Great Movies
TV/Streaming
Home Entertainment Guide: September 2023
A guide to the latest and greatest on streaming and physical media, including Elemental, Past Lives, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and a Criterion edition of Moonage Daydream.
A guide to the latest and greatest on streaming and physical media, including Elemental, Past Lives, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and a Criterion edition of Moonage Daydream.
An appreciation of the fifth season of the Paramount+ drama The Good Fight, which ends today.
What the writers of RogerEbert.com have been watching while being stuck at home.
New films on Blu-ray and streaming, including BlacKkKlansman, Teen Titans Go! To the Movies, and The Incredibles 2.
A tribute to the late Oscar-winning filmmaker, Milos Forman.
What should be nominated for Emmys this year? Let us guide the way.
Picks for the best of the 2013-14 television season, in the form of a Dream Emmy ballot.
August 15 marks the 20th anniversary of the debut of "The Larry Sanders Show," episodes of which are available on Netflix Instant, Amazon Instant, iTunes, and DVD. This is the first part of Edward Copeland's extensive tribute to the show, including interviews with many of those involved in creating one of the best-loved comedies in television history.
by Edward Copeland
Over the course of my lifetime, I've watched a lot of movies -- an old computer contained a program with an editable database of titles and allowed for the addition of new films. Back when I used that PC, my total hovered in the thousands. "The Larry Sanders Show" produced a mere 89 episodes in its six season run from 1992-1998 that began 20 years ago tonight on HBO. "I know it sounds cliché but -- honest to God -- it seems like it was just about a week ago. It's so odd that it's 20 years," Jeffrey Tambor said in a telephone interview.
Despite the vast disparity between the quantity of films I've viewed and "Larry Sanders" episodes, when I recently took part in The House Next Door's "If I Had a Sight & Sound Film Ballot" series, I found it far easier to prune those pictures down to my ten favorites than I did when I applied the same task to "Larry Sanders" episodes. (Picking a clip or two from each show proved even more difficult as inevitably I'd want to include the entire half-hour.) Three or four episodes I knew had to be on the list, but then it got tough. I considered making a list of the best episode for each character such as the best Brian episode ("Putting the 'Gay' Back in Litigation"), the best Beverly ("Would You Do Me a Favor?"), the best Phil ("Headwriter"), etc. With all the priceless episodes centering on Hank and Artie, I imagined those two characters conceivably filling all ten spots alone.
A series that broke as much ground as "The Larry Sanders Show" deserves a grander tribute to mark the two decades since its birth than just a recounting of a handful of episodes -- and I had that intention. Unfortunately, my physical limitations and time constraints thwarted my ambitions. Rest assured though, that salute shall be forthcoming (MESSAGE TO BOB ODENKIRK: YOU STILL CAN TAKE PART NOW). As with any list, I'm certain my fellow "Larry Sanders" fans shall express outrage at my omissions (I already hear the shouts of "Where is the one with Carol Burnett and the spiders?" "No 'Hank's Sex Tape!' Hey now!"). Believe me, I'm as livid as you are and may join in the comments to give myself the thorough tongue-lashing I so richly deserve for these unforgivable exclusions. First, though, I'm going to fix myself a Salty Dog, using Artie's recipe of course. I want to be able to grab those olives, not fish for them. So, for good or ill, I submit my selections for my ten favorite episodes of "The Larry Sanders Show." Since bestowing ranks only leads to more trouble, I present these ten in chronological order:
`Hey, these are new carrots," James Caan said, grabbing one and chewing on it. "Not the old carrots we had before. You stick them in that stuff, though, you undo all of the good." He looked sternly at a bowl of sour cream dip. He had a bandage around the arm he was using to eat the carrots, and I asked him what had happened, and he said nothing, stupid football thing, not worth talking about. So I made a note of that. There is hardly anything that James Caan thinks is not worth talking about.
