This review contains spoilers, click expand to view.
Uh... what's with this low user score? I've been surprised at the user ratings for the other Seasons but this is shocking. I don't see how anyone could hate this Season this much, so like dancingmind, I can only possibly imagine that it's from people who never watched this show and hate how the critics rated it so highly.
Nevertheless, Season 4 of The Larry Sanders Show maintains the quality that we're used to at this point. There's no reboot in store, nor does there need to be. Maybe I stress this too much but this show benefits a ton from being under 20 episodes per Season. Writing 20+ strong episodes per year is a monstrous task that only few creative teams do. With the shorter Seasons, The Larry Sanders Show remains quick and witty, rarely losing its footing.
I say rarely because this Season had probably the weirdest Larry Sanders episode yet. "Beverly and the Prop Job" tells of racism in showbiz... I guess. Between Beverly's odd behaviour and everyone else's general lack of racist attitudes, I'm struggling to find the point of it. And I don't really get Larry's refusal to fire Clyde. I was pretty puzzled after this episode; it did have its moments however.
Other than that, this Season kills it once again with its humour and guest stars. The first of which is Dana Carvey, who appeared as Larry's guest in the first Season. This time, his Saturday Night Live skit ticks off Larry and he tries to hide it. It was super amusing seeing Larry trying his best to not appear to be insulted when he clearly was. Garry Shandling can really nail the character's bumbling speech patterns when he's lying through his teeth. Sometimes it's hard to remember that this is fiction. Otherwise, this episode (called "Hank's New Assistant") saw Scott Thompson settle in to the main cast with ease as Hank's gay assistant, Brian. And, oh boy, was Hank's a-hole meter on here. His constant use of terms like "a gay" and his blatant homophobia reminds us that people are actually like that and how funny it is to laugh at the disdain and misconceptions they hold on to. It's great how we aren't supposed to laugh at Brian, but the erratic behaviour Hank has around him. Though, I'm not sure whether or not I'll miss Darlene in the final two Seasons.
Let's talk more about Hank, shall we? I can't stress enough how outstandingly he is portrayed by Jeffrey Tambor. His brand of prejudice, naivety, and ignorance make us unsure whether or not we should sympathize or hate him. I really got a kick how in "Roseanne's Return", he believes O.J. is innocent because he was nice to him. Evidence be damned. And Phil's argumentative points were awesome.
Of course, lest we forget "Hank's Sex Tape". This is probably the greatest proof on how d*ck jokes can be funny. Plus, it's always entertaining seeing a character pay for their a-holery. Also, "Who'd you have to f*ck to get this?" was a perfect line to cap off the episode.
Artie too is given his chance to shine in "Arthur After Hours". Similar to last Season's Beverly episode, this one shows Artie's psychological health seeing Larry get all the credit for his work. Seeing him drunk with someone with limited English skills and becoming "best friends" with him are some of Rip Torn's best scenes in the show thus far.
Bob Odenkirk and Janeane Garofalo also worked great together in "Conflict of Interest". Their unhealthy relationship was one of the highlights of the Season. This episode even starts out with an amusingly awful song, features Jennifer Aniston, and the credits pop up at the perfect time. Garofalo was solid in the next episode as well, "I Was a Teenage Lesbian". The episode has a very loose fell to it, and I felt it worked fantastically.
Then, Chris Elliot guest stars, and I really loved how his creative vision couldn't be seen by the network. This isn't an inaccurate tale either. Creativity is too often stifled since the safeness of stagnation isn't there. Friends is a perfect thing to look at too, seeing how many similar shows popped up after its success. Bravo on the commentary that is still relevant today, writers.
Before "Beverly's Prop Job", this outstanding four episode stint is concluded with "Larry's Big Idea". Larry and Letterman copying each other is brilliant, and likely accurate in the business. Even more funny was the crew of The Larry Sanders Show unintentionally acting like the the stereotypes that Larry had laid out for them to play in the show.
This show so no signs of slowing down whatsoever. Season 4 of The Larry Sanders Show is as outstanding as ever. I feel bad for the people who haven't watched this show just to refute the critics' points on how amazing this satire is.… Expand
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