While not much of Larry David's incredible net worth comes from Curb Your Enthusiasm (Seinfeld is still his biggest money earner) many of his fans believe it's his strongest work. The HBO show takes much of why people fell in love with Seinfeld and ups the stakes. Due to Seinfeld being on a cable network, it had to deal with censors and advertisers. Curb Your Enthusiasm had no such issues on HBO. Therefore, ever since the show debuted in 2000 it has never shied away from entering into so rather risky circumstances. By no means has Curb even been politically correct, and that's the point. Larry gets himself into situations that almost anyone in the first world can relate to and he usually does or says something that we all feel but would never act on. This leads to comedic gold for the misanthropic curmudgeon.
While there's no shortage of absolutely fantastic episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm, some fans think the show has lost its edge. Maybe it's gone on too long? Maybe it's the times that have changed the show's edginess? Maybe it's something completely different. But a quick look on Reddit reveals that fans are raising their eyebrows with Season 11 and the couple seasons that have come before it. Here's why some fans believe the show just isn't as good as it used to be.
Some Fans Believe Curb Your Enthusiasm Should Have Ended After Season 6 Or 7
There's no doubt that there are countless fans of Curb Your Enthusiasm that still think the show is great. Larry David is the type of guy who tends to create superfans who will follow him to the ends of the Earth and beyond. And there's no doubt that Larry is a genius. His comedic mind is unlike the vast majority of comedy writers out there. Therefore, Curb Your Enthusiasm, even in its later seasons, remains one of the best comedies on television. Notable critics agree that Larry is still funnier than ever. But those who look at Curb Your Enthusiasm with a fine eye know that the show simply isn't as great as it used to be.
One Reddit fan believes the show should have ended after the sixth or seventh season (the absolutely fantastic Seinfeld reunion season). This is because the fan thought it was a tad creepy for Larry to be back on the dating scene after getting dumped by his wife, Cheryl. Mostly because Larry has a thing for younger women. While Larry David doesn't look like he's aged in the last decade, he's a lot older than most of the women he dates on the show.
While this may be a preference of some fans, it's not exactly a good reason for why the show isn't as strong as before. A better one is the same Reddit user's point about how the multiple storylines in each episode don't always tie together as neatly as they do in the best episodes of Curb. This is a fair point. There's no doubt that there are fewer later episodes of Curb that delicately weave each separate story together as they did in the earlier seasons. But season 8 has the acclaimed "Palestinian Chicken" episode as well the "Mr. Softy" episode and even Season 10 has episodes like "The Spite Store" that absolutely nail this winning structure.
But, yes, almost all of Season 9 is pretty terrible.
So, what's the main reason why Curb isn't as good as it used to be?
Curb Your Enthusiasm Betrayed Two Of Its Best Dramatic Rules
If you really analyze an episode from Curb Your Enthusiasm after Season 7 or 8, you'd find two major show design betrayals. Firstly, instead of things happening to Larry that he has to react to, Larry does things to people. As horrible and uncomfortable as some of the things that Larry says and does are, they are usually reactionary. And these reactions are what we can relate to. They are the terrible and honest things that we'd like to say and do but not what we'd actually say and do. But in later seasons, so many of the stories are driven by Larry just doing and saying these terrible things and the world falling in around him as a result. This isn't what made Curb Your Enthusiasm so great, to begin with.
Additionally, and perhaps most importantly, Curb Your Enthusiasm has become too self-aware. It knows what audience members are tuning in for and the writers have no problem giving it to them. Instead of telling authentic stories that reveal the uncomfortable truth about social interaction, Curb Your Enthusiasm in its latter years has gone for the big, shocking, storylines that Larry can do equally big and shocking things as a response.
It plays to the "Pretty, pretty, pretty good" lines. It urges Susie to start screaming and yelling instead of it coming in natural moments. Too many real-life celebrities are in one the joke and want to stop by for a cameo. In an episode of Season 11, it even has Larry listening to his own theme song. It just doesn't feel right. Sure, there are still bits of comedic gold buried in here... He's Larry David, after all. But Curb Your Enthusiasm just isn't what it used to be.
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