Curb Your Enthusiasm

It’s fitting that the most acute way COVID would hit Larry’s life is through an opportunity to yell at an old friend for bulking up on hand sanitizer — the smaller the issue, the bigger the laugh.

David’s decision to largely put the pandemic in the rearview fits perfectly with the tone of the series, which has always shoved aside life’s bigger and more realistic problems and focused on the frustrating aggravations of minutiae. ... Even though tension, conflict, loud voices, and fury erupt from the screen, this display holds, for some (and I count myself in this group, so help me), a great catharsis, even comfort.

“The Five-Foot Fence" gets Season 11 started on the right track with a season that is still surprising, engaging, and hysterical after all these years. At this point, Curb Your Enthusiasm isn’t just prettay prettay good, it’s prettay prettay damn near flawless.

Scattered among the 42-minute premiere are big laughs from veteran players and superb guest stars.

While the last few seasons of Curb Your Enthusiasm can’t match the consistency of its earlier ones, there are always funny moments when Larry complains about something and/or he gets his comeuppance for his grouchiness. In the first episode of Season 11, there’s both, plus a promising new season-long arc. That’s more than enough for us.