There are a lot of ways in which a person can make the argument that Curb Your Enthusiasm is as good as Seinfeld if not better. One of the biggest arguments is that Curb is on HBO whereas Seinfeld never made it that far. What this means is that Curb could move past the boundaries that Seinfeld never did as far as language, content, and overall subject matter that audiences enjoyed. Essentially they’re both shows about absolutely nothing, meaning that there’s no driving plot and no central idea to the whole thing. But somehow people were attracted to both shows partly because of this and partly because of the characters.
Both shows seem to approach life in a very neurotic, apathetic way at times that speaks about a life that is spent bemoaning the moment rather than living in it. There are plenty of positive moments within each show that manage to allow the characters to develop and mature. The only problem is that most of the characters never seem to do that as they continue roll along with the script and remain their same, cynical selves. Curb however gets a little bit more of a nod since the show was able to deal with more humanistic problems and situations that Seinfeld couldn’t thanks to its restrictions.
There were a few episodes in which Seinfeld got just a little raunchy such as vaginal sponges and masturbation, but nothing ever went so far as to make people truly uncomfortable and if it did then those folks likely couldn’t handle Curb. In that kind of regard it feels almost unfair to compare the two since Curb was able to go further with its material than Seinfeld was allowed. But judging them just by the content and the manner in which it was delivered, Curb is every bit as good as Seinfeld since its dry and witty humor tends to leave people wide-eyed and wondering if they just heard what they thought they heard. That was one of the draws of Seinfeld for the longest time until people started getting used to the shock of hearing and seeing certain things on network TV that hadn’t been done or said before.
Both shows have kind of helped raise the bar for the shock value of TV and have done so in a very comedic fashion that has elevated them into the public consciousness by way of allowing them to get away with whatever is possible on their respective networks. Seinfeld can’t go to the same lengths as Curb but it didn’t need to since so many people loved the show the way it was and didn’t need the added language or content. Curb did the same thing but it had the opportunity to extend its boundaries and really kick the game into high gear since it didn’t have to watch what was said or fear the FCC all that much. It had its limits but they weren’t much in comparison to what Seinfeld had to deal with.
Follow Us
