
Once upon a time there was a Television show about the backstage life of a television show. And it was self-referential. And brilliant and prickly.
But this one had Rip Torn. And Jeffrey Tambor, and Carol Burnett uttering the words, "I can see your balls." And ladies, in one episode, you get to seen Jeremy Piven's naked ass.
The Larry Sanders Show flamed out on DVD because the first season didn't sell well enough to release more, which bums out people like me who loved the show with a white hot pure fire.
Well, now it turns out that there's going to be a new set of 23 Episodes across all six seasons. And Garry Shandling is extensively involved. In fact, it sounds like these might be some of the weirdest, most revealing extras you're ever going to see on a TV DVD set.
Other performers might be content to put out such packages with a few sweeteners, maybe some outtakes and running commentary from the star. But Mr. Shandling has never been like other performers. More than a year ago he set out, hand-held camera crew in tow, to interview virtually everyone connected to the show. There are the series regulars, including Jeffrey Tambor, who played Hank Kingsley (“hey now!”), Larry’s eager-to-please yet quick-to-lash-out sidekick, and Rip Torn, who played Artie, Larry’s fiercely protective executive producer. Mr. Shandling’s camera also found many of the A-list guest stars whom he had goaded into cameos on the original show, including Mr. Seinfeld, Mr. Baldwin, Sharon Stone, David Duchovny, Carol Burnett, Jon Stewart and Tom Petty.
Thus the DVD’s title, “Not Just the Best of the Larry Sanders Show,” and its length: four discs, despite containing just 23 episodes.
Mr. Shandling concedes that these recorded conversations — which are presented largely unedited, with awkward silences and plenty of mistakes — are at least partly self-congratulatory. Taken as a whole the treatment is also expansive, exhaustive and at times exhausting, with Mr. Shandling’s new material (including a documentary) adding up to nearly eight hours.
But the results are, in many instances, riveting. There are some good casting stories: Ms. Burnett, for example, tells how Mr. Shandling persuaded her to be a guest and to play against her clean-cut image. (On the talk-show-within-a-show, she warns Larry that the loincloth costume he’s wearing isn’t covering what it needs to cover.) And Bruno Kirby, whom Larry memorably “bumped” from the last episode, made an appearance as well — his last, it turned out, before he died last summer.
But to those who watch them carefully — and Mr. Shandling hasn’t a clue whether anyone will — the interviews are also striking for his efforts to make amends. He apologizes to some of the best-known people in Hollywood for having failed to thank them for their service on “Larry Sanders,” and for largely allowing them to drift from his life in the years since.
The full New York Times article about the upcoming set is here.
6 comments:
Hey now!!
Thanks for this, Denis.
Larry Sanders redefined what television could be for me. I'll never forget flipping channels late at night in 1992?/93? and coming across some guest on a couch being interviewed. It was on the CBC.
First thought: Oh, new talk show.
Interview goes to commercial and camera angle changes and now we're on film stock and either the guest or Shandling says: "Fuck you."
I sit straight up in bed. Shake head rapidly back and forth. Whaaaaa?
I was hooked.
No flipping.
I'll add that if this set sells well enough, there's a possibility that the season sets could happen.
The same company (Sony) did the exact same thing with Mad About You: they released two season sets that didn't sell, so they canceled the season sets and instead did a "best-of" set with heavy participation from the stars. And that must have sold OK because they recently announced they were reviving the complete-season releases.
So I could definitely see some more seasons of Larry Sanders happening, if enough people buy the best-of to check out the special features.
Sony have stopped putting out The Shield here in the UK after the first two seasons didn't meet whatever freaking sales target they had. Damn them!!
But who cares when we can knock back the salty dogs and watch Larry Sanders. It'll be interesting to see which episodes they pick.
Hopefully it'll include the one when Hank guest hosts. And the one when Hank gets depressed over his marriage going down the toilet and spends the week in a hotel room with a succession of hookers.
Oh, and some of the ones with Jon Stewart as guest host. And... ah, better leave it there.
SHOWING THE REST OF DAYBREAK ON ABC.COM.
Hey dmc,
I remember you getting into Day Break. If you want to see how the rest of it plays out, go to:
http://dynamic.abc.go.com/streaming/landing
Then click launch. From there, you can access the rest of the show. At least, the rest of what they've released so far.
FINALLY! one of my favourite shows, despite being only 12 when it aired.
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