Customer Reviews

The Larry Sanders Show: The Complete Series

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4 star:		(6)
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2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Finally! I have already pre-ordered The Complete Series. The Complete First Season and Not Just The Best Of The Larry Sanders Show are already in my collection, and I have enjoyed those sets over and over and over again. The First Season has an enteraining interview with Garry Shandling, and Not Just The Best includes amazing, personal, informative, funny and long visits between Shandling and his friends Carol Burnett, Tom Petty, Jerry Seinfeld, Alec Baldwin, John Stewart, Sharon Stone and others. The first two collections are thus definitely worth having. The forthcoming Complete Series will give us all a chance to enjoy the episodes we haven't seen in decades. I can't wait to see Hank confess to Larry's ex wife, after spending a night in a hotel room together, that he emptied the mini-bar and that he will reimburse her. Such situations, sublime and tears-down-your-face-funny, were the result of patient character development and a deep understanding of the human condition. Garry Shandling created the most intelligent comedy series ever. Every writer, every director and every actor responded to his concept and made The Larry Sanders Show a timeless masterpeice. Whatever the reasons were for delaying this release, I am grateful they no longer exist.

Hank Kingsley is probably the most completely realized, wonderfully written and ultimately hilarious comedy character on any U.S. or British show within the past 30 years. Cynical,vulnerable,venal,egotistical,craven yet strangely likeable, Jeffrey Tambors great portrayal of the cruise ship compere made good provides so many of the shows brilliant scenes.

Comparisons with 'Curb' have always baffled me,the Larry Sanders show is so far out on its own as to defy comparison with anything subsequently produced.Garry Shandling continues to provide laughs,as he appears to have been pre-embalmed to save time post mortem.

According to Shout Factory, it looks like the extras that were on "Season One" and "Not Just The Best Of..." will be included on this set:

The Complete Introduction With Garry Shandling
All-New Deleted Scenes
All-New Outtakes
Garry Lectures At USC
60-Page Collector's Book
The Making Of The Larry Sanders Show: Feature-Length Documentary
Garry Shandling And Judd Apatow On "The Writer's Process"
Extended Interviews With Cast
Garry Shandling's Personal Visits With Guest Stars Alec Baldwin, Sharon Stone, David Duchovny, Tom Petty, Jon Stewart, Ellen DeGeneres, Jerry Seinfeld And Carol Burnett
And Much More!

At long last, the complete Larry Sanders series shall be mine! I've been waiting many many years for this one. It is by far the greatest bar none comedy series ever created on pay or commercial television. A must own.

Don't get me wrong, I'll very happy the entire series has finally been released, but Shout Factory did a horrendous job of video transfer. Images are VERY grainy, looks fine on a 20" tv, terrible on a larger 40"+ tv. This has nothing to do with the age of the show (less than 20 yrs) as prior non-Shout Factory releases of the Larry Sanders show -- both the original 1st season (not the Shout Factory re-release) and Not Just the Best had far superior image quality and looked just fine on a larger 40"+ tv. Both were released by Sony Pictures and that is the difference. In short, good to have the set available and overall nice content, but Shout Factory did an embarrassing job when it comes to video quality.

In 1992, Garry Shandling forged a brand new TV format: the show-behind-the-show. "The Larry Sanders Show" became an instant hit - especially with the A-listers. Following the DNA of The Larry Sanders Show, you find such respected descendants as: Beggars and Choosers, Entourage, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and 30 Rock (which incidentally, with 17 nominations, was the first to break the Sanders show's record of 16 Emmy noms.)

The reason any of this matters is because I just watched the entire series, every single show, in one long marathon. The box set arrived on Friday and I watched each episode in order over a four-day marathon. Last night was the final episode and what a killer. I'd forgotten how good this series was - and how Shandling walked away from it while it was still at the top. Yes, Seinfeld owes a great deal to Garry Shandling.

After seeing all of the episodes again, what really grabs me (aside from the great writing) is the list of MEGA stars who were willing to play the worst possible cartoon version of themselves. It's amazing that they would do that, but I think it speaks volumes about the trust they had in Garry Shandling. Another reason to buy this package is for all the talented guest stars who have left us far too soon. Phil Hartman. John Ritter. Gene Siskel. Chris Farley. Bruno Kirby. Warren Zevon.

The Larry Sanders Show box set is filled with terrific extras such as new interviews, fly on the wall conversations, audio commentaries and revealing self-analysis Post-it notes from Garry Shandling himself. If you're a fan of The Larry Sanders Show, this is a must-have. If you're a fan of the inside-the-show genre, this is a must-see. If you're a fan of intelligent humour - which means you're as desperate as I am for something watchable on TV, then by all means, introduce yourself to The Larry Sanders Show. (You're welcome.)

If you're even looking at this, you already know how absolutley amazing this stuff is. Great shows, great bonus stuff, really amazing. I am however complaining about the awful quality of the shows - they look really cruddy - snowy, dropped out and weak colored. All of the extras that are filmed "new" look great. Perhaps restoring the original shows would have added to the quality of this set.

After an inexplicably long wait, the greatest comedy show ever to appear on television is ours for the asking.

Individual episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus, the Blackadder series, or Fawlty Towers may have been funnier than the funniest of the Larry Sanders Show, but none of them ran for as long as L.S. and so, ultimately, Larry and crew take the cake.

It's a work of genius, every darn episode. The only knock: it makes most of everything else on t.v. unwatchable.

Thank you Mr. Shandling, Mr. Tambor, Mr Torn, and everyone else at the show.

To this day I can't watch Jon Stewart because he took Larry's job.

Finally...the big tease is over!!!! First, it was the first season release... then, the 'not quite the best of'...now...finally...The Complete Series!!!!!!!

The Larry Sanders Show will likely be regarded as one of the seminal TV series by the next generations of TV historians - why? Because...

As an HBO product, it was unfettered by the bounds of network television and provided insight into the(fictional)behind the scenes activity of late night network television. I could always have pictured Fred DeCordova dropping the 'F' bomb on Ed McMahon...

The boundaries of all network sitcoms widened by the ground-breaking efforts of the creative team behind The Larry Sanders Show. Like Citizen Kane, many of our current 'insider' sitcoms (The Office, 30 Rock, Extras, etc.) can trace their roots back to TLSS. What's the genre? Docu-comedy, pseudo-drama, twisted reality television...

As continuity-based series go, we all grew to understand and have a vested interest in the careers of main characters (Larry, Hank and Artie) by seeing both their complexities and their simplicities. Adding to the big 3, the ensemble cast provided us with a whole array of other characters (fill in your favorites here) that also have unusual depth and substance.

In a fame-starved world, we got to see the stars of the day in a different (sometimes unflattering) light. I've always been uncomfortable with David Duchovny since TLSS. Even Californication can't get it out of my psyche. But, when these stars stepped up to the plate, they made me appreciate them more as human beings.

Oh, yeah - it's a funny show too. Forgot that. Like Nat Hiken (Sgt. Bilko and Car 54,Where Are You? fame), there's not a lot of Garry Shandling to go around. So, it's actually about quality, not quantity...

Go find a loving home for all of your previous TLSS discs (you owe it to your friends - and you're not losing any of the features) and place this on your shelf next to your collection of 'It's Garry Shandling's Show'. Enjoy!!

SHOW REVIEW

When LARRY SANDERS was first shown on BBC2 (in the UK) in the 90s, I have to admit that I didn't "get it". I knew the show was critically praised and had won numerous awards, but I just didn't enjoy it as much as everyone else seemed to. Cut to 10 years later and an older me picked up the first season on DVD, in another attempt at giving this praised show a whirl.

WHAT A REVELATION!

I discovered that not only had the show's subtleties had been lost on my younger self, but also, unlike something like Friends, this isn't a show that you can jump into the middle of an episode... You need to see it from the beginning in order to fully appreciate it. Throwaway lines and simple glances become hilarious when you've followed the entire story, and understand the what the character is going through or really thinking.

On top that, I realised something else: This show isn't a angry satire of the entertainment industry. I mean, it IS a satire in some ways, but that's not the primary aim of the show. I also used to think that the main jokes of the show were supposed to come from the appearance of "real life" celebrities lampooning their public persona. And that those moments were just sandwiched between a satirical portrayal of how narcissistic and neurotic celebrities could be (as shown by the character of Larry Sanders himself). But I was totally wrong:

The real focus of the show is the central characters.

It's about them, their flaws, and how funny those flaws are. The fact that it's set on a talk show is just a secondary consideration; It's really nothing more than a wonderfully unique setting for a sitcom with lots of opportunities for interesting things to happen (like blurring the lines between fact and fiction). Sometimes, especially in the earlier shows, it's hard to like Larry Sanders. He can be incredibly selfish, but as the show progresses you see a different side of him: The fact that this is just a guy who really struggles with personal relationships. And really, don't we all, at some point or another?

The other thing I learned from really watching the shows is that it's supposed to be understood that the three protagonists, underneath their bickering and complaints, are really all friends. Yes, that's right, Larry, Artie and Hank are actually all good friends... they just have a very dysfunctional relationship. Larry has problems with closeness, Hank has problems with neediness, and Artie has problems showing his emotions, but they all like and respect each other underneath... when they're not dealing with their own exaggerated issues.

It seems like an odd thing, but as Garry Shandling points out, Larry Sanders is really about love, "which would sound like a paradox at first", he says, "But if that love didn't exist, the darker attitudes would not play. You would have a one-dimensional, cynical show, which I don't think the show was."

Never mind its incredibly clever comedy, its believable, rounded characters, its fantastic structure -- all of which would later influence "Curb Your Enthusiasm". Once you start liking, and identifying with, Larry Sanders the character, despite (or maybe because of) all his obvious flaws, the show really opens up and becomes something special. And possibly even the greatest show ever made.

If you let it, THE LARRY SANDERS SHOW will tickle your brains and your ribs in equal measure. Give it a shot!

DVD REVIEW

While it's true that the picture quality here is not amazing, it also doesn't detract from the show. It's supposed to be an old chat show, after all, and you wouldn't expect Johnny Carson to look pristine. Or maybe you would. Either way, I found the picture quality to be sub-par, but also totally acceptable and in no way detracting from my enjoyment of the show. The sound is excellent.

The extras on this set are a wonderful companion, too. Garry Shandling takes you on a journey as you watch the show. He seems to really try and open himself up in order to explore what made the show so special in the first place, and so that the DVD extras aren't just talking heads spouting bland platitudes.

What am I talking about? Well, it's hard to explain. Yes, there are one on one interviews with the actors from the show, and there are special "visits" with actors with whom he considers friends, but they're all part of something larger, so that they start to tell a story. Each one appears next to certain episodes of the show, so you work through them as you work through the show. It's an interesting side-project and I have to say that it really, profoundly, affected me. If you take the journey, and understand the subtext of what Shandling is attempting to do, you'll come to realise that he's a real artist, not just a comedian.

If you don't pick up on that, then there's just the fact that everyone who worked on the show seems to miss it A LOT. They all seem to agree that something special was happening on the show while they were making it, and that they learned a great deal.

There is one icky moment during this project though, when Shandling is unexpectedly confronted by his ex, Linda Doucett (Darlene on the show). It's clear that she still has very deep feelings for Larry, and that she just wants to connect with him. Whatever the reason for her unannounced teary appearance, Shandling, as part of his project, wants to capture these emotions as much as possible on camera. This openess and "realism" forms a large part of what he's attempting to do with the rest of the extras, but unfortunately, in this situation, it just comes across as very cruel. Doucett really doesn't seem comfortable, and almost pleads not to have to talk on camera. It's at this point that Shandling almost seems to be using the camera as a way to distance himself from her.

Whatever the reality of the situation, and whatever Doucett was trying to communicate, the segment doesn't come across well. My interpretation of events may be completely wrong, of course, but I can only hope that they had a private conversation somewhere, and Shandling didn't shut her out once the camera stopped rolling. Either way, it wasn't the most pleasant way to spend a few minutes.

There's a few things given away in the commentaries that don't make it onto the DVD, too: Shandling says that he's going to have a second visit with Doucet during one commentary, but no such visit appears on the set. On another commentary it's mentioned that Scott Thompson discussed having difficulties with his character's episode, but that part of his interview is not seen on the DVD. (Thompson's character was by far the least developed on the show, so it's understandable.)

On the whole, though, I was surprised at just how much love had apparently gone into this set. From little jokes in the menus, to the whole way the visits and interviews are integrated, it felt very cohesive and satisfying.

If you are looking for the dirt, this isn't the place. There's no mention of the lawsuit between Doucett and the show (she was fired after she and Shandling broke up), or of the lawsuit between Shandling and Brad Grey (Grey allegedly moved all of the writers to other shows he owned, leaving Shandling in the lurch for the sixth season, and ultimately spelling the demise of the show).

Instead it's much more of a celebration of what made the show special, and what made it work. And oddly enough, as much as I'd like to know about the dirt, the celebration also felt totally appropriate, sincere and satisfying by itself.