Curb Your Enthusiasm returns for a seventh season, and even loyal fans will concede the inevitable déjà vu. But the show has lost none of its bad-taste touch, drawing big laughs from topics such as cancer, mental illness and lyme disease.
As the season opens, Larry David is trying to shake free of Loretta Black (Vivica A. Fox) and her family, while dealing with his separation from wife Cheryl (Cheryl Hines), who is trying to resume her acting career.
David is once again surrounded by familiar faces (Jeff Garlin, Susie Essman, Richard Lewis) and some new ones, including Lewis' latest girlfriend (Lolita Davidovich) and a hilarious Catherine O'Hara as the unstable sister of Marty Funkhouser (Bob Einstein).
This season's major plotline, which gets rolling in episode three (ironically, the weakest of the season's opening trio), concerns a Seinfeld reunion. David (who co-created the original sitcom) persuades the show's initially reluctant stars, including Jerry himself, to reteam in the hopes of wooing back Cheryl with a part on the show.
Time will tell if the Seinfeld story arc is pretty, pretty good for the season or just a schmohawk.
The seventh season of Curb Your Enthusiam debuts Sunday Sept. 20 at 9 p.m. on HBO.
