Larry David Finally Finds 'Enthusiasm' for 'Seinfeld' Reunion

By Lisa de Moraes
Friday, July 31, 2009

PASADENA, Calif., July 30

When Larry David's HBO comedy "Curb Your Enthusiasm" airs on Sept. 20, it will be all about the making of a "Seinfeld" reunion special.

"For years, I've been asked about a 'Seinfeld' reunion. . . . I would always say: 'No way -- it's a lame idea,' " David told TV critics attending Summer TV Press Tour 2009, when networks take turns trotting out new shows and returning programs for TV critics.

But then it occurred to him to do it on "Curb."

All the cast members are back. Over the season, we'll watch David writing the "Seinfeld" reunion, sit in on the read-through, watch rehearsals, see the special being filmed and watch parts of the special on TV.

"Will it be any good?" one critic asked David, which actually seemed a reasonable question for anyone who'd watched the "Seinfeld" finale.

"Yeah -- you mean as opposed to the finale?" David said. He got it, too.

But then a critic asked whether his "Curb" character, Larry David, would wreck the finale, and it was too much for him.

"Yeah, my guy might consider wrecking something like that," David sneered.

TV critics still haven't recovered from seeing David appear on an episode of "Hannah Montana." He still insists he did it just because his daughters -- who appeared with him in the episode -- were fans of the tweener sitcom.

So when David told critics that, these days, he's watching "Gossip Girl" with his daughters, they nervously asked whether he was going to appear on that CW series as well.

"Only if my daughters were on the show with me," David snapped.

"Otherwise, you'd have to blow my head off."

TV's Healing Powers

E! network continues to corner the market on reality series about families we pray will never move within a mile of our house. E!'s latest, "The Lamas Life," from reality-TV impresario Mike Fleiss, stars Lorenzo Lamas, ex-wife Michele Smith, and three stupendously self-absorbed children.

Son A.J. is Nature's final word in men you want to smack into next week. Daughter Shayne blames her lack of acting career on having done "The Bachelor," and is the kind of chick who would drive her Mercedes up to the Beverly Hills Hotel and ask the attendant whether he can tell her the way to the Beverly Hills Hotel. Daughter Dakota thinks she can sing.

Oh, and A.J. slept with one of his father's ex-wives.

That's a subject that, understandably, TV critics attending Summer TV press Tour 2009 were eager to, um, probe:

Critic: "What's your relationship with A.J. right now?"

Lorenzo: "Strained."

Critic: "What's that like?"

Lorenzo: "Unusual."

Critic: "So why do it?"

Lorenzo: "Because there's a chance that we can make things better."

Critic: "Through a TV show?"

Lorenzo: "Through the circumstance of a TV show, yeah."

Critic: "Is that the healthiest way?"

Fleiss: "There's only one way to get a family back together, and that's on television."

Lamas: "I've seen more of A.J. the last two weeks than I have in three years."

Critic: "That's kind of scary, isn't it -- a television show would be the catalyst for a serious -- "

Lorenzo: "I think it's a reflection of the society that we're living in. There's so many cameras. There is so much instant media attention. Not just for celebrities, but for normal people that get thrust in the reality world. . . . Honestly, I am looking at it as an opportunity to get closer to my kids."

Critic: "A.J., what's your thoughts on this subject?"

A.J.: "I felt the same way, man. I'm like, 'a [expletive] TV show?' Honestly, if it takes a TV show for me and this guy to come back together, than so be it."

The New Emmys Diet

The bloated Emmy telecast will be eight categories thinner this year.

The TV Academy gave a thumbs-up Wednesday night to slashing the derbies from this year's Primetime Emmy Awards. The freed-up time would be used to clear the stage for poppier options that celebrate TV in general, though what could be more fun than celebrities thanking their agents, managers and personal trainers I'm sure I don't know. Maybe a Justin Timberlake performance -- after all, he's got three Emmy nominations this year.

After last year's Emmy ratings bust, the academy commissioned a study that concluded viewers bailed because they did not recognize the winning shows. And cable programs still tend to be watched by fewer viewers than broadcast hits. Nearly a third of last year's Emmy show, for instance, was spent feting HBO's critically acclaimed miniseries "John Adams," which the pay cable network estimates was watched by 5 million people over its various showings -- a modest number by broadcast TV standards.

No final decision yet as to exactly which categories will be sacrificed to the Ratings God. But, not surprisingly, show producer Don Mischer suggested races that are mostly dominated by cable nominees this year.

HBO and Lifetime, for instance, account for all of this year's best TV movie nominees.

Bye-bye!

HBO's "Generation Kill" and PBS's "Little Dorrit" are this year's only nominees for best miniseries.

See ya!

AMC's "Mad Men" nabbed four of the five nominations this year for best drama series writing.

So long!

HBO also copped half of this year's noms for best supporting actor and best supporting actress in a movie or miniseries.

Sayonara!

Also looking likely to get the hook: best movie/miniseries writing and directing; best variety, music and comedy series directing; and other Walk-the-Dog categories.

The affected derbies won't be cut from the show altogether. They'll unfold before the broadcast; edited recordings of those wins will be included in the broadcast.

Wonder how this new plan is going over with cable networks that bagged a lot of nominees in these categories?

"For a show that has always recognized the best in the television industry, it now seems to be increasingly focused on recognizing broadcast network television," HBO said Thursday in a statement. "That is unfortunate given the range and caliber of talent represented in these categories which are being singled out for time-shifting."

On the other hand, if ratings don't improve this year, it's unclear whether the Emmycast will survive on broadcast TV. This year's Sept. 20 Emmycast marks the penultimate in the broadcast networks' current contract with the TV Academy. And, moved to cable, the Primetime Emmys would certainly attract a way smaller audience than last year's 12 million viewers, which was a record low for the franchise.

There is precedent here. The Recording Academy, for instance, hands out about a hundred Grammy Awards every year. Just 11 of them are broadcast by CBS during the Grammy show, which is otherwise jammed with performances by ratings magnets. This year that included the Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift and John Mayer. It worked: 20 million people watched this year's Grammycast -- 3 million more than the year before, when that trophy show suffered its smallest audience on record.

No word whether TV Academy chief John Shaffner has agreed to scrub the traditional academy suit speechifying from this year's broadcast, but it seems only fair.