MovieChat Forums > The Larry Sanders Show (1992) Discussion > 4 Least Favorite Episodes??

4 Least Favorite Episodes??

posted 15 years ago by therealamericanbeauty
16 replies | jump to latest

I'll start off by saying that I absolutely LOVE this show. This show and Seinfeld are my two favorite shows of all time. It would be super hard to pick my four favorite episodes, but honestly, not too hard to pick my four least favorite, mainly because there are only four episodes I do not love. My 4 least favorite are:

1. Arthur After Hours (Season 4, Episode 3)- This is a really weird episode. Sometimes that works for shows to have a very unique episode that is slightly more dramatic, but this one just didn't work for me. Spending most of the episode watching Artie after everyone's gone singing and drinking was really not funny and with Larry and Hank hardly in it, it is hard for it to be that good of an episode. The stuff with the Russian janitor was just weird and really awkward. Basically, TLSS doesn't do dramatic very well.

2. Beverly and the Prop Job (Season 4, Episode 14)- To use someone as hilarious as Paul Mooney and make his character completely unfunny is crazy. They made him jerky, racist, and annoying, They did not give him one funny line. And the fact that Beverly automatically is so gullible to think that all her co-workers are racist when she has known them for years was just silly and unrealistic. Her nagging about race the whole episode was pretty annoying. Again, not very funny of an episode.

3. Larry's Partner (Season 2, Episode 10)- This episode is one of the few others that are more serious than a usual episode and this one in particular deals with many issues (betrayal, jealousy, guilt, alcoholism) and shows Larry as a guy so ridden with guilt that he has to be the "good" guy and try to help his loser ex-partner. Sorry, but I prefer my Larry to be whiny, with low self-esteem and pompous. Seeing Larry turn off his real personality to try to help a guy who doesn't deserve it was unappealing and just made for a weak episode over all.

4. Headwriter (Season 3, Episode 9)- Phil was a character I usually liked a lot, but his smugness and arrogance wasn't amusing in this episode where he thinks he is God for getting a promotion. The entire episode is about him and again, Larry and Hank are not in it much at all. Also, The Piano sketch that takes up five minutes of the episode was really stupid and not funny at all (and I have actually seen the film).

Overall, I realized that any episode that doesn't have Larry in it much or has Beverly in it too much are ones that I don't care for (the one episode where she spends the whole episode bitching about how Larry doesn't appreciate her was also not the best one, but it wasn't as bad as these four). I mean, even the worst episode of Larry Sanders is better than the best for 99% of other shows, but I was curious to know which ones you guys think are the weakest of this amazing show??

[–] fernandobouregard 14 years ago

You're wrong about everything. You think the episodes that don't feature Larry too much are the worst? "Hank's Night in the Sun" is one of the best episodes of the series, Shandling's personal favorite. And the show does handle drama very well. Some of the show's best moments are dramatic.

"Arthur After Hours" is amazing, great performance by Rip Torn. "Larry's Partner" was also very good.

[–] Doom 14 years ago

I agree 'Arthur After Hours' is kind of an 'off' episode, no doubt, but I still enjoy it, because I think Rip Torn is so damn great...

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[–] therealamericanbeauty 14 years ago

Hank's Night in the Sun is one of my favorites as well. There aren't too many that don't have a lot of Larry and some of those are weaker. Not all. I love Hank's Night in the Sun. My list of the 4 weakest are just my opinion. I see that you don't agree, but the way you said it was unnecessary. Keep in mind I absolutely adore the show. Geez.

[–] Doom 14 years ago

For me, Hank's Night in the Sun is great because Tambor is so incredible at playing Hank as a complete and total selfish prick. For years, just seeing Tambor in anything else kind of got under my skin because he was SO good at playing the jerk on this show.

I think it finally took seeing him on Arrested Development to snap me out of it.

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[–] therealamericanbeauty 14 years ago

You know what's weird? The first thing I saw Tambor in was in the Tales from the Crypt episode with Demi Moore where he is the psycho, obese pig who she marries for his money. He is SOOO different and gross in that episode that I honestly blocked that out when I got into Larry Sanders (which was admittedly later since it had already been on for a few seasons). If you haven't seen that TFTC episode, I really suggest you check it out. It'll be so weird for you seeing Hank in that kind of role.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0394934/

[–] swivelgranpaboy 14 years ago

The only one that really comes to mind is the 'Phil is gay' episode - not the premise, but in the way it ended, just bizarre and cheap for a program of this stature to be producing.

[–] therealamericanbeauty 14 years ago

LOL. I totally see where you are coming from. I watched it when it premiered on television and was utterly shocked at that ending. But for some odd reason it didn't bother me; the more I looked back on it, the more it was funny. But that might be b/c I thought Brian wearing those shorts earlier on was hilarious.

[–] skiop 13 years ago

I loved that episode. Seeing Phil and Brian make out really made my day.

[–] robin-jones-1 14 years ago

Yes good call on all 4 of those ep's, not the greatest - and yes, Night in the sun is an absolute classic, of course.

[–] CanSteve3 14 years ago

The Fantas pen episode was a little weak, I thought, despite some good moments.

And I could have done without the Litigaytion ep, especially the ending. All along Phil is this drunken womanizer, and suddenly he ends up kissing Brian? That was done for shock value, and it marred the tone of the show.

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[–] skiop 13 years ago

I think it worked. Phil was drunk, remorseful, and vulnerable. I loved the ending; that was so hot! And it was no more "shocking" than the shows and movies in which a gay guy is hurt and ends up sleeping with a woman.

[–] HaroldCarter 14 years ago

I didn't care as much for the episodes that heavily featured Roseanne. And I would agree with the Arthur After Hours one, not being one of the better ones.

[–] skiop 13 years ago

I agree with #1 absolutely. I really didn't care for seasons 2 and 6 in general. When I think of worsts, it's the episode from season 1 where Jeannie is threatening to go back to Chicago and Larry has to talk to her on the commercial breaks; that's definitely my least favorite.

[–] friskyporcupine 13 years ago

The episode where Larry is sick and Hank guest-hosts is probably my least favorite episode. It's a hilarious episode, it's just that watching Hank bomb the second night greatly upsets me.

[–] j-curll 13 years ago

You notice how Phil becomes a huge, smug, arrogant ass hole after he gets the headwriting gig. I really didn't like him after that. In fact, he worked much better with Piven. Shame he left.

She's like a young Bo Derek stuffed with a Barry Goldwater.

[–] mfoley84 12 years ago

The one with Brett Butler on the show, and Paula feeling awkward around her and waiting for a cancer diagnosis, and apparently the two had an affair when Paula was in college in the 80s was a poorly written episode in my opinion. It just seemed like such filler. It just seemed so forced and trite.