Summary
- Curb Your Enthusiasm constantly reinvented itself, from retconning characters to losing cast members.
- Susie's role expanded due to her comedic talent, unlocking great storylines with Larry and Jeff.
- The addition of new characters like Marty and Leon brought fresh humor and dynamics to the show.
From retconning characters to losing cast members, Curb Your Enthusiasm faced a lot of major changes over the years – and the Larry David sitcom reinvented itself every time. Curb Your Enthusiasm had to reinvent itself from its very first episode. The show started out as an hour-long special that wasn’t supposed to be the beginning of a series. When HBO expanded Curb Your Enthusiasm to a half-hour series, David had to retool some elements of the special, like Larry and Cheryl having kids, to make it work as a series.
Over the next 12 seasons, Curb Your Enthusiasm was constantly evolving. Susie was given a much smaller role in the early seasons, but that role was expanded when it became clear that she was one of the funniest characters. When Larry and Cheryl got divorced, the show suddenly had the opportunity for dating storylines and new love interests. After the passing of Bob Einstein, a different Funkhouser was brought in to fill the void. Curb Your Enthusiasm never settled into a formula, because its cast and its tone and its format were always changing.
20 Best Curb Your Enthusiasm Episodes Of All Time, Ranked
From "The Doll" to "Palestinian Chicken," Curb Your Enthusiasm has delivered plenty of classic episodes throughout its two decades on the air.
10 Retconning Larry & Cheryl's Kids
Larry's Unseen Kids Were Removed For A Good Reason
When David conceived Curb Your Enthusiasm, it was never meant to be a series. It was originally just a half-hour comedy special with mockumentary vignettes in between footage of Larry’s standup sets. This special had a lot of the elements of what the series would become: Larry is married to Cheryl, his best friend and confidant is his manager Jeff, and all the dialogue is improvised from scene outlines.
But there’s one key difference: in the special, Larry and Cheryl have kids. David has kids, so this was closer to his real life, but when it came to expanding the special into a half-hour series, he made the crucial decision to retcon Larry and Cheryl to be a childless couple. This decision freed up the show’s storytelling, because it wasn’t required to explain where the kids were every week.
9 Giving Susie A Bigger Role
Jeff's Wife Became Far More Prominent From Season 3 Onwards
In the first couple of seasons of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Susie Essman didn’t have a huge role as Jeff’s wife, Susie Greene. She’s only in three episodes in season 1 and two episodes in season 2. But starting from season 3, when it had become clear that she was one of the funniest parts of the show, she started being featured in nearly every episode. Season 2, episode 7, “The Doll,” unlocked the perfect way for the series to utilize Susie.
When Larry and Jeff stole the head from Sammi’s doll, Susie furiously confronted them. This scene established that Susie is extremely volatile, and that Larry and Jeff live in fear of her. Susie’s screaming matches with Larry are one of the best running gags in the show, and it wouldn’t be as great without them.
8 Larry's First Show-Within-A-Show
Larry's In-Universe Productions Made For Perfect Meta Comedy
In the second season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Larry is reunited with Seinfeld star Jason Alexander and they start developing a new sitcom about a TV actor who can’t escape the role that made him famous. After a disagreement with Jason, Larry retools the show as a vehicle for Julia Louis-Dreyfus. This storyline introduced one of the key elements of the series’ meta humor: the show-within-a-show.
David’s fictional life in Curb Your Enthusiasm allowed him to explore ideas for various projects without having to actually commit to them. In season 4, he starred in The Producers on Broadway. In season 7, he reassembled the Seinfeld cast for an in-universe reunion show. In season 9, he wrote a musical comedy about Salman Rushdie’s death sentence. In season 11, he developed an autobiographical series called Young Larry.