Media Meditation 7

Do You Respect Wood?

I love Seinfeld. I own the entire series on DVD, and if I see a rerun on TV I will probably watch it. So, when I saw "Curb Your Enthusiasm", I was naturally very excited, and bought four seasons of it. The humor is exactly the same. Larry David was the cowriter and producer of Seinfeld, so it makes sense. If anything, it is better, because they are not reined in by being on broadcast television, so they can do and say things that they couldn't before on NBC since the show is on HBO



The way that the show is filmed is interesting. It is done in a style, that similar to The Office (though not to the same degree) makes it look like it is not a fictional show, something that I have to explain to people when they watch it with me for the first time. This style is highly appropriate though, because the show is about Larry's life. The characters are his friends, and his actor friends often play themselves, or at least a version of themselves. This reminds me of the opening to the fifth chapter of the book, where it talked about The Office "In response the creators of a current network sitcom, The Office, have broken new ground by revamping the show's look and structure, shooting the program documentary style. The Office feels like a hybrid program, located somewhere between the more traditional comedy and a reality program."(144). This is how Curb is filmed as well, minus the asides by the characters that are present in The Office. It adds to the humor in many cases, as the events of the story don't feel scripted, even though they are.