Larry David has some things to say.
The Big Picture
- Larry David addresses the
Seinfeld
backlash in
Curb Your Enthusiasm
, acknowledging critics and ending with an optimistic twist. - Jerry Seinfeld rescues David in the finale, acknowledges Seinfeld’s unfortunate ending, and reflects on a better outcome.
-
Curb Your Enthusiasm
delivers a more optimistic take on
Seinfeld
, ending things on an open note for David.
While creating one of the most beloved comedy shows of all-time is by no means any easy task, Larry David managed to do it twice. David’s work co-creating Seinfeld alongside Jerry Seinfeld in the 1990s revolutionized the sitcom format forever, and essentially gave David a blank check to develop his own original comedy program. Although his semi-autobiographical series, Curb Your Enthusiasm, developed original storylines and guest stars of its own, David constantly deals with the legacy of being the “guy who created Seinfeld.” Although his first show’s conclusion was met with some serious backlash upon its initial debut, David addresses the criticisms of the Seinfeld season finale within the final episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Curb Your Enthusiasm
The life and times of Larry David and the predicaments he gets himself into with his friends and complete strangers.
- Release Date
- October 15, 2000
- Creator
- Larry David
- Cast
- Larry David , Jeff Garlin , Cheryl Hines , Susie Essman , J.B. Smoove , Richard Lewis
- Main Genre
- Comedy
- Seasons
- 12
- Studio
- HBO
Larry David Deals With ‘Seinfeld’ Backlash in ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’
Although knowledge of Seinfeld isn’t necessary to understand the humor of Curb Your Enthusiasm, it certainly helps given the dominant role that the 1990s sitcom plays in the fictionalized David’s life. Over the course of the entire series, David must deal with criticism about Seinfeld’s controversial final episode, and the last episode of the beloved sitcom saw Jerry, George (Jason Alexander), Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), and Kramer (Michael Richards) getting arrested for breaking the local “Good Samaritan Law,” which requires them to help those in need. While Jerry was on a route to success thanks to a new show he pitched for NBC, his career is stopped in its tracks when “The New York Four” are arrested and head to trial. In the show’s version of a “clip show,” moments of the characters’ most egregious activities from throughout the series are shown as evidence during the court proceedings.
While he had infamously left the writing staff of the show in its seventh season, David made a highly-anticipated return to Seinfeld in order to write the season finale. Although his fictionalized version often expresses satisfaction with the way that the show concluded, David is met with criticism of the Seinfeld finale throughout Curb Your Enthusiasm. A storyline in Season 7 involves Seinfeld, Alexander, Louis-Dreyfus, and Richards all reuniting to work on a proposed reboot of Seinfeld that will supposedly “fix” the ending. In the most recent season, Leon (J.B. Smoove) reveals that he has been watching the entire series, offering a running commentary on where the show went wrong.
In a direct homage to Seinfeld’s conclusion, David goes on trial in the Curb Your Enthusiasm finale. After giving a glass of water to Leon’s Auntie Ray (Ellia English) while she was waiting in line to vote, Larry is arrested by the police for interfering with the electoral process. Similar to “The New York Four” in Seinfeld, David is forced to defend his actions over the course of the entire series to a skeptical jury. Although Jeff (Jeff Garlin), Susie (Susie Essman), Ted (Ted Danson), and his ex-wife, Cheryl (Cheryl Hines), all show up to support him, they are unable to stand up against the sheer amount of evidence that points to David’s egregious deeds. Just like Jerry and his friends, David is sent to jail after the jury finds him guilty and is sentenced to a year in prison by Judge Whittaker (Dean Norris).
Jerry Seinfeld Shows up in the ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ Finale
One of the reasons that the Seinfeld finale was so controversial was because of the downbeat nature of seeing the beloved characters in jail. While Jerry, Elaine, Kramer, and George had all done terrible things over the course of Seinfeld, fans of the show didn’t actually want to see them punished and sitting in jail. Although it looks like he might suffer a similar fate, David’s time in prison is cut short when the real Jerry comes to rescue him. After noticing that one of the members of the jury was breaking the sequestration that had been put in place, Jerry was able to have a mistrial called. As a result, David is released on a technicality.
While having his former star come back to clear his name was a fun reference, Jerry realized that it would have been better to end Seinfeld with the characters avoiding jail time. Although David has passionately defended the Seinfeld finale over the course of Curb Your Enthusiasm, he comes to the realization that Jerry is right, and reflects annoyance that he didn’t come up with this ending sooner. While rumors of a Seinfeld reunion project continue to persist, the recreation of its final episode in Curb Your Enthusiasm is everything that fans could ask for.
How Does ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ Change the ‘Seinfeld’ Ending?
While they follow very similar narrative arcs, the Curb Your Enthusiasm finale is a more optimistic version of the Seinfeld finale. Seinfeld’s final episode forced the characters to reckon with the consequences of their misdeeds as the show’s guest stars appeared in court to offer character testimonies; it served as a rather unnerving reminder of how destructive Jerry, Elaine, George, and Kramer actually had been. Curb Your Enthusiasm brings back many of the show’s best guest stars for the final episode, but their supposed “evidence” about David’s misdeeds are all depicted as misunderstandings. David may have made some bad decisions over the course of Curb Your Enthusiasm, but they could generally be attributed to selfishness, and not actual malice.
‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ Saved an Innocent Man From Prison
It was a pretty, pretty, pretty good thing that this episode saved an innocent man charged with murder.
Considering how frequently he’s embarrassed and publicly shamed in the series, it was fitting for David to have a more optimistic ending to his story in Curb Your Enthusiasm. The Seinfeld characters often escaped any real consequences for their destructive decisions, and thus their imprisonment made more sense; however, giving David an “out” by avoiding jail time finally gives him the “win” that has always alluded him. Seinfeld’s dour ending suggested that there was nowhere left for the “New York Four” to go, but Curb Your Enthuasism’s ending is delightfully open-ended. Although David has stated that he’s not interested in developing another season, the final shot of him alongside Ted, Cheryl, Jeff, Susie, and the late great Richard Lewis is far less definitive than the ending of Seinfeld.
Curb Your Enthusiasm is available to watch on Max.