The HBOcomedy television seriesCurb Your Enthusiasm premiered with an hour-long special on October 17, 1999. It was followed by a ten-episode first season that began airing on HBO on October 15, 2000. The series was created by Larry David, who stars as a fictionalized version of himself. The series follows Larry in his life as a semi-retired television writer and producer in Los Angeles. Also starring are Cheryl Hines as his wife, Cheryl; Jeff Garlin as his manager, Jeff; and Susie Essman as Jeff's wife, Susie. Curb Your Enthusiasm features numerous celebrity guest star appearances, fictionalized to varying degrees. In June 2020, the series was renewed for an eleventh season.
Series overview
Episodes
Special (1999)
Season 1 (2000)
The first season introduces us to Larry's post-Seinfeld world, where he is wealthy, has a loving wife, a best friend, and also manages to offend everyone around him. It is not long into the series though that we realize that Larry David is his own worst enemy. He is accused of having an adultery-implying erection because of his extremely baggy trousers that bunch up when he sits down; feuding with a shoe salesman; getting blamed for a newspaper typo after submitting an obituary for Cheryl's aunt; reacting offensively to drinking from his friend's mother's glass; and unintentionally causing someone to believe that his uncle is an incestuous pedophile. Although this season has no major arc, there is a small one of Larry trying to obtain a bracelet to give to Cheryl and another small two-episode arc involving Larry and Cheryl trying to have a wire that runs through their backyard removed.
Larry David pursues a new television project, first with Jason Alexander, and then Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Based on Alexander's frustration with his own post-Seinfeld career/life, the premise is about an actor who starred in a megahit sitcom who finds it difficult to maintain a steady career afterward because of the public's perception of typecasting. Larry pitches the idea to various networks, but eventually ends up alienating or offending everyone he makes a deal with, and anyone else attached to the project.
Season 3 (2002)
Larry joins a restaurant venture with a group of investors; among them are Ted Danson and Michael York. A few sub-plots involve Larry being cast in a Martin Scorsese movie; an on again, off again feud with Stu and Susan Braudy; and Larry getting a pubic hair stuck in his throat.
Larry's friend, comedian Richard Lewis, is in dire need of a kidney transplant operation. Purely out of paranoid guilt, Larry offers one of his own to Richard if Richard cannot find a suitable donor in time. Larry then makes many concerted, ridiculous efforts to find Richard another kidney donor. Larry explores the possibility that he may have been adopted, because of a potentially misunderstood word his father said while in the hospital—Larry hires a private investigator to look into it. Eventually, he discovers the "truth" and visits his potential biological family, where he learns that he could be a Gentile. His new faith in Christianity makes him agree to donating Richard his kidney.
Larry and Loretta are now in a relationship, which Larry soon realizes isn't working for him. Loretta is diagnosed with cancer and breaks up with Larry because she thinks he's cheating on her. She and the rest of the family leave Larry's home—except for Leon, who stays with him. When Larry runs into Cheryl for the first time since last season, he learns that she appreciated him more when he had a job, so he accepts NBC's offer for a Seinfeld reunion show to give her a part in it and win her back. Guest stars include: Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander, Michael Richards, Richard Kind, Philip Baker Hall, Rosie O'Donnell, Catherine O'Hara, Elisabeth Shue, Meg Ryan, David Spade, Jillian Bell, Randall Park, and Eric Andre.
Larry incurs a fatwa from the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, after lampooning the Ayatollahs while appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in promotion of his latest, long-awaited project, a comedy musical called Fatwa!, centered on The Satanic Verses controversy, in which Ayatollah Khomeini ordered a fatwa against Salman Rushdie in 1989.
Season 10 (2020)
Larry is accused of sexual harassment by his assistant Alice and his attempts to control the situation only serve to make things worse. At the same time, Larry intends to open his own coffee shop right next to Mocha Joe's out of spite regarding petty grievances.
