Customer Reviews

The Larry Sanders Show - The Complete First Season

5 star:		(72)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I'm sure that most of the people looking at this page are in fact mystified why later seasons haven't already come out. I'm reading between the lines here, but I'm guessing the reason is copyright and clearance issues. Each episode showed live music from bands, and I have a feeling that contracts were written to grant permission for HBO to broadcast the show, not to sell it. Now that Time/Warner wants to put out DVDs, it's hardly surprising that music companies would try to extort as much money from Time/Warner as they can.

May 23 update: Gary Shandling says on tonight show that Season 2 is coming out in November.

"The Larry Sanders Show" is perhaps the most realistic and funniest television series ever written about show business. In this case, the "business" is producing a late night talk show hosted by the amiable, humorous Larry Sanders, a Johnny Carson-like character deftly portrayed by Garry Shandling. (Shandling is also the creator and frequent writer of this series.)

This classy television series shrewdly examines the behind-the-scenes and in front of the camera workings of a nightly television show. "The Larry Sanders Show" is a compendium of network executives, producers, actors, and agents whose enlarged yet fragile egos often clash with each other. The results are caustic and hilarious.

The gifted ensemble cast which includes Shandling, Rip Torn, Janeane Garofalo, and Jeffrey Tambor deliver the incisive, witty dialogue with ease. The concept and structure of this series is so realistic that you often feel as though you are watching a documentary on "How to" or "How NOT to" grind out a nightly talk show.

"The Larry Sanders Show" is television at its best. Please don't miss it!

I had only seen a couple episodes of the Larry Sanders Show before I bought the DVD. It is one of the funniest (fake) "talk shows" out there (better than Letterman or Leno, who I can not watch).

I'm not a huge fan of Garry Shandling outside of the show, but in this show he hits it right. Plus, Rip Torn and Jeffrey Tambor really shine in nearly every episode. Kind of funny to hear them swear once in a while, or more (forgetting that it was originally on HBO).

The so-called guests on the show are good too, as they blend fact and fiction. Billy Crystal gets upset when Larry talks about his old stuff instead of his new movie he is trying to plug, Carol Burnett worries that Larry's balls showed under his Tarzan outfit, etc.

Waiting for season 2.

Recommended.

Outstanding story lines and characterizations. The cast is wonderful (especially Rip Torn and Jeffrey Tambor). When will the remaining seasons be released???

All I can say is this series is one of the best done by HBO. The series is just hilarious. PLEASE SONY RELEASE THE REMAINING SEASONS ON DVD!!!

Please GOD I swear I won't say anymore bad words if you make Sony release the remaining seasons on DVD!!! Its that good!

Please release the complete series,and I will buy it on the first day its released! I repeat release the complete 6 seasons, I love this show!

HBO, are you listening? As much as I love "Sex and the City", The Larry Sanders Show is the BEST sitcom that HBO has ever had! The show has millions of loyal fans who religiously watch Larry reruns on the HBO Comedy channel!

Thank you for releasing the 1st season on DVD! I bought it the day it came out. Now PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE release the other seasons on DVD! There are millions of fans just waiting to own the complete Larry series on DVD, and I'm one of them. PLEASE release more seasons on DVD!!!

To echo what others have said, the video quality on this set of DVDs is pretty poor. Comparing it to S-VHS copies I made from the HBO C-Band satellite feed, the S-VHS is better! Much sharper and less "processed" looking.

Someone said it looked like they used the same "transfer" that HBO ran, and that's not exactly true -- there is no "transfer" available of this show, because it was a mix of film and videotape, and EDITED on videotape. Thus, there is no FILM copy that can be re-transferred -- whatever is on the original tapes is as good as the show will ever look. Sadly, these DVDs are BELOW the quality of the original tapes. Why that is, I don't know, but it is a bit maddening.

The 1st Season of this outstanding show (one of the best HBO and sitcoms in general) has been out for several years now. BRING OUT THE REST OF THEM ALREADY, PLEEEEAAASE!

Right off the bat, let me address the issue of the image and sound quality. Other than the first episode, which looks a bit funky (but, to be honest, unless you pay close attention you don't notice a thing), the audio and video quality on this DVD are no different from the show that aired on TV. As a previous reviewer stated, the difference between the backstage scenes and the "Larry Sanders Show" scenes were intentional (one shot on film, one shot on tape). It was a creative decision that worked well. I almost bought into the reviewers whining and complaining on here about the quality of the DVD - I'm glad I didn't. Those complaining are a bunch of big babies who have way too much time on their hands to sit there and count the number of lines they're getting on their TV. That all being said, the brilliance of "The Larry Sanders Show" was definitely in the clever writing and the incredible performances of Garry Shandling, Jeffrey Tambor, and, of course, Rip Torn. Right off the bat the tone of the show is set by Larry being "forced" to do live commercials for the Garden Weasel. In inevitable Sanders style, he jokes about digging up dead Teamsters while using the device, and wonders why they would pick a name like the "Garden Weasel" and not the equally rodent-ial "The Amazing Rat Stick." Thirteen great episodes that kicked off the show's first season, and clearly show why this brilliant series was nominated year after year at the Emmy's for "Best Comedy Series."