Curb, Hard Knocks, Coupling

So since I moved back to Chapel Hill, I've been watching more TV shows than movies. Here are some thoughts... Curb Your Enthusiasm I had seen probably 10-15 episodes of Curb in the past and liked it a lot but didn't love it. But after watching 4 episodes in a row tonight with my roommates + Dan, I can safely say this is easily my second favorite current comedy behind The Office. The humor is very Seinfeldian (I would probably have Seinfeld tied with The Office for my favorite comedy of all time) and since it's Larry David, it feels genuine and original instead of just being a cheap imitation. Basically, if you like Seinfeld, you'll like this show - this is even more true if you're like me and George is your favorite Seinfeld character since Larry David essentially = George Costanza. Hard Knocks I've never watched this training camp/preseason NFL documentary on HBO before and now I regret it big time. It works perfectly on HBO because it's uncensored so you actually get to see what it's really like behind the scenes with an NFL team. The show does an admirable job of focusing on the big picture of the team as a whole while also essentially adding character development by going into more depth on a handful of players, many of them complete unknowns even to a big NFL fan like myself. This year's edition deals with the Kansas City Chiefs, and having no previous allegiance to the Chiefs whatsoever, they are now easily my 2nd favorite team. Coupling This is basically the British, BBC version of Friends but better. I actually like Friends - I laugh almost every time I watch an episode but in general, Coupling steers clear of the cheap laughs that are a Friends staple, instead going for smarter, cleverer comedy, building up (and building upon) jokes for an entire episode in a Seinfeld-esque way. The problem with this is, while the 'big' overarching, episode-long jokes do work more often than not, when they fail, the whole episode is mostly worthless. My other problem is that 1 of the 6 main characters (Jane) sucks pretty bad and another (Steve) isn't the greatest either. Fortunately, there is one consistently hilarious character (Jeff) and the show is always worth watching for his scenes if nothing else.