TMC
09-21-2016, 05:20 PM
http://www.avclub.com/article/5-episodes-highlight-biting-backstage-humor-larry--242328
HBO’s sublime Larry Sanders Show managed to look both forward and backward at television history. Not only did it feature a conceited man at the center of his own show-within-a-show, like Jack Benny and Dick Van Dyke’s series had years before, but it also preceded the sharp, caustic backstage looks at showbiz subsequently seen in 30 Rock and Sports Night. Larry Sanders landed somewhere between those two extremes, and then took a turn for the jugular: an always-funny series that poked vicious fun at late-night Hollywood lunacy, while crafting some kind of actual relationships between people that seemed to be addicted to artifice.
Soon after Garry Shandling died earlier this year at the age of 66, HBO Go announced that Larry Sanders would finally be available for streaming. To help kick off inevitable future binge-watchers, five A.V. Club writers offer their favorite places to dive into the darkly funny backstage world of Larry Sanders; starting with Jeffrey Tambor’s Hank Kingsley, apparently, is never a bad idea.
HBO’s sublime Larry Sanders Show managed to look both forward and backward at television history. Not only did it feature a conceited man at the center of his own show-within-a-show, like Jack Benny and Dick Van Dyke’s series had years before, but it also preceded the sharp, caustic backstage looks at showbiz subsequently seen in 30 Rock and Sports Night. Larry Sanders landed somewhere between those two extremes, and then took a turn for the jugular: an always-funny series that poked vicious fun at late-night Hollywood lunacy, while crafting some kind of actual relationships between people that seemed to be addicted to artifice.
Soon after Garry Shandling died earlier this year at the age of 66, HBO Go announced that Larry Sanders would finally be available for streaming. To help kick off inevitable future binge-watchers, five A.V. Club writers offer their favorite places to dive into the darkly funny backstage world of Larry Sanders; starting with Jeffrey Tambor’s Hank Kingsley, apparently, is never a bad idea.