Roush on Curb Your Enthusiasm and Larry David
Question: What is your opinion of this season of
Curb Your Enthusiasm? I thought the season started off strong, kind of lingered in the middle and ended strong with the episodes "The Tivo Guy," "The N Word," "The Therapists" and "The Bat Mitzvah." It's still great (better than Season 5), although I don't know how many more seasons it can go on, given the show's familiar formula. I'm in conflict, because
Larry David still can do great episodes, but I think he might want to leave the audience wanting more before it's too late.
— Andrew
Matt Roush: I was more or less a fan of the season. Thought it peaked with the "Ida Funkhouser Roadside Memorial" episode early on and then revved up again when Larry and Cheryl's marriage fell apart. But there were many times this season (such as, very notably, in the "N Word" episode), when Larry's obnoxious behavior — not to mention his ear-splitting performance style — was so annoying and overdone, it stopped being funny to me. Still, on average it was a good and at times hilarious season, and I'm glad he's planning to do more. I'm not so worried about the show becoming stagnant and formulaic as long as Larry David can find a strong framework on which to construct the episodes. The turbulence in his personal life (are we really to believe he's part of the Black family now?) should help make that easier.
