Larry David freaking rules!!

his situational comedy & how he can get comedy out of awkward moments is just brilliant!

I will re-post this in this thread:

I thought Tell Me You Love Me had a very good debut.

The sex scenes are in a word...

Wow!

Also, Curb was very funny as usual.

Curb was great... I wonder if he and Cheryl are gonna get a divorce...!

I feel that Tell Me would have worked better after the Sopranos finale, while JFC would have been a better pairing with Curb.

You guys liked tonight's Curb more than me:

http://weblogs.variety.com/season_pass/2007/09/curb-your-enthu.html

3
That is the lingering question after last season's finale. They threw a curveball in with the way Cheryl acted, while he was in the coma.

Wasn't my favorite Curb, but it was still pretty funny. I always enjoy seeing Richard Lewis on there. And Super Dave was, as always, a great straight man.

Jon's new place is intimidating. The comments post in reverse chronological order--I was terrified that I'd double posted. Plus the whole having to stay on point, thing. And knowing that real people are going to be reading it, not just toasterites. Very intimidating.

It's been so long since I've watched an episode of Curb, I forgot what it felt like to squirm uncomfortably while watching.

That said, it was still very funny.

7 Andrew, you're definitely a Top 10 Screen Jam Toaster Poster.

Also, googling Tia Carrere was a fantastic thing to do. I haven't seen her in anything in the last ten years, before tonight, but it turns out she had at least one job that was very interesting.

9- Yes! In your face, ToyCannon!

7
Feel the same way.

I didn't think that "Curb" made me feel uncomfortable, which is why it didn't work as well for me.

"Tell Me You Love Me" could have the potential to make me consider the priesthood.

I like that the wife from Mind of the Married Man is on Tell Me You Love Me. But, other than that, I don't see anything much in it. Apparently the only way to be happy in a sexual relationship is to be old.

Does it bother anybody that all the characters in Tell Me... are white, economically comfortable and appear to be completely secular? This show seems to be crafted out of some very weak imaginations and/or limited life experiences.

Usually it doesn't bother me as much as it did on this show. It's almost as if they were afraid to deal with their own feelings as pampered white liberals about how income, ethnicity or faith might affect sexuality. If you're going to take on a big subject and "break barriers," then you better deliver. But don't say you're telling me the truth about something and then give me basically the same people at four different ages.

Trust me, I am not PC. But this is an irremediable mistake.

14
Is she (Sonia Walger) supposed to have an English accent? Sometimes she does and sometimes she doesn't.

15- I read it as isolating the variable. Anyway, I bet Jesus is happy enough that they left him out of it.

16- Yeah, I noticed that. I wondered if there'd been some explanation of it that I'd missed (possibly while she had her shirt off), but I guess not.

I thought "Curb" was a scream, but the only thing that kept me from quitting "Tell Me You Love Me" ten minutes in was the promise of sex scenes. They delivered, but the rest of the show felt like naval-gazing drudgery. When you have that much nudity and your show's still boring, well, that's quite a trick.

Although I will say this: If, a year ago, you'd asked me to place a bet on whether or not I'd ever see universally respected, Oscar-nominated actress (and senior citizen) Jane Alexander simulating an explicit sexual act on television, I think I would have taken the unders. Shows what I know.

7 - I'm not sure that one couldn't necessarily branch into open (entertainment) chat there. I mean, I certainly wouldn't delete the comments. We'll see how it goes.

15 - An interesting comment. But if you were to, say, posit that the show isn't pursuing universal truths, does that make it any more palatable? I think so. At the same time, I do hope it offers some real insight instead of just getting stuck in self-pity.

16 - I noticed; I think Penny is just having trouble holding it back.

Tell Me You Love Me has my interest - I didn't love it

Apparently no one in that show really loves anyone.

That one guy loves his wife. Isn't that enough???

I thought "Tell Me..." was unbearable. I felt no sympathy for any of these couples and ultimately turned it off after 20 minutes.

I thought Heather Havrilesky's assessment was completely on the mark and also hilarious:

http://www.salon.com/ent/tv/iltw/2007/09/02/tell_me/

I've been spoiled by MAD MEN and watching the first season of FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS on DVD this past week, so I had no patience for this one. I still can't believe HBO passed on MAD MEN to broadcast this piece of crap.

22
And HBO also let David Milch make "John From Cincinnati."

22
I figured a problem with that show would be that people would not like and care about the characters.

That stuff does not really bother me nor does the lack of varying backgrounds. Providing more backgrounds would give them more topics to cover, but I assume the creators tried to stick to something they felt they knew more about.

The one thing I did not like about Tell Me You Love Me is when they cut to flashbacks during the therapy sessions. I thought they could have just showed those scenes earlier, so it would not be so blatant and obvious to the audience.

I also have to say that I do not understand the use of prop genitals. I get that the show wants to be very realistic and have I guess very powerful imagery when it comes to sex, but I find it just unnecessary.

They could have all that without having to show a prop penis cum. It kind of takes away from the show in a sense, because it is probably what most people will talk about.

Jon Epstein is a jerk.

I'm glad Jon's new co-bloggers have decided to sign their posts. I hate institutional editorials to begin with, but they're especially unbloggy.