An actor may get a cursory description of what the scene should be about or involve it’s a bit like saying you can drive from New York to Miami by whatever route you choose. Outlines provide structure, but everything else is improvised, thereby giving the cast a ton of freedom within those finite boundaries. The most difficult phase comes at the beginning-when all the detailed plotting occurs-and then again at the end, when David and the episode’s director trudge into the editing room to labor over footage. When David decides to move forward with another season, the work is something of a misery sandwich-for him, especially. There is a narrative at work there are story plot points and sometimes, there are even specific lines or words that need to be said for purposes of moving the story further along or filling in backstory details.
The outlines they generate are among the keys to the show’s success.
Curb may be one of the most intricately plotted TV comedies in recent memory, with only Seinfeld-which David co-created-serving as a useful comparison.Įach episode and every season of Curb are the results of a meticulously plotted architecture David has banged out with writers like Alec Berg, David Mandel, Jeff Schaffer, and many other collaborators through the years. In reality, it’s a lot trickier than that-and therein lies a reason for David’s hesitancy between seasons. So the operative question becomes this: what lies behind the unpredictable scheduling of the show? ’cause nothing else really gives me as much satisfaction as doing this.”įor Larry David to even use the word “satisfaction” seems like headline-making news. I thought, yes, I suppose I should do this.” But he became more declarative and revealing when I asked him if he missed doing the series. His answer was matter-of-fact: “I do not know. When I interviewed David recently for my podcast, Origins, I asked him what made him bring the show back after so much time away. As we should have remembered at the time, though, the only thing predictable about Larry David is his unpredictability. Six years ago, in 2011, the show finished its eighth season amid rumors that its life was over because creator, star, and raison d’être Larry David had had enough. Curb Your Enthusiasm is finally coming back to television, thank God, although there’s a pretty good chance that God would just as soon not be involved.