Curb Your Enthusiasm - General Discussion

[DoctorAtomic]

20 minutes ago, sugarbaker design said:

"Are you a plural?"

I liked that they played it straight and it didn't erupt into Larry getting piled on and then yelling. None of them were offended and just answered him. 

 

15 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Should acting teachers be really good actors?  Or not necessarily? 

I'd say the latter. Sports head coaches were rarely superstar players. There are women who are coaches in both the NFL and NBA who clearly never played in the league. By all accounts doing well. That's like being in a writing group. Does your teacher/coach had to have been a best selling author? Not really. Probably sold some work. 

I don't think Cheryl-actor is bad. I think Cheryl-show just has a tough role. Larry/Jeff/Richard Lewis are all long time friends, so the interactions are going to be different. Susie runs 100% all the time. Cheryl-show is kind of low key. I can't recall anything where she's dragged the scene. 

[StatisticalOutlier]

On 11/7/2021 at 10:52 PM, Blakeston said:

Color me amazed that Larry had an awkward interaction about "they" pronouns without actually offending anyone, or saying anything wildly inappropriate.

I wonder if it helped that the "they" made for a genuinely ambiguous statement in this case, so it wasn't just Larry being a dick. 

[TV Diva Queen]

I died when Maria Sophia was in the restaurant wiping off the food trays and the one she had in her hand had guacamole all over the bottom, she wiped the top and put it in the clean pile.  

Jack from Will and Grace had an acting school and he couldn't get a job either.

Suzie and Larry are incredible together, they bite each others heads off, but are always there for each other.  

[Ms Blue Jay]

4 hours ago, TV Diva Queen said:

Jack from Will and Grace had an acting school and he couldn't get a job either.

LOL.  That's so true.  I can't believe I forgot that, I love Will & Grace as much as I love Curb.

Another one:  Joey taught an acting class on "Friends", though, he DID at least get work on Days of Our Lives.  But that was pretty much it, LOL.

Another one I thought of:  Carrie Bradshaw on "Sex and the City" taught a dating class, but was pretty much immediately chewed out by her students for being unmarried and therefore unsuccessful at dating - LOL!

Edited November 11, 2021 by Ms Blue Jay

[DoctorAtomic]

5 hours ago, TV Diva Queen said:

Suzie and Larry are incredible together, they bite each others heads off, but are always there for each other.  

My favorite is Susie saying 'Larry, let me tell you something,' and him getting all hung up on it; 'why don't you just tell me', as part of his 'save the date' diatribe (which I am so on board with). Less than a minute, and she's screaming at him to get out of the house. 

[Not4Me]

13 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

I don't think Cheryl-actor is bad. I think Cheryl-show just has a tough role. Larry/Jeff/Richard Lewis are all long time friends, so the interactions are going to be different. Susie runs 100% all the time. Cheryl-show is kind of low key. I can't recall anything where she's dragged the scene. 

Agree. She may have the least comedic role as the straight man but she never hurt a scene for me. I think Cheryl and Larry work much better now that they’re not a couple. 

So if Susie can sell her hideous sweaters out of her car that only a blind man would wear, and a bunch of 70+ yr old men can  date women 40 years younger than them, then yeah I can also believe Cheryl can teach an acting class.

That aside, I’m not feeling this season so far. The whole extortion plot is too convoluted and it kinda drags for me.

 

[Simon Boccanegra]

8 hours ago, Not4Me said:

Agree. She may have the least comedic role as the straight man but she never hurt a scene for me. I think Cheryl and Larry work much better now that they’re not a couple. 

I loved early Cheryl/Larry, meaning the first three seasons. She was exasperated or bewildered by him a lot of the time, but they also had a lot of sweet moments. Her character was positioned halfway between her conservative religious family and the looser Hollywood lifestyle of Larry and his friends, so she was a good down-to-earth foil for him without being a tiresome scold.

Something changed in the next few seasons. Maybe it was just creatively shaking things up, or maybe the real-life David marriage was souring and it was affecting the stories. But from the moment the Davids made that anniversary pact that he could cheat with someone, the dynamic started to curdle. I wasn't sorry when they split up in season 6. 

However, I've always liked Cheryl Hines, both on CYE and in other things I've seen her in (such as Waitress). I'm glad she's remained part of the gang, even if sometimes there's a feeling that the show is straining to keep a core cast member around (a phenomenon I hereby term "Lorraine Bracco's syndrome," re: later seasons of The Sopranos).

Edited November 11, 2021 by Simon Boccanegra

[DoctorAtomic]

Larry tends to keep everyone around because he likes them irl. I mean, there's zero reason for Leon, but even last episode, he still broke Larry. 

It doesn't really matter to me what they have the actors doing. 

[TV Diva Queen]

On 11/10/2021 at 7:56 PM, Ms Blue Jay said:

LOL.  That's so true.  I can't believe I forgot that, I love Will & Grace as much as I love Curb.

Another one:  Joey taught an acting class on "Friends", though, he DID at least get work on Days of Our Lives.  But that was pretty much it, LOL.

Another one I thought of:  Carrie Bradshaw on "Sex and the City" taught a dating class, but was pretty much immediately chewed out by her students for being unmarried and therefore unsuccessful at dating - LOL!

Omg. I forgot about Joey!!  Dead!!! 

[millennium]

On 11/11/2021 at 2:12 AM, Not4Me said:

That aside, I’m not feeling this season so far. The whole extortion plot is too convoluted and it kinda drags for me.

 

Because we're supposed to believe Larry David, creator of Seinfeld and who has more money than God (which I daresay is the only reason the Lucy Liu's and Lawlesses of the world would ever date him) couldn't hire a team of attorneys to pay off/sue/intimidate the taco extortionist into oblivion.

The hot dog-eating contest scheme was classic Costanza, but without Costanza it just fell flat.

Edited November 15, 2021 by millennium

[aghst]

Is Woody Harrelson hardcore PETA or Larry just mocking animal rights activists?

Hmm, a plot about black people and watermelon.  No way Leon GAF if Larry sees him.

Entitlement to not pick up food dropped on the floor or just sloppiness?

It’s obvious a lot of Hollywood stars want to be on the show so it seems like they have to strain to fit them in.  Plus, how does he decide whether to have stars play a character vs. themselves?

Kaley Cuoco is arguably a bigger star at the moment than Woody but she plays an entitled/sloppy optometrist while Woody plays himself, a star whom Larry wants to cast on his show.  BTW it has to be a running joke that Larry is always working on a show within the show but none of them ever make it to air.

Or Jon Hamm plays himself while Vince Vaughan plays a character.

In any event, the episodes have been around 40 minutes instead of the 30 minutes in previous seasons.  I think he’s trying to fit in all these stars, probably friendly with them in real life.  So he tries to have these different plots dovetail in the end, which used to work beautifully in some early seasons.  But it seems he’s trying to do that for every episode this season.  Many of the individual plots are good but there are too many and they’re forced together.

[Simon Boccanegra]

It's last season's plot, but I only just discovered the below. There's also an entry for Latte Larry's, which is mostly rave reviews, except that some people deduct a star for the weird bathrooms.

[sugarbaker design]

Points to Suzy for sewing the Star of David on the KKK robe!

(That's a statement I never envisioned posting!)

[Ms Blue Jay]

Yeah, I guess I find Larry intolerable this season.  I don't know how he/his writers could write him helping a Klansman.  He just does controversy for controversy's sake.  Would anyone actually sit at home and laugh at that plot and find that funny?  And if not, what is the point?  Shock value?  That's so........grade school.

[Racj82]

17 minutes ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Yeah, I guess I find Larry intolerable this season.  I don't know how he/his writers could write him helping a Klansman.  He just does controversy for controversy's sake.  Would anyone actually sit at home and laugh at that plot and find that funny?  And if not, what is the point?  Shock value?  That's so........grade school.

Plenty of people have said this is their favorite episode of the season or the episode that will keep them watching so...yes. People find it funny. Because it's about the absurdity of it all. The klansman also got his comeuppance in a brilliant way. Susie's reaction to it was so damn funny as well. 

[Simon Boccanegra]

The quote feature isn't cooperating with me this morning. Aghst is in italics.

Is Woody Harrelson hardcore PETA or Larry just mocking animal rights activists?

That awards speech Larry and Jeff were watching at the beginning, right down to the lines about the exploitation of cows and calves so we can have cream in our coffee, was almost a direct lift of Joaquin Phoenix's overwrought speech when he won for Joker at the 2020 Oscars. I think they were just having some fun with celebrity activism. 

Harrelson really is vegan, but I don't think he "cream-shames" people in stores, etc. 

Kaley Cuoco is arguably a bigger star at the moment than Woody but she plays an entitled/sloppy optometrist while Woody plays himself, a star whom Larry wants to cast on his show.  BTW it has to be a running joke that Larry is always working on a show within the show but none of them ever make it to air.

Or Jon Hamm plays himself while Vince Vaughan plays a character.

It's always been pretty arbitrary. Jon Hamm and Bryan Cranston are probably equally famous (both were even the lead of a famous AMC series), but Hamm played himself and Cranston played a doctor. In the early seasons, Michael York was himself in the restaurant plot, but the more famous Ed Asner was just someone's rich blowhard father. 

I think Larry and company just think up scenarios, and sometimes they want the famous people to send themselves up within Curb-world, and other times they invent characters and think of actors who would be good for them. 

I dunno about Cuoco being a bigger star than Harrelson, though. He'd win for name recognition. He's lasted so long and covered so many bases: one of the best-loved sitcoms of all time, three Oscar nominations, movies everyone knows such as No Country for Old Men, etc.

I'm guessing in this case they thought of Harrelson because of the plot with Larry being reluctant to cast his frenemy Ted Danson in Young Larry. If he landed someone else from Cheers, it would rub it in that much more. 

Edit: I really liked Mary Ferguson #3.

Edited November 15, 2021 by Simon Boccanegra

[Joimiaroxeu]

"Never" is a more appropriate word.

Cool rabbi was a ringer.

Cream-shaming. Hate when that happens.

I 100% felt Larry in that eye exam. Half the time I think the "1, or 2?" stuff is mindfcukery.

That idiot racist didn't even realize Larry was quoting to him from a classic musical about Jewish people.

Farmish.

And that's why I use the self-checkout whenever possible. Don't need cashiers all up in my business under the guise of being fake friendly.

OMG, a bespoke klan robe.

Milky fingers. Hate when that happens.

And another Mary Ferguson down the drain. Oh well. 🍉

I gasped when I saw that Star of David on the klan robe. How does LD's mind work? 🤯

[Ms Blue Jay]

3 hours ago, Racj82 said:

Plenty of people have said this is their favorite episode of the season or the episode that will keep them watching so...yes. People find it funny. 

There wasn't one positive post here about this episode when I posted so not sure where you thought I would read them.

[Racj82]

1 hour ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

There wasn't one positive post here about this episode when I posted so not sure where you thought I would read them.

I wasn't talking about here. There are other places that talk about the show.

[Not4Me]

6 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Yeah, I guess I find Larry intolerable this season.  I don't know how he/his writers could write him helping a Klansman.  He just does controversy for controversy's sake.  Would anyone actually sit at home and laugh at that plot and find that funny?  And if not, what is the point?  Shock value?  That's so........grade school.

I didn’t care for it either. While it was funny to see the klansman get his comeuppance, getting there and sitting through Larry’s general unpleasantness wasn’t worth the wait. But then Curb is very hit or miss for me.

[hoodooznoodooz]

4 hours ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

I 100% felt Larry in that eye exam. Half the time I think the "1, or 2?" stuff is mindfcukery.

This was one of the few topics that I thought was fresh and interesting.

[SoWindsor]

4 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

There wasn't one positive post here about this episode when I posted so not sure where you thought I would read them.

I thought this episode was funny. The absurdity of it was hysterical. Best episode so far of the season. That said, it hasn’t been a great season.

[Ms Blue Jay]

I was liking the episode somewhat.  I just didn't like the Klansman plot point at all.  I appreciated that Susie and the drycleaner didn't give a shit, but it was just a bridge too far for me to believe that Larry would.

Also, I had just watched "The Butler", the 2013 movie.  I could not find helping a Klansman funny at all but honestly, it probably wouldn't matter when I saw it.

Edited November 16, 2021 by Ms Blue Jay

[Simon Boccanegra]

I need to have the season behind me to see how it settles in my mind, but at times I'm finding it more elaborately and intricately plotted than actually funny. And I've found elaborate lies on Curb funnier in the past. For example, almost 20 years ago in "Chet's Shirt," Larry is at the dentist making an excuse for not accepting the dentist's dinner invitation. He says he spent the weekend at a "pear farm," and he keeps adding detail after detail until he gets tripped up. Then the dentist lowers the boom: a mutual acquaintance saw Larry in town, so the orchard lie was never selling even when it appeared to be.

I thought that was a really funny scene. Here, the thing about Larry owning a cow named Jessie...much less so. I didn't believe Larry would come up with that particular lie, I didn't believe Woody Harrelson would buy it, and there were funnier paths out of the situation that provoked it (a vegan actor seeing Larry using cream, in Larry's kitchen). But everything had to happen the way it happened because they were trying to make it connect to other story elements: the Klansman, dropped snack foods, the shofar.

When Harrelson wanted to meet the cow and was being so dogged about finding a day to do it...it's not remarkable for Curb to remind us of a George plot from Seinfeld, but a George plot from the post-Larry Seinfeld? (Susan's parents insisting on driving out to see George's horses, Snoopy and Prickly Pete. That too was funnier the first time around.) 

However, in the past when I've remarked that things are getting stale or a season is not jelling, there's sometimes been a gem like "The Ski Lift" a week or two away. We'll see..

[DoctorAtomic]

Susie and Larry looked like they were going to break in the first scene where she was waving the tapestry. 

The gist I got was they were sending up celebrity activism too. Although I thought Harrleson was a huge weed guy and was sending himself up too. He wearing the weed hat. 

I didn't realize that Harrelson's speech was a send up of a real one, so even better. tbh, people totally kill coffee with all the junk that gets thrown in it anyway, so I enjoyed Harrelson going on about it in general. I thought Harrelson did great.

Jeff's 'Why did you tell him you had a cow?!' was brilliant reading. 

I liked the whole hushed snack conversation the best. Susie got all riled up and then was complaining about the cheesy snacks. 

I thought the klansman plot was funny, but I like the other stuff like the cream shaming and the snacks better. It was worth it for Larry and Susie in the kitchen.

I know the show is absurd, but I bought into this one more than Larry ending up in a hot dog contest. 

[hoodooznoodooz]

Wasn’t Larry pushing a Parmesan cheese snack to include in the mini-bar last week?

[Valny]

I don't usually burst out laughing at Curb, but I sure did when Kaley Cuoco shoves the metal Phoropter(had to look it up to see what it was called) into Larry's face!! Then when they cut to him driving and he has the two black eyes?  OMG I was cracking up.

[bilgistic]

I am Larry at the optometrist's office. I am always asking to see 1 again so I can re-compare it to 2. I felt so seen, no pun intended.

On 11/16/2021 at 10:18 PM, hoodooznoodooz said:

Wasn’t Larry pushing a Parmesan cheese snack to include in the mini-bar last week?

I think it was a crisp not a puff, but I'm not really up on my cheese snacks.

[DoctorAtomic]

It was crisps. 

[Ms Blue Jay]

What was Larry eating tonight at the golf club?  French onion soup?  It looked good!  

[Blakeston]

So why can't Larry just explain to Gabby that it was Hal who blabbed about her secret?

[Ms Blue Jay]

These are both rich men.  Freddy and Larry should just call up a designer and make the shirt again.  It's ridiculous to pretend they can't.  All they need to do is find a similar fabric.

Nice to see Mr. Takahashi again.  

Plastic surgeons don't have enough medical knowledge to help with a heart attack!?  LOL

Edited November 22, 2021 by Ms Blue Jay

[aghst]

Yeah how long has it been since Takahashi was on the show.  I don’t recall exactly what kind of plots they had with him.

They have budgets to simulate rain now.  Something like that has to be planned, requires logistics, shooting at night or before sunrise.

So would having to plan shooting scenes involving logistics and planning diminish the improvisations the show is famous for?

They’re not just working with Larry’s outlines any more or the outlines may be as elaborate, with stage directions, like almost scripts.

 

LD seems to get into yelling matches in the recent seasons, though the sushi chefs yelling out Gabby’s business was funny.

Though are we suppose to believe that Hal dumped her because of her scandalous past, kind of slut-shamed her?

[hoodooznoodooz]

46 minutes ago, aghst said:

Though are we suppose to believe that Hal dumped her because of her scandalous past, kind of slut-shamed her?

I think Hal dumped her because she told two friends/everyone that he had sex with his mother-in-law.

[cambridgeguy]

5 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

These are both rich men.  Freddy and Larry should just call up a designer and make the shirt again.  It's ridiculous to pretend they can't.  All they need to do is find a similar fabric.

It was already ridiculous to pretend that beefy 6'5 Vince Vaughn's favorite shirt fits sinewy 5/11 Larry David. 

[Ms Blue Jay]

7 hours ago, aghst said:

Yeah how long has it been since Takahashi was on the show.  I don’t recall exactly what kind of plots they had with him.

Definitely "The Black Swan" in Season 7 at least, but I think there were a few others.  He's always hated Larry.  And Larry never kept a clean enough locker for him.

The actor is named Dana Lee:

Curb Your Enthusiasm (TV Series)
Mr. Takahashi / Car Customer #4

- IRASSHAIMASE! (2021) ... Mr. Takahashi

- Beep Panic (2020) ... Mr. Takahashi

- Thank You for Your Service (2017) ... Mr. Takahashi

- The Black Swan (2009) ... Mr. Takahashi

- The Car Salesman (2001) ... Car Customer #4

Edited November 22, 2021 by Ms Blue Jay

[Simon Boccanegra]

Takahashi is a favorite recurring character of mine, too. (Although he's a sleaze like everyone else on Curb, screwing around with a club member's wife and getting her pregnant.) 

It's nice that if Larry David likes a bit player, he'll use him again. We've seen it again recently with last season's one-episode hotel clerk (or manager?) coming back as this season's blackmailing taco restaurateur.

When Dana Lee played Car Customer #4 in season 2 and was part of the legendary conversation about GTS standing for "Guaranteed Tremendous Safety," he didn't speak with as heavy an accent. So I guess that's a Takahashi trait.

Doin' it up 2001 style:   

 

8 hours ago, aghst said:

So would having to plan shooting scenes involving logistics and planning diminish the improvisations the show is famous for?

They’re not just working with Larry’s outlines any more or the outlines may be as elaborate, with stage directions, like almost scripts.

The effects do seem to have become more elaborate in the seasons following the big 2011-2017 break. I think of "Thank You for Your Service," in which Larry and Chet Haze's character dress up for a Revolutionary War reenactment and seem to be in real danger because Larry offended someone earlier. That scene was almost on the level of a battle scene in a big-budget film, with canon fire and a large cast of costumed extras running around waving weapons.  

However, in scenes such as that one and the rain scenes in this Curb, there wasn't a lot of improvisation to be done. Those scenes are exceptions to the bulk of the series: people talking in restaurants, living rooms, medical offices. The actors, regular and guest, have said it's very much a trial-and-error process. They'll do take after take and maybe they'll all be different unless Larry says there's a specific line he definitely wants to hear again.

Edited November 22, 2021 by Simon Boccanegra

[Phishbulb]

4 hours ago, cambridgeguy said:

It was already ridiculous to pretend that beefy 6'5 Vince Vaughn's favorite shirt fits sinewy 5/11 Larry David. 

Sinewy? Look at you pulling out the big words 😄

[Joimiaroxeu]

Is LD shrinking? He looked so small sitting in his chair in the restaurant with Freddy and Jeff. I was surprised he let himself be filmed like that but he probably doesn't care.

Sinewy is not the word I'd use wrt Larry. Closer to frail IMO.

Guamish. That's not a fact, Larry. Why does he lie about things that can be easily disproved?

Wow, I didn't recognize Julie Bowen at all.

What were they yelling at each other in the Japanese restaurant? Not a lot of words or phrases work both as a greeting and a put down.*

You never give up a two-tone. Everyone knows that! Gah. 😉

I think that was a long way to go for Susie to be able to deliver her "no sh*t, Sherlock" line. Too on the nose IMO.

*On reddit someone said it generally means "welcome" so Larry saying it back to them could be interpreted as mockery since he was the guest.

[StatisticalOutlier]

I love the way Larry walks.

[Tiggertoo]

Nice to see the Northern Exposure actor. 
 

When Larry mentioned sex with Julie Bowen’s character, I felt a little yuck in my throat. But I didn’t realize he has remarried to someone 38 years younger than him, so even more of an age difference.  🤷‍♀️ True love, I guess!

And he said they were set up.  Who sets up a 36 year old with a 74 year old man?

Edited November 22, 2021 by Tiggertoo

[Ms Blue Jay]

yeah, it's ridiculous. Larry has never even DATED someone age appropriate on the show.  All of his dates and exes are half of his age.  Or, in the case of Cheryl Hines and Vivica A. Fox, close to 20 years younger.

Edited November 22, 2021 by Ms Blue Jay

[DoctorAtomic]

I lived in Tokyo for a while, and I always did like when they yelled at you when you came into the store or restaurant. Especially if it's a shop you normally go to and they actually know you. Because you get to yell back 'hai domo konichiwa!' or 'ohayo gozaimas(u)'. You don't pronounce the (u) in the big city or they'll think you're a rube. 

I liked the jacket that Gabby was wearing at the restaurant. 

A lot of the ancillary dialogue in this episode, it looked like Larry and Jeff were just cracking each other up. The bit about the general stores, they just both started laughing. I like when the actors try to break each other up. I do that all the time to my friends irl. 

14 hours ago, cambridgeguy said:

It was already ridiculous to pretend that beefy 6'5 Vince Vaughn's favorite shirt fits sinewy 5/11 Larry David. 

It would be big, but Freddy wanting Larry's shirt is ridiculous because it definitely would not fit. To be fair to Larry, he said he'd take him shopping, so you could buy some high end clothes. A grown man having a 'favorite shirt' is a little much. 

I did like at the end that Larry just figuratively tipped his hat and left the restaurant. 

[Ms Blue Jay]

There's Japanese restaurants where I live and I've definitely experienced those greetings.

[Simon Boccanegra]

5 hours ago, Tiggertoo said:

Who sets up a 36 year old with a 74 year old man?

It wouldn't shock me so much in Hollywood. David Lynch's fourth and current wife, for example, is 32 years younger (he's 75, she 43). She's had small acting roles in some of his projects. He had another child by her when he was pushing 70.

But it doesn't bother me as a use of guest actors on the show. I think some of the episodes are flat, but I never think, "This would be better if [seventysomething actress of your choice...Kirstie Alley, for example] were his new love interest." It's easier for me to buy Larry attracting good-looking women in their fifties such as Bowen and Liu than it was for me to buy George Costanza getting anywhere with various beauties close to his age on Seinfeld. He wasn't any well-connected multimillionaire in a creative profession. Sometimes he was barely employed...while having George's personality and Jason Alexander's looks.

On Japanese restaurant greetings: There was that earlier episode in which the chefs would yell "Chicken teriyaki boy!" and make chicken noises, and Larry would just stand there basking in it. He was so proud of his nickname. 

[LoveLeigh]

6 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

yeah, it's ridiculous. Larry has never even DATED someone age appropriate on the show.  All of his dates and exes are half of his age.  Or, in the case of Cheryl Hines and Vivica A. Fox, close to 20 years younger.

His real wife, who he married a year ago, is in her 30s. Larry is almost 75 but I think inside his head he thinks he is 45. He writes scripts for a younger Larry. I believe in real life he does not see himself as having aged or in being involved with women his age romantically so he casts accordingly. There have been signs in all the seasons he has a type and even as he has aged his type never changed or was ever age appropriate. Look at him. He is the same age as Shelley Berman was when Shelley played his father. Larry looks his age and this show is now about a cranky old geezer. You are an alteh cocker Larry. Marcia Jean Kurtz should be your love interest. 

What happened to the "Young Larry" theme? Two episodes now with no sign of the Marsha Lipschitz wannabe. These two past episodes could be in any random season they are so disconnected. 

[LoveLeigh]

8 hours ago, Tiggertoo said:

 Who sets up a 36 year old with a 74 year old man?

Great comment! Larry sets himself up in the scripts with a 36 year old because he does not accept he is now an old man. He looks every bit of almost 75 and what 36 year old woman would go with a man who is old enough to be her grandfather? 

Well, Katherine McPhee. But I think there is something weird about it. 

[Ms Blue Jay]

17 minutes ago, LoveLeigh said:

I believe in real life he does not see himself as having aged or in being involved with women his age romantically so he casts accordingly. There have been signs in all the seasons he has a type and even as he has aged his type never changed or was ever age appropriate.

Yup.  Teri Polo and Julie Bowen are very similar types.  He just keeps dating the 50ish year old blondes over and over again.  And they look amazing for their age.  Which Larry does not.

[aghst]

Gabby is only suppose to be 36?

 

[Simon Boccanegra]

1 hour ago, LoveLeigh said:

Look at him. He is the same age as Shelley Berman was when Shelley played his father. Larry looks his age and this show is now about a cranky old geezer.

Larry's a "Boomer septuagenarian," though, and they're a new breed. They're more aware of what younger people are into than previous generations were. They hold on to a youthful quality more. Many of them don't want to retire if they still enjoy what they're doing, and in many ways they want still to be in the thick of things, as we see in everything up to and including the ever-increasing ages of presidential candidates. Dianne Wiest (another Boomer actor) has that line in Parenthood about how she can't be a grandmother; grandmothers bake and sew and tell you stories about the Depression! Her generation has changed the way I think of terms such as "grandparent." The elderly relatives I have now are much different from the ones I was taken to visit growing up (The "plastic wrap over the couch"/"Don't touch any of the knickknacks in my parlor" types). I have to remind myself that the current "old people" in my life are the same age as the long-gone ones were at the time.  

With regard to "age-appropriateness," my feeling is that if we're dealing with actual men and women way past 18 or 21, and there isn't coercion or abuse of power involved, they're the only ones whose opinion of what's appropriate for them matters. Now, there is what I personally would do, but I can't decide for other people and I don't judge them.  

And really, all of Larry's relationships are going to crash and burn within an episode or two, so there's no point in even getting attached to any of them. It's a revolving door.

If the discussion is about actresses in their sixties and seventies whom people think would be funny as new girlfriends for Larry, and they're not getting work because the star and show-runner prefers women 20-25 years younger than he is, then that's something else. 

Edited November 23, 2021 by Simon Boccanegra