The Best of Fridays DVD review

Likely to appeal mostly to the over 40 crowd, “The Best of Fridays” brings to DVD for the first time 16 episodes of the short-lived subversive sketch comedy series that from 1980 to ‘82 set out to give Saturday Night Live a run for its funny. Noteworthy for jump-starting the careers of cast members Larry David and Michael Richards, the Los Angeles-based Fridays mirrored its New York cousin in nearly every way. Musical guests include The Clash (their network TV debut), KISS, Devo, Dire Straits and The Cars. Short films – some of which are made by and star Mike Nesmith – pepper the show’s perimeters. “Friday Edition,” featuring Melanie Chartoff, is the show’s newsy “Weekend Update.” Among the numerous special guests (the Fridays equivalent of guest hosts - who don't start appearing until the second season) are Billy Crystal, William Shatner, Karen Allen, and Andy Kaufman. Kaufman made Fridays history by staging a breakdown in the middle of a sketch and engaging in fisticuffs with announcer Jack Burns (the moment was recreated in the Kaufman biopic Man on the Moon starring Jim Carrey). The bit brought the series so much attention, he returned the next week for an encore. Both episodes are on this set.

As with SNL, the sketches are the real meat of Fridays, and though they sink as often as they swim, many remain pop cultural signposts of enormous nostalgic value. “The Best of Fridays,” which includes over two hours of cast and writer reunion interviews, is the only place to find a jaw-droppingly elaborate, 15-minute Rocky Horror parody lampooning the Reagan administration, entitled, of course, “The Ronny Horror Show,” featuring the late president in drag. Or how about a mash-up of Star Wars and Woody Allen, featuring Larry David as Han Solo and Michael Richards as Darth Vader, entitled “Star Wars Memories”? Yes, if you're of a certain age bracket, this collection is an instant trip in the way back machine to a time that you've all but forgotten, mostly because you were high on so many drugs - another topic Fridays revels in and is famous for. 

Larry David as Han Solo

Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Complete Eighth Season DVD review

By their eighth season, most shows – if they even last that long – exhibit major signs of wear, and it’s usually past time to close up shop. By some miracle of TV magic, Curb Your Enthusiasm bucks that trend on this go round by delivering one of its most sharply observant and gut-bustingly hilarious seasons to date, and at least one episode in this block vaults instantly to “classic” status. I’m a freak for this show, yet one who’ll admit when it’s stumbling, which in recent years has been known to happen from time to time. Season Eight I swear by; it’s that good.

“I’m yelling for society – for everybody! Not just me!”

Each year of Curb revolves around some sort of event which the season culminates in for the finale. Season Four featured Larry starring in The Producers on Broadway. Last season was built around the Seinfeld reunion. For the show’s eighth season, David plays looser, and there is no big event, although these episodes do revolve somewhat around Larry on the dating scene (he has four or five different girlfriends over the ten episodes), as well as an extended trip to New York in the second half of the block. Neither of these ideas, however, dominates the proceedings, and the season finale, “Larry vs. Michael J. Fox,” is considerably more standalone than Curb finales of years gone by. Having said that, there are several jokes that dot the Season Eight landscape that do eventually come back around and into play in the finale, so this material is still best viewed in order, from beginning to end.

Read the rest of this DVD review by clicking here and visiting Bullz-Eye.

Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Complete Seventh Season

It’s almost hard to believe that Curb Your Enthusiasm has been a comedy staple for 10 years. After all, it spends far more time off the air than it does on, and the number of episodes produced to date is only 70 (although we’re getting yet another 10 in 2011). Back at the start of the decade, who would’ve guessed that the adventures of one bald asshole would outlive other HBO staples like Sex and the City, The Sopranos and Six Feet Under?

At the close of Season Six, Cheryl had finally kicked Larry to the curb (ahem), and the displaced Katrina victims, the Blacks, had moved into the David homestead. Everything seemed perfect, and once again, a Curb season ended with a sense of finality about it. Where could the joke possibly go from there? It would’ve been easy enough to start Season Seven with the Blacks gone from the show, and out of Larry’s life, explained away by a couple lines of dialogue between Larry and Jeff. But the show doesn’t take the easy way out, and instead the first two episodes showcase his attempts to get Loretta (Vivica A. Fox) out of his life for good. When she’s diagnosed with cancer, he crafts what seems to be a foolproof scheme, which in the end of course fails. Lucky for Larry, a series of contrived misunderstandings involving “Vehicular Fellatio” lead to the swift exit of Loretta and the rest of the Blacks, save for Leon (J.B. Smoove), who doesn’t really seem to care that his family has moved away. And thank goodness for that, because we really, really like Leon. As far as I’m concerned, he and Larry can end up in a rest home together, should this series ever end.

Read the rest of this DVD review by clicking here and visiting Bullz-Eye.