The following is my write up of season 1 of The Larry Sanders Show. Very mild spoilers to follow.
Earlier this week I made another step forward in my Summer TV Catch-Up project by completing the first season of HBO's early 90's comedy The Larry Sanders Show. Larry Sanders is a show that ran six seasons on HBO to great critical acclaim. Over the run of the series it earned Emmy, Peabody, and countless other award nominations. Having seen the first season I can understand and agree with much of the hype.
This show is both a take-down of late night talk shows and a solid entry in the sitcom genre. Larry Sanders stars Garry Shandling in the titular role, Jeffrey Tambor as his sidekick Hank, and Rip Torn as the show's producer Arthur. Over the first season many 90's celebrities made appearances on the show both as guests on the fictional talk show satirized through Larry Sanders and also throwing up their public personas during the "off air" segments. Celebrity guests during the first season included Dana Carvey, Robin Williams, Catherine O'Hare, and Carol Burnett.
As I mentioned, Larry Sanders is a satirical sitcom that focuses on fictional late night talk show The Larry Sanders Show and its host Larry Sanders. Average episodes during the first season focus around putting on the night's episode--sometimes several--and include problems working with the network, behind-the-scenes troubles with celebrity guest stars, and the drama of daily life working with narcissistic celebrities.
I have to say that I really did enjoy this first season. The comedy has held up surprisingly well for a show that is nearly two decades old. It was also a fun time capsule of the era, giving us a look back at the celebrities and culture of the early 90s. The one minor nitpick that I do have has to deal with the episode intros that ran throughout the first season. All of the episodes begin with Hank warming up the Larry Sanders Show audience with an extremely lame "applause/apple sauce" joke. I understand the necessity of the joke in that the character of Hank is a bit of a lame duck and in the universe of the show he is actually saying that same thing to the audience before each show to warm them up. In the end though it is still a pretty lame and fairly irritating sequence.
Now that I've seen the first season of the show I think that I'll be putting the remaining five seasons on the back burner. The main point of the Summer TV Catch-Up project for me is to broaden my TV knowledge and although seeing one season of a six season show doesn't come close to making me an expert it does give me a foundation for future discussions. I definitely recommend taking the time to sample the show. All six seasons of The Larry Sanders Show are available on Netflix streaming and a complete series box set is available on Amazon for $76.58, 49% off the $149.99 MSRP.
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