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Reviews
All in the Family: Archie and the Quiz (1975)
Pure Archie!
This may be my favorite episode of a classic sitcom, certainly of its later years:
1. Only involved the four main characters. Many times the side characters were annoying; this episode had no such distractions. By season 5, we were well aware of the personalities and this one let them all shine. Everybody pulled their weight!
2. A nice respite from "isn't Archie a bigot?" Obviously, that was the main reason this series was so groundbreaking but good to give it a rest on occasion.
3. Some of the best lines of the series. Mike: "Get away from the things that aggravate you." Followed by that look from Archie and Michael's foot in mouth reaction. Plus, the ending line - Archie logic at its finest (which gave us arming all air travelers) of how Edith can avoid her predicted lonely widow years. Great script!
4. Carroll O'Conner. Boy, did Norman Lear get this casting right! Archie's immediate rage at his disposition being questioned, his quiet realization that his father died at the same age the quiz projected, and later fuming at how early Edith and Meathead croaked him. All topped off with his problem solving at the end.
From the debut on, the Archie character would have quickly (or instantly) be terminally off-putting if handled by a less gifted actor. Great writing and Carroll MADE this series (though he alone couldn't carry the later episodes or Archie Bunker's Place, when the scripts were hollow shells of their once daring selves).
Curb Your Enthusiasm: No Lessons Learned (2024)
Mediocre end to a once brilliant show.
There were some funny moments- Danson being a spotlight hogger and a few of the trial scenes..
But at this point, will just be glad not to read comments from people who think they're witty writing, "Pretty, pretty, pretty good". Like the David staredown, it's played. SO played!
I LIKED the Seinfeld finale - they brought back memorable characters in a unique manner with a credible trial milieu. For those who didn't like it, Curb gave an alternative ending with the reunion season.
Who did they bring back here? Mocha Joe, the country club owner and midriff girl were legit foes, but where were Sammi, Wanda, Loretta Black, Ben Stiller, Michael McKean and others that Larry offended far more often and severely (and deserved a curtain call).
Seinfeld's brilliance was in its tying together various plot lines. What happened to Sienna Miller, Lori Loughlin, and Susie's caftan business?
Just as Curb made Asians barely speaking English, they portrayed Atlantans as Dukes of Hazard rubes. Lazy stereotypes.
Like Archie Bunker's Place was a sad finish to the brilliant All in the Family, this show held on too long. Intermittent laughs, but far fewer and longer in between.
Curb Your Enthusiasm: Palestinian Chicken (2011)
The best Curb (even Larry thinks so)!
Tonight is the showing of Curb's penultimate episode - based on previous weeks of this final season, not expecting that much in the last two (hope I'm wrong).
The end of the line made me think of the best of Curb, specifically, the Palestinian Chicken.
Anne Bedian was OUTSTANDING as the sultry Shara. That sexy sashay in the restaurant walking away from LD - what man WOULDN'T abandon his roots for her? (Well, maybe Funkhouser, since he was under the influence of his female rabbi at the time).
The interplay between David and Einstein was unparalleled (on both sides - Marty declaring the friendship was hanging bu a thread; Larry mock freaking out when the Funkman's yarmulke hit the floor).
Sammi proved the Susie side of her genes was dominant; Susie getting HYSTERICAL over the perceived inappropriateness of a joke; Larry Miller, Maggie Wheeler and (especially) Jason Kravits having nice guest spots.
But at the end of this episode (and of the series), what remains timeless is the classic rift that Anne Bedian caused between Larry and the late, great Bob Einstein, both in the post-coital foyer and the grand opening parking lot.
Without a doubt (IMHO), Curb's finest!
Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Colostomy Bag (2024)
Not just the musty car or cheese that stinks...
As a longtime fan of the show (and Seinfeld, the GOAT comedy that made Larry rich and famous), I've WANTED to see the final season go out on top.
But like the reboots of Frasier and Sex And The City, the episodes this season have largely been humorless (the Lori Loughlin appearance being the only exception).
This week's decline includes the wasted inclusion of Steve Buscemi and Conan O'Brien. One supposedly having a colostomy bag, the other demanding clearance to talk with him. Even Banta would know this isn't comedic Gold (unlike, say, the shape of an Ovaltine jar).
Key tossers vs. Handers? Possession being 9/10ths of the law? A Mantle not wanting to catch? Clearance to speak to a celebrity neighbor? Stereotyped dog breeds? As Sally Weaver would point out about the doll, "not funny!"
Plus so many retreads. The Seinfeld pull the plug and smelly car scenarios, the "hide this from Susie" trope (women's underwear in the glove compartment seems SO much better than the lame Power Of Attorney switcheroo), the disappointment in the lawyer for ridiculous reasons (from bathroom privileges to script-reading fees to whether or not he's Jewish or whether he looks like Mocha Joe). Not an homage, just lazy and unfunny.
Watching an unwell Richard Lewis once again overreact (first to Larry buying the car he wants then to "she may be the one" potential of another first date) is almost as sad as his real life death.
I know this post will rank low on the "helpful" ratings because Larry-does-no-wrong fans want to read only good things about Mr. David and cohorts. Hopefully, there will be something worthwhile in the final two shows.
But honestly, the show should have ended with the Fatwa's potential assassin. Spite stores, a bad Young Larry actress and this season's mishmash (leading presumably to the water bottle trial) don't add up to comedy.
As the cashier told Jerry when breaking up, this season "just didn't do it for me."
Barry (2018)
So violent, but so what?
Talk about The Emperor's New Clothes Syndrome!
All these 10/10 ratings - best show EVER! - hyperbole. For what? A stupid show that attempts to be a new Sopranos/Breaking Bad with none of the complexity or character development of its predecessors.
I like three of the primary actors - Hader, Winkler, and Root. But there is nothing - NOTHING - compelling about cartoon-like shootouts and circle jerk plotting. How can Hollywood libs - who rightfully grieve over the distressing level of random gun violence - extol this insanely awful concept and all the mass murders?
How is this a comedy? Or a drama? The longest 30 minutes ever wasted, each and every episode. If you want critically-acclaimed and smart humor, watch Hader's Documentary Now!
This is just garbage. Violent, nonsensical trash!
Curb Your Enthusiasm: Disgruntled (2024)
A shell of its former self...
Curb has always been a hit and miss program, with more hits than misses.
Sadly, to mangle Gertrude Stein's quote, there no longer is any there there. Meandering storylines that inherently are just not funny. Without building to a payoff.
Too much time on the golf course, too many unlikeable characters, too many callbacks to Seinfeld or earlier Curbs, too much of time just being filled (as I watched last night on my iPad, kept checking how much longer is this slog going to last?)
Yes, it still gets a chuckle or two - and I'll watch the remaining episodes, if only to see if it can regain any of its charm. "Pretty pretty"s and stare downs were never funny and now, as was Newman's Millennium party in the wrong year, are "quite lame".
Seinfeld - the greatest comedy of all-time - went downhill in the last two Larry-less seasons but never to these depths. Thanks for the memories, Larr - but it's past time to let go.
Car 54, Where Are You? (1961)
60 years later, still hilarious!
I was 7 years old when I first watched this - thought it was hysterical. Watching it again, it still is.
So well written and perfectly cast. Also, in retrospect, pretty groundbreaking in being racially integrated and offering Jewish story lines. Comedy, but at no one's expense.
Fantastic cast - with two future Munsters, Nipsey Russell and Charlotte Rae. One character who I didn't appreciate then was Paul Reed as Captain Block. Oh those eye rolls when it came to Gunther Toody. Priceless!
Toody - with his "ooh ooh" and "Do you mind? DO. YOU. MIND?" may be the funniest character of all time. The hammy portrayal by Joe E. Ross was PERFECT - only Don Knotts as Barney Fife compares in the 60s comedies.
Too bad it was cancelled after two seasons - to give an extra half hour to the 90 minute The Virginians, of all things. Great show...
JFK (1991)
An incredible film of an unspeakable tragedy...
Am rewatching JFK 30 years after its release. Not only does it hold up as a movie, it explains the complex web of treachery, lies and cover-up in about 3 hours (long for a typical movie but concise and condensed for this true nightmare).
I've been to New Orleans and seen the 544 Camp Street / 531 Lafayette entrances to the same building. Lived in Dallas for years, went to Dealey Plaza a dozen times or more. Been to the 6th Floor Museum where Oswald supposedly acted alone in shooting the President (it's apparent he couldn't have from there, though they still claim he did). Been behind the picket fence and actually climbed up the column Zapruder shot the most famous home movie ever (he had to have been in the plan - there's no way he wouldn't have ducked for cover or at least flinched as the bullets whizzed past him from behind).
That Oliver Stone was able to explain Jim Garrison's heroism and a more accurate picture of this coup d'etat is an epic achievement in storytelling. The cinematography and editing are superb.
No one will ever know the full truth but anyone believing the Warren Commission "report" - especially after watching this brilliant exposé - is either foolish or just willfully ignorant of what evils our government and its actors (from LBJ down) can perpetrate...
Let's Be Real (2020)
Fair and balanced and often funny...
The greatest thing about LBR is they are an equal opportunity offender - poking fun at Biden as much as Trump. Unlike SNL. Unlike MSM. Both parties are fair game.
Some skits work, some don't. But the puppet caricatures are funny (kudos to Puppet Pelosi!) and the voices spot on.
There's a freshness to this sadly lacking elsewhere - the real life actors add a lot (Ed Asner slowly rolling his chair to get out of a Zoom call featuring OJ Simpson comes to mind).
A lot of work goes into each show and it's well worth ignoring the many 1 ratings and watching/deciding for yourself.