Garry Shandling vs. Larry Sanders

GS LSOne must admit, at this late date, the situation comedy is an art form. It might be an unrecognized and much maligned set of precepts, but these tenets serve to inform countless television shows being aired every evening and viewed by literally millions of fans across the globe. There are a few commonly accepted classics - Seinfeld being one of them. But if revisiting the show, it at times seems dated. Of course, that's not necessarily the fault of the 1989 Jerry Seinfeld. He, of course, couldn't have guessed that twenty years on people would still be watching, re-watching and discovering his work. That show was of a specific time, even if the subject matter really is timeless.

Seinfeld  is credited with breaking down the false sense of differentiation between real humans - aka the viewer - and the folks on the screen. After all, it was a show about nothing. But in this lackadaisical premise is all of humanity. Life isn't about a specific thing, it's about encountering daily problems, tasks or whatever else and dealing with them. You may or may not have taken part in a masturbation contest. If you have, though, it might not always be as funny to talk about it as on the show - just a warning.

But Seinfeld wasn't the only notable sitcom from the '90s. Often shuffled aside by normal people who didn't have HBO - like myself - The Larry Sanders Show possessed a great deal of the spontaneity that is associated with Seinfeld. It felt real, even if it wasn't. And while the show didn't run as long as the NBC hit, the show and Garry Shandling have impacted television irrevocably and consequently affected Americans. It won awards and was critically well received. But even more importantly, it helped shape the future of the situation comedy.

The aspects of The Larry Sanders Show that were related to cinéma vérité, even if it was actually contrived, could be figured to have influenced not just reality television that's made every network millions of dollars, but Curb Your Enthusiasm as well. The newer show certainly has the behind-the-scenes angle that its predecessor did. Additionally, both Sanders and David seek to chronicle their show biz backgrounds to a certain extent. Where Sanders shows the inner workings of a talk show, David decides to explore more personal situations - and to good affect. And if nothing else, both air or aired on the same network. There's a similar snarky tone to both starring characters, which viewers should assume are based on, but not replicas of the men playing each.

Of course, even beyond comedy, The Larry Sanders Show has influenced hipper, more serious work as well. Again, another HBO series, Entourage, which turns Mark Wahlberg's life into a serialized dramedy works with a Hollywood base to lend viewers the feeling that each in fact has some in to the show business world. Regardless of the reason that this particular frame has been used and reused, it seems to be an affective one. And if for no other reason than that, fans should keep their hopes up for the DVD issue of the entirety of The Larry Sanders Show.