I don’t know about you, but I was very excited for this week’s episode of Curb, and I was not disappointed.
From the Monk’s Cafe and Jerry’s apartment stage sets, to Newman (Wayne Knight) walking through Jerry’s door, it felt like old friends getting together again. Which it was. All that was sorely missed, by me, was Jerry Stiller. Where are you, Frank?
Each of the main characters got some time in with Larry, and only Julia Louis-Dreyfus didn’t appear to require much of him. Jason Alexander got right in his face, Michael Richards bemoaned an ailment, and Jerry and Larry enjoyed some great — I’m assuming ad-libbed — quality time together.
Jason got right into character by questioning the casting of Cheryl as George’s ex-wife. I can’t imagine that there was such friction for real between Jason and Larry — if there had been, would they have aired it publicly like that? Probably not.
And then came the pen. At first I thought it would be “one of those Astronaut pens,” but Jason and Larry took it in a completely different direction. What Jason did to that thing during the table read was rather gross, and I can’t imagine anyone wanting it back after witnessing that display. I love how Jason replaced it with a junky pen — “It writes in blue ink, too … pen replaced.”
Michael, fearing a diagnosis of Grote’s disease, told Larry that he wasn’t sure he could concentrate on the show. After reassuring him by referencing a guy who ended up having died from Grote’s, I love how Larry sent Leon in to calm Michael. I wonder if he ever bothered to do that stuff when he was really executive producing Seinfeld. When Michael discovers it was all a lie, and goes off on Leon on the lot with cameras rolling … congratulations to Michael Richards for having gotten far enough past his racial tirade incident to joke about it. That really said a lot of good things about him to me.
Jerry and Larry are just hysterical together. I also noticed something interesting: while reading lines, Jerry was about back to the mid-seasons of Seinfeld in terms of his comfort level with himself and acting. But when he and Larry were riffing in the office? I know he’s hilarious, but he’s hilarious! They must have so much fun together. It’s awesome to see two people just enjoying one another’s company so much.
To the script itself, the plot of the Seinfeld reunion seems to revolve around George and his ex-wife, Amanda. George, it seems, made something of himself by creating an iPhone app known as “iToilet.” Using your phone’s GPS, it can tell you where the nearest public bathroom is, no matter where you are. Brilliant! Of course, George lost all of his money by investing with Bernie Madoff (as unbelievable as that is, considering just how much investable capital you have to have to invest with someone like that). Amanda, of course, had wisely pulled her half out early, and is now on easy street (ignoring that prosecutors are coming after just those people who, even unknowingly, gained from the scheme).
The episode seems to close on George telling the group that he and Amanda are getting back together — it would appear, so that he can get his money back. But that pesky pre-nup means he’s got to make it work. Hey, if he could have lived the rest of his life “going like this” with his arm (I believe he could have), he can swing a marriage.
Meanwhile, Elaine has a daughter named Isabelle, who’s the product of her egg and Jerry’s donated sperm. Boy, would I have loved to see that negotiation between those two. Plus we got appearances by George’s mother Estelle (Estelle Harris), Newman, and apparently Bania (Steve Hytner). My guess is there are other surprises in store for us come next week.
Beyond the show, some other fun stuff was Larry texting with Emma, as well as Leon on set … he never saw an episode of Seinfeld! My jaw dropped when he asked who Jerry and Elaine were, because, well, because … can you imagine? I think it was commentary on people saying that the show was written for a white audience, but either way it was really, really funny.
Can’t wait until next week’s finale/reunion episode!
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Nov 16, 2009 @ 09:00 EST5EDT
I agree, I’ve loved the Jerry and Larry scenes, I could just watch entire episodes of that.
*POST AUTHOR*
Except for the fact that on Curb they’re doing a scene, that’s pretty much what a lot of the Larry/Jerry episodic commentary on the Seinfeld DVD sets are like.
I must say that, if Jerry does commentary with Larry on the Seinfeld episodes on the season 7 Curb DVD, I may have to consider buying it. :)
I loved Seinfeld and I love Larry’s show, but I don’t really want them mixing in this way.
Funny moments in this episode, but I find my attention wandering when the Seinfeld crew has extended screen time.
*POST AUTHOR*
Interesting; I never looked at it like that because I’m not a Curb fan. So you don’t feel as if you’re getting just a little bit more for the Seinfeld memory bank?