I've seen just about every episode of the Larry Sanders Show on HBO, usually late at night. I'm dissapointed that so far they've only released the first season, and have no plans to release any more. The Larry Sanders Show is one of the funniest television shows I've ever seen. It's not that the writing is always great, or that all of the performances are flawless. The main humor comes out of the relationship between the three main characters: Larry Sanders (Garry Shandling), the show's producer Artie (Rip Torn), and the side-kick Hank (Jeffrey Tambor).
The first season is not the greatest, but there is a lot to like here. In "Spiders," Carol Burnett and others are treated to a glimpse of Larry's package. "Out of the Loop" finds Larry trying to get involved in the private lives of his co-workers, despite Artie's careful work to keep him uninvolved. The best is the last episode of the season, "Hey Now," in which Larry asks Hank to stop using the catchphrase.
What doesn't work? The show was still trying to find it's rhythm, so even usually reliable people don't really stand out - Janeane Garofalo as the talent booker and Jeremy Piven as the head writer, are fine, but never really shine (except Piven's pitch for a show called "Bad Luck Kitty" starring Tony Danza). Dana Carvey as "The Guest Host" doesn't come across as the amazing host that everyone claims he is. ?And some of the plots, like the in-show advertising for the Garden Weasel, just don't pan out to anything funny.
Bottom Line: When it's great, it's really, really great.
TheTechs
This DVD is preety poorly put together. I want to excuse it by saying that it's an early DVD, but there are plenty of earlier DVDs that are much better. The menus are just plain ugly, and the individual episodes are not numbered in the menus (they are numbered on the tiny insert that comes with the disk), so it can be a little confusing trying to figure ot what order to watch them in. This is compunded by the fact that there is no option to play all of the episodes, which seems pretty standard for television shows on DVD nowadays.
The video quality is also pretty bad. It looks like a VHS transfer, which it may well be. There aren't any audio options, but that's no big deal for a show with no flashy sound design.
The Extras
Almost nothing. There's a pretty good (but short) interview with Garry Shandling, and that is it. Really, there's nothing else. I hope that if they release more seasons that they'll get more people in for commentaries, or retrospectives,
Overall
Despite the spotty quality of the season, the lack of extras, and the quality of the video, I have to recommend this set. Not just because sales might make HBO decide to release more seasons (which would be great), but just because the performances of the three main guys are so damned good they make the whole show worth watching.