Friday, March 29, 2024

Review: HBO Produced “Curb Your Enthusiasm” Returns With Larry David Taking a Jab at Competitor Netflix

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Yes, it’s time for season 11 of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” It would be hard to top Season 10 and the Spite Store, but Larry and his team seem like they’re ready for anything.

Two things pop out in the first episode of Season 11. Larry has sold a TV pilot called “Young Larry” to…Netflix. Indeed, Netflix is all over this episode, which is a sharp dig at HBO’s main competitor in the off network TV races. Larry and manager Jeff (Jeff Garlin) visit the Netflix digs, take meetings there, and even have auditions for the show.

Back when David and Jerry Seinfeld had their storyline on the latter’s show about “the show about nothing,” Jerry and George pitched it to NBC, the same network as “Seinfeld.” But now Larry David seems to be taking a poke at Netflix, and we’ll see where that goes.

Also of interest is the addition of the great Albert Brooks, who seems to be taking the place, at least for now, of Richard Lewis. It’s great seeing Brooks, who doesn’t love him? This may be an homage to Brooks’s real life brother, Bob Einstein, who played Larry’s friend Funkhauser until his untimely death in 2019. No mention has been made of Funkauser’s passing on “Curb,” and now his real life brother appears.

There was a recurring bit on Sunday night’s episode of people walking into glass doors that was funny, and laughed out loud during JB Smoove’s auditioning for girlfriends with the same name was his ex, but what I didn’t enjoy was the whole subplot of Larry being blackmailed by a Mexican family. It came off as cruel and a little racist. And kinda stupid.

But off we go for another season which won’t be boring, that’s for sure. And, of course, Susie Essman rocks.

 

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.
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