Curb- Seinfeld Reunion and Finale

This week's season finale was not quite up to par with last week's stellar episode. Having said that, I still thoroughly enjoyed almost everything about it. I especially liked that it was 40 minutes long. So much good stuff that they had to extend their normal 25-27 minute range for the second straight week.

Other than getting to actually see another Seinfeld ep (on Larry's tv) the best part of the night was definitely Larry and Jerry's conversation a the party for Jason's book. Jerry stepped up big time and proved why his character on Seinfeld (which is almost identical to his real life persona) is in my top ten characters of all-time. I lost it when he was explaining to Jason that the title of his pamphlet could have also been Acting with Acting. He then ties in the entire convo he had with Larry, by saying to Jason "Having said that, I think this is a terrific title."

Jer also came up huge by doing the LD stare down to LD. Although not as good as the original, Jerry's final burst of bug-eyed stare was fantastic. Final note on Jerry was that I loved his very Seinfeld-esque observation that Larry's unimaginable love for wood meant that when he is at a funeral, he is more concerned for the coffin than the deceased. Classic.

How were the other people on the stage not cracking up at Larry's version of George? It was hilarious.

And final note on the Curb side of things, George doing LD's pretty, pretty, pretty good was also extremely enjoyable to see.

Great season.

Now to all the haters out there that were unhappy with the Seinfeld finale back in 1998. What were and are you thinking? It was a great finale. It did what a finale should do. It summed up the show in a way that gave it a complete ending. Going through and bringing back all the old characters to show how sick and twisted Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer were was both eventful and fulfilling. I would have been extremely unhappy at the time, if the finale had been something like what Curb's Seinfeld ep within an ep was. There was no closure on the characters. In '98 the four guys go to jail because of all of the trouble we've seen them get into. It was a perfect end to a perfect series.

Sepinwall, like most I assume, disagrees...

In fairness, placing this "Seinfeld" reunion in the confines of a "Curb" episode makes it easy for it to stand out. It's all the good bits, none of the plot mechanics: just joke, joke, joke, joke, joke. But what we did see of it, here and in "The Table Read," felt much more along the lines of what the finale should have been: just one last collection of stories involving these four socially maladjusted people.

In a final mini-rant, I'll say that I don't want my series finale to be just like any other episode, which he is basically say here. I want it to be momentous, like the original finale was. Having said that, this reunion ep inside of Curb was great for what it was. A way to get these four actors, and at times characters, together again for one more time in a way that they would all enjoy.

Curb- Leon Whites That Sh*t Up

The penultimate episode of this season of Curb Your Enthusiasm did not disappoint. All of the waiting for the Seinfeld action was worth it. Seeing all of the old Seinfeld sets and having the extraneous characters (Banya, Estelle) at the table read was fantastic. The only Seinfeld-related character that continues to disappoint me is Jason Alexander. He just is so far less funny than George it's not even fair. Jerry is Jerry, Julia and Michael are slightly less funny than their on screen alter egos, but Jason has just been blahh from what I've seen.

Watching Jerry, Julia and Wayne Knight (Newman) rehearse was unbelievable television. Now I'm the type of guy who like to watch the credits of a movie so I can see the outtakes when the actors start laughing. I enjoy when people on Saturday Night Live start to laugh during a sketch. And I love when Jimmy Fallon laughs at his own jokes during the monologue of Late Night. Watching Jerry, Julia, Wayne and Larry cracking up at their own scene for about five minutes was just gold.

Leon knocked this episode out of the park. From his pretending to be white, to his cracking up at the Seinfeld rehearsal, he was perfect. As he pretends to be a Jewish Danny Duberstein and told Michael Richards that he had three bar mitzvahs with a stone cold face, I lost it. As he searched for the reason that he beat Groats disease, all he could think of was the hat on his head? Unbelievable. Leon whited that sh*t the f*ck up. He then goes on to kill it when he watches Jerry, Julia and Wayne rehearse on the set. He is cracking up all over the place because he's never seen Seinfeld before. As Newman stands at the entrance to Jerry's apartment Leon loses it. Fantastic.

I'm extremely excited for the finale.