the Larry Sanders Show

Number 1 on my Christmas list

Yeah!

love artie tackling phil at the end of the zevon episode.

is there a uk version of it? i had a look on amazon and it was 116 quid for a us version, i guess my xbox prob plays us dvds but that price is hefty too, i could download for at most half that price, possibly a lot less.

season 1 and 2 are on region 2 from Amazon at about 18 quid each

[/Amazon Spokesman]

Artie is just consistently great. From the "Hank's Wedding" episode, when Hank is shocked that Artie's figured out he wants to have the wedding on air: "Hank, I keep telling you--I can see right into your soul."

xp don't think xbox plays us dvds...? if so, it's "only" $99 at amazon atm.

it screams "penis vagina" more than anything...

I had to go on hiatus from the box set for a couple of weeks, but I just finished the episode where Hank guest-hosts (Season 3), and I don't know if the show ever had a better one.

Darlene: "I'm doing some creative visualization, and I'm seeing the audience screaming with laughter!"
Artie: "I've seen the same thing, Darlene--thank you for explaining the screaming."

That's one of my favorites as well.

The way Hank becomes really smug with Larry and the crew after the first show is especially great.

Hank's post-show smugness is so off the chart, it's actually hard to watch; even before I started the episode, I got this queasy feeling remembering what a train-wreck he was. Another favorite line from Artie, when Hank breaks down crying just before he goes on air: (as only Artie can deliver it) "Should I be concerned?"

that might be my favourite episode. at least as good as hank's sex tape.

"And might I suggest three gift baskets for Lionel Richie, one for each time you referred to him as 'Little Richard.'"

All the best episodes are Hank related, aren't they? I like the one where they have to do a show without Hank and realize his value to the show.

no longer on hulu :((

Anybody know Phil Leeds? Great character actor--he plays Hank's agent Sid, he was Dr. Shand in Rosemary's Baby, he was on an old Dick Van Dyke as Morey Amsterdam's pool-hustling brother, and there was an Odd Couple episode, too (forget the details, except that he was good--something to do with horse-racing). A friend and I are the only Phil Leeds cultists in the world. Anyway, I watched the post-divorce episode where Hank goes on a binge of debauchery, and Leeds has one of my favorite lines ever:

Sid: "Hankulah, so you're marriage has turned to shit. I know what you're going through, but this, with the whores and the booze..."
Hank: "You know what I'm going through? You've been married to the same lady for 56 years."
Sid: "I'm thinking of getting out."

sid is a god.

Finished season four, couple more to go. The opening of season four does an amazing job of capturing something that I think has been forgotten: how riveting, and how serious, the O.J. trial was before it became a full-time punchline. The first image is of Chris Darden talking, and you pull back to see everyone around the TV, not saying anything, as Larry watches intently. This goes on for a good minute. (Leading to a great joke eventually. Paula: "Kato Kaelin's people have been haranguing me about getting him on the show." Paula, off-camera: "Kato Kaelin has people?") Other all-time episodes from the same season: the one where Jeannie comes back and ends up having sex with Hank, Artie's all-night bender after his friend Ryan O'Neal gets bumped, and, of course, Hank's sex tape. ("You need to wash your mouth out with...Hank.") There's even one episode where there's a truly great sentimental moment, something I thought the show had avoided at all costs (like Seinfeld): Beverly's explanation for why she comes back after quitting.

Hope those who wanted this for Christmas got it.

Oops--it's Beverly who has the off-camera line about Kato Kaelin.

Though the show wasn't sentimental (in the worst sense) I do think they did have some great moments of pathos, like that Beverly episode, but there are also some great moments between Larry and Artie, and Hank is lovable for the same comic-pathetic reasons Homer Simpson used to be.

Season 5: overall, not quite up to three and four, but it ends with three great ones where the show starts to take a darker turn. The episode where Paula's elevated to producer so she won't leave has another one of those great moments of pathos right at the end, when Artie apologizes and makes his peace with Paula's promotion. The roast episode is about the most uncomfortable 30 minutes of television you'll ever see: brilliant. And the final episode, where Roger Bingham appears and starts his maneuvering to get Larry out of there sets up the next season perfectly. Scott Thompson and Mary Lynn Rajskub bring a lot to the show. And Penny Johnson (Beverly) gets better looking every year.

i would marry beverly...

i would until i watched 24.

this show is the greatest and all on watch instantly

http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Penny_Johnson

I finished up last night. I'll go back now and watch all the deleted scenes, most of which I skipped.

The last season starts off with three of the best episodes ever. It's basically all the machinations of Stevie Grant and the network as they clear a path for John Stewart. As a corrosive look at show business, they're up there with Sweet Smell of Success. I linked to this way upthread--possibly my favorite exchange of the entire run--and another great moment I'd single out is when Stevie Grant says something like, "That's what made this company [meaning the U.S.A.] great," Arthur walks away in disgust saying, "It's a country," and you hear Stevie ask, "What'd I say?"

A bunch of good (though not as good) episodes follow, leading up to "Flip," the final show. I had mixed feelings on that one. It's unusual how they let Jim Carrey take over for a while--his banter during the commercial is great, but I'm not sure it's worth the 10 minutes that leads up to it. The meta stuff with Sean Penn during the commercial break was overkill; the point had already been made when Garry Shandling's name was mentioned. And the episode gets more maudlin than I would have expected towards the end; I almost wish Hank had exited on his tirade, instead of having him come back. Artie's better than ever through the whole season. I'd forgotten how Sarah Silverman basically disappeared, then reappeared.

I finish as I started: still gets my vote for the greatest sitcom ever.

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/12/the-tragedy-of-the-talk-show-host/8293/

netflix is trying to kill me

kill u w/ lulz

so i just bought the complete series, after having only seen like 4 or 5 episodes. given that I'm a huge curb your enthusiasm fan, and will likely watch all of LSS for the next couple of weeks, is there hope? I mean, will I develop an ulcer out of acidic gluttony?

Summer 2010, for me, was all about watching the entire LSS series.

No regrets. Don't look back now.

Just started streaming on Netflix. At what point does it became comedy godhead?

I had my summer of LSS about a decade ago as an impressionable teenager via the joys of subscription television. Maybe I am due for another one?

Xpost: I'd probably say with the Hankercizer

Huh, Netflix streaming has a really weird episode order: "Hey Now" is first, and then "The Flirt Episode."

Yeah, there a few instances of episodes being out of order (really threw me at the beginning of Season 3), episodes not even in the right season, mislabeled episodes.

I assume Wikipedia has the proper order?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Larry_Sanders_Show_episodes

I know IFC has been airing them in production order, I assume Netflix has them the same. "Hey Now" was first shot, and "The Flirt" second, etc. See this page: http://epguides.com/LarrySandersShow/

In most cases it doesn't matter, although season 6 actually works better in production order.

My radio station had its license revoked the other day by the CRTC, a Canadian regulatory body. We're going to appeal; it may work, but it'll require a lot of money. Feb. 12 is supposed to be our final day of broadcasting.

So what does this have to do with Larry Sanders? I was thinking about what I'd say on what could be my final show this weekend, and I remembered the great opening to the final Sanders episode: Larry watching Jack Paar's Tonight Show sign-off. It was the second time they tried an opening like that, the other being the O.J. opening. Both were sombre, and completely silent except for what was playing on the television screen. Fantastic.

Artie: Well what about little Miguelito from Peru, you know the kid you adopted through Sally Struthers? All his letters pile up like goddamn junk mail!

Hank: Well what am I supposed to do, he wrote them in Spanish. You see, this is not going to happen with Roger because he's local.

holy shit, the Divorce Gun

god i didnt realize that netflix had all of the seasons

how am i going to get anything done

just started this too. Drunk Hank and Artie in "The New Producer" was amazing!

i keep getting worried theyre going to pull it from streaming. im still on season 3

two things:

* jeffrey tambor is one of the best swearers in the world
* is "the larry sanders show" (ie the talk-show within the show) supposed to be good or is it supposed to be kind of mediocre? his monologues are always so lame

i think gary shandling delivers a pretty competent monologue -- at least by the standards of tnite show monologues which tend to be lame. at one point networks were talking about hiring him to actually host one of the late night shows (I believe NBC was trying to get him for the late night show and when they couldn't they went with Conan instead). part of what makes the show work imo, is that shandling does the late night thing really well. he does seem very comfortable and has that kind of superficial interview chit-chat stuff. i don't think it's supposed to be 'good' in some amazing definitive sense tho and we constantly hear throughout the series about sanders problems competing for ratings. he's not supposed to be the best thing on tv, but he is supposed to be one of these guys that can do this job well.

i think the monologues are good

he was a frontrunner to succeed carson! (according to wikipedia)

i think the monologues are good/lame the same way that conan and daves are