‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ – ‘The Smiley Face’: Dog days are over :)

Last night’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” wasn’t one of the ones HBO sent out in advance of the season, so I watched it this morning on HBO Go while getting ready for the start of NBC’s press tour day. A few quick thoughts coming up just as soon as I seem lugubrious…

“The Smiley Face” was probably my least favorite “Curb” of the season so far. Larry has such an established pattern of behavior that it’s hard to make him seem too obnoxious, but every now and then it happens, and this was one of those. In general, I’m a bigger fan of episodes where Larry has a point hidden beneath all the bluster, and the argument with Big Dog(*) over the cabinets was the only part of the episode where that was really the case. (And that story didn’t get a good resolution.)

(*) And, once again, I have to ask about the level of fame required for an actor to play or not play themselves on “Curb.” I would have thought Harry Hamlin would be one of those who would play himself, but apparently not.

I liked some isolated bits – Larry cracking up Lewis (as he did with the Edmund Hillary reference) is always welcome – and was glad to see Rebecca Creskoff on an HBO show that wasn’t “Hung,” but overall this was a weak episode sandwiched in between two strong ones. Looking forward to discussing the next one in a week.

What did everybody else think?

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