloomy feel.

In May 2006, Mellowdrama Records released an unofficial Curb Your Enthusiasm soundtrack, which contained much of the music used in the show:

  1. "Frolic" - Luciano Michelini
  2. "Bubba Dub Bossa" - Robby Poitevin
  3. "Beach Parade" - Armando Trovaioli
  4. "For Whom The Bell Tolls" - Gianni Ferrio
  5. "The Stranger" - Alessandro Alessandroni
  6. "Tango Passionata" - Piero Umiliani
  7. "Ein Swei March" - Renato Rascel
  8. "Suspicion" - Ennio Morricone
  9. "Solo Dance" - Italo Greco
  10. "Moulin Rouge Waltz" - Teddy Lasry
  11. "Walk Cool" - Nino Oliviero
  12. "Slow On The Uptake" - Luis Bacalov
  13. "Corfu" - Eric Gemsa
  14. "Thrills And Spills" - Stefano Torossi
  15. "The Puzzle" - Franco Micalizzi
  16. "Au Vieux" - Christian Sebasto Toucas
  17. "Merry Go Round" - Armando Trovaioli
  18. "Riviera Nostalgia" - Jacques Mercier
  19. "La Ballada Di Periferia" - Jacques Mercier
  20. "The Little People" - Carlo Rustichelli
  21. "Mazurka Bastiaise" - Jean Michel Panunzio
  22. "Spinning Waltz" - Piero Umiliani
  23. "Amusement" - Franco Micalizzi
  24. "Frolic (30 Second Edit)" - Luciano Michelini

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Daniel Frankel. "'Curb' to resume production in Dec." Variety magazine.
  2. ^ [1] TV Guide. 16 January 2009
  3. ^ [2] MSN. 05 March 2009
  4. ^ Lapidos, Juliet (September 21, 2007). "Oh, How We've Missed You!". Slate magazine. http://www.slate.com/id/2174389/nav/navoa/#TheWireHBO. Retrieved on 2007-09-23. 
  5. ^ http://www.courttv.com/news/2004/0604/larrydavid_ctv.html
  6. ^ ABC news article
  7. ^ Klovn at TV.com
  8. ^ Dee writes BBC's answer to 'Curb Your Enthusiasm'
  9. ^ CAM'RON WORKING ON 'BLACK CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM'
  10. ^ Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Book
  11. ^ EzyDVD.com: Curb Your Enthusiasm - The Complete 6th Season

[edit] External links

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