[The Jewish Cunthead]

I'll admit I'm biased towards Curb but I can't see voting against it for most of this showdown. David is the master of creating the uncomfortable and awkward situation.

(4) Curb Your Enthusiasm


vs.

(61) How I Met Your Mother



Voting ends 10/24

[Lucky]

fsolomon75 said:

I'll admit I'm biased towards Curb but I can't see voting against it for most of this showdown. David is the master of creating the uncomfortable and awkward situation.

Weird thing? I hate the uncomfortable and awkward situation. It makes me feel uncomfortable and awkward. I reel a lot of time during those scenes where the character is getting horribly embarassed.

I think his is a Hot Chick Showdown.

[Batman]

Damn, I was going to say the same thing. Therefore, I hate most sitcoms and only nominated like ten shows.

I've never seen either show, but fuck awkward situations, and fuck premium channels. And isn't Doogie on Mother? I gotta vote for the Doog.

[The Canadian Content]

Not only is Doogie on the show, but he's fucking funny on the show. As is "Marshall," who's one of Seth Rogen's buddies in Knocked Up. It's a good show. Vote for it.

[The Jewish Cunthead]

Some Curb clips - I love that's totally improv.

Larry buys weed off Hurley -
Huge vagina -
The doll -
Get in that ass -
Larry & Leon mix up phones -

[DevSop]

Tex, vote here for Mother.

[williamssl]

devilsoprano said:

Tex, vote here for Mother.

Done.

[Batman]

Frick:

[punk/core]

Seriously, everyone? Jesus Christ... I can't wait later on in the showdowns when Arrested Development loses to Home Improvement and The Simpsons lose to Family Matters.

[The Jewish Cunthead]

What Punker said. This would suck if Curb loses to a run-of-the-mill sitcom because of vote trading or a hatred for premium channels or whatever.

[The Canadian Content]

In my case, I voted for a show I enjoy over a guy I find utterly unfunny. I've never seen the appeal of David's humour.

[Batman]

Hatred of premium channels = can't afford premium channels = never saw the show = don't believe some TV show is actually worth spending extra money on.

I just think that a lot of folks over-rate how well HBO shows can possibly do against network shows. I mean, cable was split off from network in drama because DevSop thought that the network dramas wouldn't stand a chance against da Sopranos. I really think it's the other way around.

Psycho's seen both and likes one and dislikes the other. But I think a lot of voters were more like me: Mother's OK--or I've never seen it but, hey it's got Doogie in it, that's cool--versus a show that I can't try and see if I'll like it without paying for it, and seems to take itself awfully seriously (or is taken awfully seriously by its fans) for a fucking sitcom.

[punk/core]

I see it a different way, Serg. Curb is smart, funny and different. How I Met Your Mother... I mean, I've seen it a few times. I wouldn't call it terrible, but I wouldn't exactly go out of my way to watch it, either. It's just another cookie cutter, formulaic sitcom that could be interchanged with most others on TV.

[DevSop]

Except that it's not. Mother is really quite good and has some great characters. Neil Patrick Harris' Barney is on par with the funniest characters on tv. Alyson Hannigan's Lily and Jason Segal's Marshall are playing one of the best quirky couples on television. Hannigan, is in my opinion, just a brilliant comedic actress with terrific timing and facial expressions/body language. And the concept of the show, I think is fascinating. They're spending all this time leading up to what we know is the ending...the meeting of the mother...but there are twists along the way.

Beyond all that, is the fact that the show may be the best I've seen at establishing things and following through. The continuity of things like the Slap Bet, the Blue Trumpet, the Pineapple Incident...just a great series of running gags that don't just last one episode but have gone on since season one. And that's not even taking into account the AWESOME Robin Sparkles episode.



Beyond that and just for Lucky and his Hot Chick decision.

Alyson Hannigan:


Cobie Smulders:

[Stu]

I'm not saying How I Met Your Mother isn't good, as I've not watched it, but the premise makes it sound like the main character is really up himself.

In the year 2030, Ted Mosby (voiced by Bob Saget) gathers his daughter and son to tell them the story of how he met their mother. The story begins in 2005 with Ted (Josh Radnor) as a single, 27-year-old architect living with his two best friends from college, Marshall Eriksen (Jason Segel), a law student, and Lily Aldrin (Alyson Hannigan), a kindergarten teacher, who have been dating for almost nine years when Marshall proposes. Their engagement causes Ted to think about marriage and finding his soul mate, much to the disgust of his friend Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris), a womanizer with a lucrative, though unnamed, corporate job. Ted begins his search for his perfect mate. He is introduced to the ambitious young reporter Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders), when Barney plays the game he invented to introduce Ted to women: "Hi, have you met Ted?" Ted quickly falls for Robin and she becomes part of Ted's group of friends.

At the end of the pilot episode, Ted announces that the title mother is not Robin, which is confirmed in the second season finale. As of September 2007, the identity of the mother has not yet been revealed. The first episode of season 3 hinted that the meeting between Ted and the mother was due to the latter losing her yellow umbrella and Ted intervening. At the end of this episode it shows a street overhead with one person walking holding a yellow umbrella surrounded by black umbrellas, possibly a reference to the event.

So, this guy, rather than just get to the point where he's met the mother, is going to turn the whole thing into a massive SAGA, where he spends 2 seasons talking about stuff that doesn't have anything to do with the meeting, and is able to recall this with perfect clarity and attention to detail? While the incidents told about could no doubt be interesting and hilarious, basing a show's hook on waiting for the guy to get the fucking point of his story makes it seem like the sitcom equivalent of Lost.

At the end of the pilot episode, Ted announces that the title mother is not Robin,

Announces it to who? Cos I'm pretty sure his kids ought to know their mother isn't named Robin.

[DevSop]

Announced it to the audience in that he tells his kids that's how he met their "Aunt Robin."

And it seems like a saga because the show would end if he met the mother in the very first episode. It's more about what a person has to do and become in order to be ready for meeting that person. It's about meeting that woman you thought would be the love of your life (Robin) and then realizing that maybe she's not THE ONE. And then there's the stage of dating alot of the wrong girls while you're having fun before getting to the point where meeting "HER" just happens.

And all quick blurbs about shows make them seem like less than they are. Does the premise for Curb say it's about the creator of Seinfelf trying to recapture past glory in a horribly funny show? I doubt it because it probably has some quality to it...I may have never seen it, but people have.

[Chris Eco]

punkerhardcore said:

I see it a different way, Serg. Curb is smart, funny and different. How I Met Your Mother... I mean, I've seen it a few times. I wouldn't call it terrible, but I wouldn't exactly go out of my way to watch it, either. It's just another cookie cutter, formulaic sitcom that could be interchanged with most others on TV.

If a formula is done really well, it doesn't matter that it's a formula. Besides, awkward and uncomfortable is also a formula. A crappy one.

[Lucky]

Never seen a second of the show. Harris never did much for me and I really don't see what Dev sees in Hannigan at all. I wouldn't recognize the rest of them if I bumped into them on the street. And until now I don't think I've ever heard anyone talk up the show outside of some praise for Harris' character as one of the best on TV. But I figured he sounds similar enough to other sarcastic, cynical characters being VERY well done on TV these days that I didn't need to track it down.

But the premise is interesting. And I don't think its insulting to drag out the actual meeting of the mother. It needs to get some time out of the show. And a 5 year courtship of the same woman just makes for boring TV. Again, never saw it. If they revealed that this "Robin" wasn't "her" in the pilot but spent 2 seasons on her that seems odd. But I do think its nice that she apparently remained part of the "family." It sounds like a premise with basic awkward moments written into the design. I guess how good it is what determines if those awkward moments are worth it or not. I mean, why his dad telling us about years of his life before he met mom? I guess to try and show us when he "grew up" and started to get to a place where he COULD find the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Not insulting, just awkward.

But again, never saw. And I watched at least the first full season of Curb and it never did much for me at all. Never thought all that much of Seinfeld either. It was an amusing show but not one I loved at all. Curb has its moments (or did when I was watching) and I was generally satisfied when I finished watching an episode. But it didn't entertain me enough to make me come back the next season or inspire me to track down episodes and catch up in the years since.

And while I think Serg has some weird anti-premium channel thing going and may actually be underrating HBO and its like I DO agree that HBO and cable in general is inherently overrated. Especially when it comes to comedies. That being said Curb could be a network show with some very basic and minor adjustments and I'd still think it fairly amusing but nothing worth writing home about.

So I guess I'm voting Hot Chicks. Even though Mother's hot chicks aren't changing my world or anything (although Hannigan looks MUCH better than she did in her Buffy days). They beat Larry's wife and Wanda Sykes.

[creepy]

My Paw-In-Law seems to be alot like Larry David in the show. The simalarities are astounding, so I voted Curbed. Plus, Curbed is funny to me in that Leave it to Beaver kind of way. Guy starts to get into trouble. Guy has to get out of said potential trouble. Guy fails and gets in trouble. It's pretty much classic.



So, I've seen an episode or two of How I Met and it was ok. But my problem with How I Met.... is, Is this guy telling his kids about all of these chicks that he was banging all the years before he met their Mom? So they find out that Dad banged Aunt Robin? Again, I haven't seen that much of the show, but I don't think I'm gonna talk to my kids about all of the "girls their Dad used to be friendly with". And I don't think many people would, either.



Oh, and those chicks aren't that hot.

[Stu]

I think Curb is good because it's not just about the awkwardness. A lot of the time, Larry is actually RIGHT about something, and is sticking with his principles, but it's just that in typical social situations, it's not acceptable for him to be so stubborn about it. Plus, I really find Cheryl in that show to be the most easily hateable character, because she's often taking other people's sides against him or is the one getting him into situations in the first place (like when she made him fire the cable guy, and Wanda comes around to accuse him of doing so because he's black, and Cheryl doesn't say it was her that made him do it). At least Geoff's wife is pretty open about how much he hates Larry.

[chrisisadad4308]

HIMYM is possibly my favorite sitcom on TV right now. Its what Friends could have been if Friends was a show for everybody instead of a show for your girlfriend. Its one of the few sitcoms I've ever seen where all five characters are immediately and consistently likable. It is a show that anyone can pick up at any point and enjoy, but people who have been there from the beginning are rewarded with lots of winks and nods toward earlier events, and that helps establish that these people are really a group of friends and not a bunch of actors taking us from point A to point B. Sometimes when one character makes a joke they'll cut to a shot of another character laughing, which is a little annoying but also drives home the point that these guys are all buddies. Anybody in the "I've never seen it" camp, pick up season one. You won't be disappointed, nor is it a "cookie-cutter" type sitcom, because I firmly believe there's nothing else like it out there.

As for Curb, I've never seen it, so I can't say much about it, but its also never struck me as something I feel that I need to see. As best as I can gather, its a show about a guy who puts himself and others in uncomfortable situations. I have lots of friends and my parents for that. I watch TV to escape.

[Pun]

Lucky posted some clips of Scrubs, so I figure I would do the same for How I Met Your Mother, in case anyone is still undecided.

Ted teaching Barney how to drive.

Slap bet.

Best of Barney Pt. 1

Best of Barney Pt. 2

Harris' Barney is one of the funniest characters on TV right now. I'm very surprised he didn't get an Emmy nod. Barney makes you completely forget that Harris is gay.

[The Jewish Cunthead]

14 of you are FILL IN THE BLANK.

[DevSop]

SMART....smart is the correct answer.

[Krydor]

9 of us are Brights.