‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’s’ ‘Larry David’ is selling a new show … to Netflix?

By Brian Lowry, CNN

Larry David has spent the last 21 years working for HBO. But in the world of “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” even “Larry David” is selling a show to Netflix.

The Netflix subplot was just one part of the 11th-season premiere of the series, which as usual found David’s sitcom alter ego dealing with various indignities and irritations, from a friend who wouldn’t pay back a debt (others told him to back off because of the guy’s early-onset dementia) to fellow comic Albert Brooks deciding to host a “funeral” for himself, allowing people to toast him while he’s still alive, and Jon Hamm (again playing himself) to try speaking Yiddish. (Brooks’ older brother, Bob Einstein, appeared regularly on “Curb” before his death in 2019.)

David also experienced a problem in his relatively new relationship with Lucy Liu, the latest considerably-younger actress to come into his orbit, after walking into a sliding-glass door, causing her to see him more as a feeble old man than a potential romantic partner.

Still, perhaps the most eyebrow-raising wrinkle involved David pitching a comedy about a younger version of himself to HBO’s rival, Netflix, whose executives were eager to buy it. Of course, there were immediate hiccups, with David pushing for an unqualified actress to be cast in order to make a potential lawsuit go away, and the notoriously prickly writer-producer telling executives they’d get along fine as long as nobody tried to give him notes about what to do.

In the past, David’s fictional commercial endeavors — such as Mel Brooks casting him in “The Producers” — have run throughout entire seasons, meaning that Netflix could be receiving plenty of marquee time on the HBO series. (Like CNN, HBO is a unit of WarnerMedia.)

As Variety chief media analyst Andrew Wallenstein tweeted, “Can’t imagine WarnerMedia is thrilled the new ‘Curb’ episode features Larry David’s ‘character’ selling a show to Netflix.”

So how does HBO feel about that? Network representatives declined to comment. But it seems like a pretty good sign that HBO doesn’t give the real Larry David a whole lot of notes either.

The-CNN-Wire
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