"The Larry Sanders Show" (1992) TV series 1992-1998

User Rating:

8.7/10   

Creators:

Dennis Klein
Garry Shandling

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

Release Date:

15 August 1992 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Talk-Show

Plot:

A comedic behind the scenes look at a late night talk show.

Plot Keywords:

Sitcom | Television | Gay Personal Assistant | Cameo Appearance | Movie Business

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Golden Globes. Another 24 wins & 83 nominations

Cast

Garry Shandling	...	Larry Sanders (89 episodes, 1992-1998)
Jeffrey Tambor	...	Hank Kingsley (89 episodes, 1992-1998)
Rip Torn	...	Arthur (89 episodes, 1992-1998)
Wallace Langham	...	Phil (75 episodes, 1992-1998)
Penny Johnson	...	Beverly Barnes (70 episodes, 1992-1998)
Janeane Garofalo	...	Paula (49 episodes, 1992-1997)

Runtime:

30 min (89 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Singapore:M18 (season 1) | USA:TV-MA

Filming Locations:

CBS Studio Center - 4024 Radford Avenue, Studio City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Brillstein-Grey Entertainment

Trivia:

Garry Shandling wanted to cast singer Natalie Merchant in a recurring role in the final season of the show but she turned the part down.

Quotes:

Arthur: Your fly is undone.
Larry: Oh, thanks.
Arthur: Just doing my job.
Larry: It's your job to look at my crotch?
Arthur: I consider it one of my perks.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Influences: From Yesterday to Today (1999) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Love Guarantee

No flipping on this one.

Good news villagers, rejoice, for The Larry Sanders Show is now syndicated on our local NBC here in Detroit and on Bravo from 10-11 with the replay at 12-1 every night, huzzah. Wait, what is the Larry Sanders show you ask? Well, I shall tell you.

The Larry Sanders Show is a show about the production of the most generic late night talk show possible, if you're wondering why a lot of people are saying the show is brilliant but the "show within a show" portions suck, that's what they're intended to do. The show exposes how pre-fab and bad talk shows really are, and makes us feel bad for ever tuning into one. It's a form of satire that made me appreciate That's My Bush and it's knocks on sitcoms.

The characters are what make this special, even though a lot of the supporting players changed over the years. Larry is neurotic and unstable and is, as one episode put it, "out of the loop", he always seems to get everything last. Hank is Larry's TV sidekick who greatly overestimates his own worth and constantly makes a fool out of himself, it's hard to decide whether to feel sorry for him or to laugh at what a fool he is, Tambor plays his role absolutely perfectly and it's always funny to hear one of the celebrities screw up his name or to hear his laments about his position on the show. Artie, the producer, is a two faced jerk who you can't help but love, he spews profanities and insults out of one side of his mouth and sucks up incessantly out of the other.

Real celebrities appear on this show and the "show within a show" portions are shot on film, as to provide for more realism. Oh, and if you ever wondered what the celebrities and the host talk about when they cut away for commercial break but still appear to be babbling away, this show lets you in on a bit of that with some rather hilarious conversation.

The show is not only excellent satire, it's well acted and incredibly funny. My favorite episode is Hank's Contract which is the funniest episode centered on Hank and what respect the rest of the cast and crew hold him in.

The profanities are edited out of the Bravo version with audio deletion in lieu of bleeps, which i was very very very disappointed about. I don't live and die around cuss words, but it totally destroys a character like Artie's diction, this show, however, would still be better than 99.9% of what's currently on TV if it had half it's dialogue deleted.