Curb Your Enthusiasm: Season 1-3 [DVD]

A followup to a 1999 HBO "mockumentary" special, season one of Curb Your Enthusiasm finds Seinfeld creator (and former standup comedian) Larry David playing himself in ten half-hour episodes, many of them ad-libbed by David and his stellar supporting cast. In the course of events, Larry gets into trouble with his wife, Cheryl (Cheryl Hines), thanks to a "tent" in his trousers and an unguarded remark. He also develops a crush on actress Mary Steenburgen, much to the dismay of Mary's actor spouse Ted Danson; has a misadventure with a golf ball that somehow leads him to the home of a porn manufacturer (played by Mr. Show's Bob Odenkirk); and learns that appearances matter when he tries to purchase a bracelet to mollify his wife (and also launches one of the series' multitude of running gags). Also: an interior decorator comes up with a balm for Larry's unintentional rebuff of Diane Keaton; Larry and Cheryl are forced to haggle with crazy neighbors for the right to "bury" a telephone wire; a vintage car is accidentally ruined by Larry, who subsequently lets an obscenity slip into the funeral notice for Cheryl's aunt; the issue of "Affirmative Action" is thoroughly mishandled, as is Cheryl's medication prescription; and Cheryl is given the opportunity to relaunch her acting career in The Vagina Monologues. In addition to the above-mentioned guest stars, the series' stream-of-consciousness episodes also feature appearances by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Kathy Griffin, and Richard Lewis.