Brian Van Nieuwenhoven (BlackBook) for “Curb Your Enthusiasm”
Subject Title: Curb Your Enthusiasm for Anything Else: Larry David’s Best Show on TV
“Curb Your Enthusiasm” is the best show on television that you’re not talking about. Halfway through its landmark seventh season, the show’s dark humor is reaching surprising heights, even though we should expect exactly that from Mr. David. The storied co-creator of Seinfeld has already received praise for what many have summarized as the HBO version of “Seinfeld”—used as both praise and as a dismissive remark of both shows and their brand of comedy.
I include this entry not because “Curb” isn’t a great show (it is), but “the best show on television that you’re not talking about”? Just, no. “Curb” has been on since 2000, so clearly someone’s been talking about it (and watching and buying the DVDs and etc.). Also, this article was written during the “Seinfeld” reunion season, when the show had its highest ratings in years, making Van Nieuwenhoven’s claim as idiotic as someone now saying, “I think The Hangover Part II is going to be a sleeper hit.”
Mike Ryan (Vanity Fair) for “The Killing”
Subject Title: Why You Should Just Say “No” to AMC’s Addictive “The Killing”
After the third episode, I had already decided that I wanted to write something to the effect of “The Killing” is the Best Show You’re Probably Not Watching. Now, after seven episodes, my stance has changed to “The Killing” is the Best Show on Television.
“And now after nine episodes, I believe the Golden Globes should be renamed the Golden Forbes, after Michelle’s daring performance this season. But after eleven episodes, it’s completely clear to me that those blank stares from Agent Holden symbolize the weariness of our nation’s police detectives in a way more subtle than that ‘Wire’ show ever accomplished. And finally, after thirteen, I have only one thing to say: GREATEST. FINALE. EVER.”
Bonus ridiculous quote:
The best part about The Killing is that we learn about each and every one of these characters through their somewhat quirky interactions with other characters, not by having each one explain to the audience who they are and what their motivations are through long monologues like some other popular shows on the air right now tend to do (cough, cough, Game of Thrones, cough).
And that’s why no show in the middle of its first season should be called “the best show on television.” Because it makes you look like an idiot.
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Josh, never knew you lived up here in upstate NY. Now I almost feel bad for calling the Times Union the Times Useless.
Workaholics, not the best show on tv, but the best show on Comedy Central which isn’t saying much.
@UU
You should definitely feel bad for almost feeling bad for calling the Times Union the Times Useless
In defense of the Times Union it is a way better newspaper than The Daily Gazette aka Schenectady Gazette.
@UU: Got any steamed hams?
Josh has since relocated to Brooklyn, providing us with valuable expertise on upstate New York dialects.
I support your Curb inclusion. I’ve never read an article that uses the phrase “the best show on television that you’re not talking about” that was actually about a show that no one was talking about. The very idea is contradictory and impossible, so those articles need to stop, or rephrase it as “the best show on television that only 1 million people are watching, which let’s face it, should be a higher number.”
You should put yourself on this list for saying that Freaks and Geeks was the best thing on television in 1999. There was another show debuting that year called The Sopranos…
@Upstate Even though both my stepmom and dad worked for the Gazette, I must admit: yeah, it sucks. And yup, born in Schenectady, raised in Selkirk. You?
“Hi, I’m Troy McClure. You might remember me from films such as Status: Ineligible and Bamboo Shoots, Panda Assassin.”
… Aaaaaaaaand I’ll be thinking up fake Troy McClure movies all day.
Other than places for Vonnegut to base his stories in, has Schenectady ever been known for anything good?
Nice article, Josh. You are an odd fellow, but you steam a good ham.
/would like “You steam a good ham” to become a universally cromulent expression of praise.
That last guy really tried talking shit about Game of Thrones? I’ll admit, I got to the party after everybody left (watched all 10 episodes with my wife over the last 5 days), but GoT is one of my favorite shows on TV (along with most of the shows on FX).
Also, I love parantheses.
@Dave I didn’t actually say Freaks and Geeks was the best show of 1999, just suggesting it could be someone’s answer, although now that you mention it: the only season of Freaks and Geeks is better than the first season of The Sopranos.
@Josh, born in Schenectady moved to Niskayuna before high school now live in Rotterdam.
My old job took me to the GE in Selkirk and Blue Circle cement in Ravena, so I know where you are from.
I really don’t get the Chuck obsession. It’s not terrible, but I tuned out half-way into the second season and never felt the need to catch up.
Honestly, I think the only more inexplicably devoted fanbase is Supernatural fans. Those people are cray cray.
@BumpItCharlie, it was once the city that lit and hauled the world thanks to GE and American loco motive, now it is just a shit hole.
Sorry, for turning the comment section of this very good and funny post into all things Schenectady.
/steamed hams for everyone
@Upstate Underdog My middle and high schools are right across the street from the plant. At least twice a month, the blasting alarm would go off. It’s like a fire alarm, but you’re not able to go outside and dick around for 15 minutes.
“I was voted the handsomest boy in Albany, New York…”
Geez, I even *like* Burn Notice, but I wouldn’t dream of calling it the Best Show on TV.
And I always feel sad watching Wipeout. It’s funny, but I feel like I’m contributing towards the inevitable premiere of “Ow, My Balls!”
I still don’t get why people like Curb Your Enthusiasm. I just don’t like Larry David. I think that is my problem. The other people on the show are good but I just don’t like him.
@UU
I know the place used to be a hub for engineering, but you’re damn right, I’ve been there a couple times and that place is a real shit hole. Many apologies for putting down it’s history. Should have stuck with the awful present.
Alright, and now to actually comment on the post. I don’t get the Workaholics love from people. I watched almost every episode of the first season trying my damndest to like it, because it just seems like a show I would love.
I hate it with a fiery burning passion. It seems too forced and not original. I just feel like I’ve heard all of their jokes before and they were done much better by others.
I stopped watching after the Juggalo episode, because if you can’t have me on the ground laughing when making fun of Juggalos, then you’re dead to me. That’s Comedy 101.
mad men sucks, though. so i don’t see your argument as valid.
now, if you’ll excuse me, i have to get back to my letter writing campaign to bring back The Cape.
In your ugly face, Shane McGowan! Get some goddamn dentures already!
@Josh, I’ve been on that site when the alarm has gone off and have watched them blast away in the quarry. Loud as fuck.
“I need 15,000 dollars to buy a home!”
Geez, I even *like* Burn Notice, but I wouldn’t dream of calling it the Best Show on TV.
Same here. But what the fuck is up with that photo? Did Sharon Gless get a face lift? “Let’s see, I’ve been playing the widowed retired mother of the main character, who’s in his 30s, for several seasons now. Better get rid of all these wrinkles. It’ll fit the part and no one will notice!”
@Huh?
Agreed. Something about that show just doesn’t work for me.
@Upstate
“You didn’t build this house. You won it on a crooked 50′s game show.”
“I ratted on everybody and got off scott free!”
I get paid by the comment, right? Matt…?
Great stories everyone.
I’m from Ohio. Let’s chat.
“Did Sharon Gless get a face lift?”
Either that, or she was in a horrible accident and had massive reconstructive surgery. I’m guessing that wasn’t the look she was going for.
I also hate the “you just can’t look away, it’s such a trainwreck” excuse for the imbeciles that watch reality TV. One of my biggest pet peeves.
This site put me on “Sons of Anarchy” and “Justified” in spite of how corny the advertising looked to me.
This article is also spot on.
Does every city in Upstate NY have a name that sounds like it was spoken through a radio that was cutting out?
Hey hey hey, you´re saying you can´t call workaholics best show, because it only had one seasson, but in your first paragraph you called best show Louie, wich also has only one seasson. So, I don´t know what to say, just re-read what you write before posting it so you don´t look like an ass.
Best show this year: Whichever show I watched recently that had me really enthralled.
See how that works? If this was three months ago I’d be saying Justified. If this was before that I’d be saying Sons of Anarchy. Right now, in the annual low-point for television when nothing arises above “adequate”: Game of Thrones will reign for at least another 4 months, possibly even the rest of the year if nothing steps up to the plate.
@argentino — actually, the quote is “in the middle of its first season.” I think a full season is enough to judge a show, and I’d guess that Josh (and most reasonable people) would agree.
I liked the first two seasons of Chuck. It was fun and energetic, but then the show veered away from a guy learning how to be an agent into a guy who talks about his feelings every time the gang are in trouble.
I still watch though. Yvonne Strahovski is very important to me.
Chuck and Burn Notice are of the same mold – easy shows to turn your brain off to and just enjoy, because you know you’re getting a fun plot, mild to medium suspense, enjoyable characters and a convenient and pleasant solution. That said, Chuck has been an abortion since the end of season 2 and it wasn’t even that good to start with. The whole charm was him being the reluctant spy hiding his alter ego, so imagine the joy of trying to watch someone poorly trained in any kind of combat suddenly act like he is.
In conclusion, the best show on TV is Psych.
Wow, upstate NY love. I live here too. AND I have a corgi. And I don’t watch any of these shows. “Finding Sasquatch” is currently being recorded on my DVR. Which probably says way too much about me.
I would argue that the best television show isn’t on television anymore – Deadwood, cocksuckers.
The best show on now, isn’t over yet, and we’ll have no way of knowing whether it will be ruined by the Hollywood money grab. Instead of shelling out another season using character changes, pulling story lines from the news, celebrity guest appearances etc., the best writers have the foresight to know when a story line has run it’s course.
There are a few shows that have that opportunity, and most are on the only network that has shown the ability to quit while they’re ahead – HBO. Mad Men being renewed for three more seasons makes me doubt it’s potential as a series, and when is Walter White’s cancer actually going to kill him?
Any show worth watching is worth talking about.
@matt, no, that was said about the killing, but in workaholics the quote is “Has there ever been a show that could be considered the best on TV after only one season? ” Even the original quote from the guy who said it was after it finished (wich you can imply by the “untill next season”)
anyway, I´m not here to fight, I mostly agree with all the uproxx writers, I just thought that some proof reading is necesary to grow as a profesional of this medium.
Now where´s the link to blake lively´s tits?
and I realy like Louie, I think it really is funny and it has something different from most comedy shows. But it really isn´t that nice looking, it´s cinematography pales in comparisson to say “community” or “mad men”. So it can´t be named best show by your self impossed standards, with wich I agree.
Not sure about the best on TV,I only got cable again last year so I have alot of catching up to do. That said, Breaking Bad is the best show I just started watching last week. Also, I’m from Saratoga Springs, for all the New Yawkers in the room…and I also steam a good ham.
Not for nothing but what in the SHIT is the old lady’s face in the Burn Notice picture made from?
Because I teach courses on “film and history,” people always ask me what my favorite movie is. It’s impossible to pick one. Rather, you have to pick your favorite film within a particular genre. I look at TV programs the same way. I have favorite comedies, dramas, cop shows, etc. Pretty much anything not on ABC.
You know what was better than Curb and Louie?
LIFE WITH LOUIE. How the fuck did HBO not bring that back.
Also, I love turning my brain off for 44 minutes while enjoying Status:Ineligible.
Franklin and Bash.
Did this Vanity Fair guy just talked shit about a scene where Aidan Gillen says the line “Play with her ass!” ? Fuck him, let’s chop his manhood and feed it to the goats.
And btw that scene is the only one in GOT where a character actually does lay out his motivations, but it’s to a couple of naked whores, so it’s awesome anyway. Double fuck him, let’s also have his head on a spike!
Wow. Really? I get where you’re coming from (a place of extreme yet impotent annoyance, a place I’m sure we all know quite well), but there is no objective way to determine what is or is not the best show on television. There just isn’t one. Each show works differently for each person, and which ever show gives them the most enjoyment is the “best” show for THEM. There cannot be a universal “best” when “best” is defined by opinion. There’s no wrong answers and there’s no right answers.
Also: Shut up about Chuck.
Ugh Matt. I love Pink Floyd but I have no desire to be one of those fans that ruin them. Though using them in the same paragraph as Chuck is a little insulting haha, at least to them, not me. Chuck is amusing but it is like Hostess food. It tricks you into thinking it is good and about halfway though you realize it is crap and feel dirty for having gotten as far into eating it as you did.
UPSTATE! WHAT! lol…hillarious…i had to comment just because of the Times Union…Guilderland/Schenectady checkin in
fifty? really? GO bills, I guess….
Did somebody said ‘Ham’? *salivating
@Burnsy, was Psych.
@don, what madness dost thou speaketh of? The sixth season will be the best ever.
What Charlie said. Except for the Chuck part. I still have 5 episodes on my DVR that I can’t bring myself to watch even though I know Yvonne is there waiting for me to watch her.
WTF, this is the easiest answer in the fucking world: UFC Unleashed!
Workaholics, Burn Notice, and Curb Your Enthuiasm are awesome. You suck. Yes, I know you said you liked, Workaholics and Curb, but you still but them here. You are dumb. Suck it.
Substitute Grateful Dead for Pink Floyd. (please). As an aside did anybody catch Wilfred last night? Odd show. But enough odd (without being over the top) to insure I’ll watch next week’s episode.
(Although the whole ” getting life lessons from a dog, man in dog suit, child, God, unusual source” has been done ad infinitum, there’s enough dark in this to make me want to watch some more)
Hope you do get paid by the post…and yes, it’s an albany expression
I need to watch The Killing. I never sat down and gave it a go.
There isn’t any “best show on TV” anymore.
One of the funniest shows you are not talking about =Psych
That show is underrated as hell.
Everyone knows that Everybody Loves Raymond is the best show on television. Followed by reruns of blind date with host roger lodge
Chuck = Justified….
ahhhh but Workaholics is so quality!