Hi guys! Happy Tuesday! In today’s TV Tuesday I’m going to be talking alllll about the TV show Curb Your Enthusiasm seasons one through nine, are you ready? Let’s go!

I started watching Curb Your Enthusiasm because I’ve heard people say really good things about it, and after watching I’m not so sure I agree. Sometimes I question why I’m watching the show because I swear every episode ends with some sort of confrontation that could have been avoided, I realized that the whole point of the show is for Larry, the main character to curb his enthusiasm since he has no enthusiasm, but still sometimes I just found it to be cringe worth to watch.

So now that I’ve said all that, the premise of the show is focused around our main character Larry David, which is his real name. I didn’t know who he was until I started watching, but he’s one of the producers and co-creators of Seinfeld. Apparently the show is supposed to be a semi-accurate representation of his life, so I’m watching going, what was this episode based off of, or did this actually happen to him in real life. Some of the plots are incredibly ridiculous, but then again, real life is pretty ridiculous.

We come to learn that Larry means well with everything he does, but his small problems always end up being huge problems by the end of the episode. Larry isn’t one to keep quite about something, if something is unjust in his mind, you can bet your money on it that Larry is going to pipe up and rant about it. Like in one episode he has a problem with how a line works in a store, when what he wants gets sold right before he gets to the front of the line, he blames the store and its “line problem”.

I know this all meant to be funny, and comedic and blown out of proportion reality, but sometimes it’s not that funny.

The show is shot like a reality tv show, but is obviously scripted (making it just like a reality tv show?! 😝). At first I couldn’t get into the way it was filmed, but after the first season I kinda just got used to it.

So everyone in the show uses their real first name, but changed last name, minus guest stars, or people Larry is actually friends with, for example Richard Lewis is a reoccurring character, as well as Ted Danson. There have also been guest stars like Ben Stiller, David Swimmer (who has been my favourite, when he’s not playing Ross, man David is just a lot of more likable.)

Each episode has its own plot where something as stupid as stealing flowers from a memorial site and the consequences behind that, or trying to figure out how much to tip at a restaurant, but sometimes there’s seasonal arcs.

Season one doesn’t have a major story arc as it was too focused on setting the stage up for the show and letting us know who the characters are, which I guess I should get into, and what better time than now.

So I’ve introduced Larry already, then there’s Cheryl his wife, who I’m not sure what exactly she does. She seems to be busy all the time, but it’s never alluded to what she does for a living. She has to have a lot of patience to have married Larry, but I think the two of them really do work together. 

Then there’s Jeff, his best friend and manager. These two do everything together and it’s kind cute. Then there’s Jeff’s wife Susie who is just as loud and vocal as Larry. Richard Lewis is also in the show a lot who plays Larry’s oldest friend.

Those are the main characters to start off with, as the seasons progress more characters are obviously introduced.

In season two the major story arc has to do with Larry not working. He’s kinda just moping around the house, since Seinfeld ended and now needs something to occupy his time. Cheryl tells him he needs to find a new project, so Larry comes up with a new tv show that he first pitches to Jason Alexander, who played George on Seinfeld, but then doesn’t like how he does business so he pitches it to Julia Louis-Dreyfus who played Elaine. They get so far, but of course Larry and his constantly royally screwing things up manages to get them kicked off more than one network. This season was definitely one that I wasn’t too keen on as Larry just seemed to not like anything and didn’t want to do much, and then when things weren’t done his way, geez, what a baby.

In season three, Larry gets this really grand idea that he’s going to invest in a restaurant enterprise. Well of course there are hiccups along the way. One is finding the right uniform for the waiters and staff. Larry has these grand ideas, but no one agrees with him. Another is the hiring of the chef, they go through a few before Larry interviews a bald guy, who he loves. When Larry learns that the guy likes to wear a wig, Larry is crushed by this and fires him for lying to him about wearing a wig. (As in the interview he said he hates to wear them.)
And right before they’re about to open, Jeff’s corpse sniffing dog, Oscar, finds something in the floors so they have to tear up all the floors because there could be a dead body under there, and that could mean lawsuits. So they do, and what do they find… a bra. Yep, a plain old bra.

That is also the season where Ted Danson starts to appear as a reoccurring guest.

In season four Mel Brooks is introduced and he casts Larry as the lead in his new musical. Unknown to anyone why he would do such a thing as Larry has two left feet and isn’t really acting, let alone musical material. He first works alongside Ben Stiller, but he and Ben get into too many tiffs, one includes poking his eye out with a skuer, at his birthday party, the party Larry didn’t get him a gift for, and didn’t sing happy birthday at. 

So the recast is David Swimmer. Can I just say that I loved this so much! The two of them, as much as they have their tiffs, they work so well with each other. It’s kinda funny to watch Larry want to be like David. David is this cool younger guy who doesn’t want anything to do with Larry, but in some way the two get along.

When it’s showtime, the two do a marvelous job, and we’re all waiting for Larry to mess up because it’s bound to happen. And it does, he forgets his line… but then he starts to improvise and the crowed at first hates it, but it takes a little bit, but then they start to really love it. That’s when we learn that Mel Brooks only hired him was because he knew Larry was going to fail and that was going to be Mel’s ticket to retiring. When he finds out how much a hit Larry is, Mel’s wife is pissed, and Mel doesn’t know what to do with himself. By the end of the show, Larry remembers his lines and the show ends the way it’s supposed to.

Also as a subplot to this, Cheryl and Larry’s 10 year wedding anniversary is coming up and so as a gift she is letting him sleep with whoever he wants, the catch is that he has to do it before their 10th anniversary. This is a constant struggle for Larry because he thinks he can get any woman to sleep with him, he just has to choose, but as he searches he finds it’s a lot harder than he thought it would ever be. In the end he doesn’t even go through with it. I thought that was an alright plot. It was annoying to watch Larry struggle with it, but at the same time, I guess a good feeling for his wife to know that it wasn’t an easy thing for him and that’s she’s pretty much it for him.

Season five things get a little more serious, but still with it’s comical undertones. So we learn that his longest friend, Richard Lewis is in need of a kidney transplant. None of his relatives are a match, all but his cousin, Lewis Lewis, but of course he falls into a coma. Now Larry feels forced to get tested just to be a good friend. He and Jeff both get tested and both find out they’re a match. Now it’s down to who will actually donate the kidney. They agree to let Richard decide, but he doesn’t care, so it’s back to them deciding. Richard suggests flipping a coin. So they’re about to when Larry suggests they play eenie meenie, where he plays it out first to figure out how he can get out of giving the kidney. So they play the game and when lands on Jeff as out, Larry gets excited because he thinks he’s won and it becomes this whole argument about how to play the game.

Just from the description there, can you feel how intense these episodes can get, now imagine it’s for things that are so minimal and trivial, it can get a little tiring to watch. As a side note I can only take this show two episodes at a time.

So in the end it’s he Larry that gives away his kidney.

But you want to know what started it all, and gave him that change of heart  to get tested in the first place. Well his father has a stroke, and on his hospital bed tells Larry he’s adopted. Or well that’s what Larry hears. So he hires a private investigator to look into it for him. The PI finds his real parents and he goes to hangout with them for a few days, it’s during a church service that he gets that epiphany to help Richard.

So Larry is all ready to help out his friend, when his PI rushes to the hospital to tell him it was all a mistake, he’s not adopted. Now Larry wants out, but it’s obviously too late, and so he donates his kidney.

When he comes to, he’s not doing so well, he’s on the verge of death and now all his close friends aren’t mad at him (which is really nice to see). He does for maybe 10 minutes where he gets to heaven (with hair) and they don’t want him, they tell him it’s not his time, so he’s brought back to life. Everyone is happy… but Larry.

In season six, Cheryl wants to adopt a family from a major hurricane that has swept the south. Larry isn’t all for it, but in the end she convinces him, and the Blacks come to stay with them. Yes they are a black family, and he’s Larry has to point it out. He says it’s like if his name was Larry Jew, because he’s a Jew.

I didn’t know where this would fit in, but this could be a good time for it, as Judaism plays a really big role in the show. A lot of minor and some major plots revolve around the religion and as his wife is Christian there are some conflicting plots that make the show watchable and interesting.

So over time Larry gets along really well with the Blacks. Everyone ends up calling him LD, which I thought was a kinda cute nickname. He especially gets close to Leon and the two become these somewhat bros. As the season starts to come to a close, Cheryl thinks she’s going to die in a plane crash so she calls Larry to tell him she loves him, only Larry is too busy with the Tvo guy and tells her to call back in ten minutes. Well that’s the last straw for Cheryl and she leaves Larry. She is actually learning Larry. I was shocked… but not as shocked as I would have been if I had been spoiled. I accidentally read it

As I mentioned earlier I really liked them together, but I can see where she’s coming from; Larry is a hard person to get along with and he makes everything so difficult. Even Cheryl says when people ask her how she stays with him, and she tells them there is another side to him, she tells Larry, there is no other side. And there kinda isn’t, what you see is what you get with him. I wonder, since he’s not playing a character but himself, if he over exaggerates his life so it’s more comical. Anyways.

Now Larry is trying everything to get her back. They both are seeing a therapist and they are both being told what to say when they see each other. He’s a little bonkers. So when Larry’s therapist tells him to give Cheryl an ultimatum about moving back in; Cheryl freaks and leave him again. So what does Larry do, he involves, well at first Leon, but his sister Loretta is not having it, so he makes his therapist steal Cheryl’s therapist’s purse so that Larry can look like the good guy. Well in doing that 1) his therapist gets arrested and sent to jail 2) Cheryl’s therapist starts to fall for him. Now Larry doesn’t know what to do because either way he’s screwed so he claims he has Alzheimer’s, and that’s when she tells him to go back to his wife. Well he and Cheryl have a lovely date… that is until Cheryl hears everything from her therapist.

That’s the end of everything and so Larry has become a complete mope but Jeff needs to him to come his daughter’s bat mitzvah and that he’ll never meet anyone in bed. Larry does make it, and strangely hits it off with Loretta and now the two are a couple? That ending was incredibly bizarre, like it came out of nowhere and did nothing for the plot, other than it was kinda funny. The true test to see if they are still together in season seven.

Well it lasts all of the first episode of season seven. She thinks that Larry is cheating on him so she breaks it off with him, and takes her family with her… all but Leon. Leon stays to be Larry’s wingman every once in a while.

So season seven is all about getting everyone to get to together to create a Seinfeld reunion. Man is that ever a challenge because not everyone wants to do it, Larry doesn’t even want to do it, but when he finds out that Cheryl is now an actor and wants to act on the show- he’s suddenly all for it. So he makes her play George’s ex-wife, using what happened in his own life he uses this to make it what went wrong in George’s life. This has now becomes show inception. What is real, and what is not real. This season is probably the closest thing fans of Seinfeld will get to a reunion and it’s so good. We actually get to see a lot of what was filmed for the “reunion” and it was hilarious and so well worth watching just for this!

Although in the end Cheryl and Larry almost get back together, but Larry can’t keep his mouth shut about a coaster stain and Cheryl walks out.

That’s how we end season seven, eight is one year later.

So it’s one year later and Larry is living life as a bachelor, this is pretty much the main theme for this season.  He and Cheryl get an official divorce and once that happens, she’s pretty much gone from the show. About halfway through the season Susie and Jeff announce that they’ll be moving to New York because their daughter Sammie got into Juilliard. Larry, on the other hand, trying to get out of doing something tells the friend asking for his help that he’s going to New York for 3 months, and in order to keep his promise he ends up going there with Susie and Jeff.

The rest of the season is spent in New York where Larry finds new ways to get in trouble because LA wasn’t enough for him.

I have to say, the comedy in the eighth season wasn’t as good as it has been in past seasons. There were quite a few guest stars to really keep the show going, but some were more troublesome than anything else, like Michael J. Fox was extremely annoying and I couldn’t get into it, even though it was the season finale, but Rosie O’Donnell was an added bonus to the show because she was extremely hilarious.

Season nine is six years later… literally and Larry is coming out of hibernation if you will. He’s coming back from his hiatus to produce a musical called Fatwa! This season’s arc follows him through the production of this musical, from him getting the idea, writing and everyone loving it; then going on Jimmy Kimmel Live and exposing himself, which then gets him involved with a real fatwa (which I didn’t know about until I watched this) so a fatwa is an Islamic death sentence.

From there Larry proceeds to go into hiding, it gets so bad he lives in a hotel (where he of course gets into a confrontation with the guy at the front desk about using tongs with cookies… go figure) and he’s wearing a wig and a mustache. It’s a little bit later where he finally decides to lose the disguise and live his life. He spends a lot of the season trying to get the Consul of Iran on his good side so that the fatwa will go away, this leads him on a journey through his past so that they can get Larry’s history and understand him better.

After that is all said and done, the musical is back on! The writer and creator of Hamilton, Lin-Manual Miranda, is producing his play, everyone thinks it’s a big deal, all but Larry of course. Larry doesn’t seem to get along with Lin much, and time after time there is just something with them. Just before they are about to open on Broadway Larry takes the crew out for paintball, well after all is said and done, Larry shoots Lin in the mouth and he musical again called off for six months.

This season was super weird to me. They used race and special needs in a way that wasn’t really flattering, it was more like they used it for their benefits to get away with things and it just seemed very tasteless.

Lauren Graham starred in this season and I love her, but she seemed like such an airhead. I wasn’t really feeling it. Like I know that’s how the character was supposed to be portrayed, and she did a great job, I just didn’t care for her character.

Also what was up with Ted and Cheryl dating? That was also very strange. It’s like this show went off the air of six years and returned racier than ever. As much as I have a love hate relationship with this show, I didn’t care so much for season nine. If they were to come out with another season, I would still watch it because this show will always have some weird crude comedic place in my heart for it, I just wish it was a little better. All in all, this show is,