Flip

In a dark season dealing with the countdown to Larry's last show, the double-length finale easily stands as one of the greatest hours on American television - or television anywhere.

The quality and painful honesty of the series and how it exposed the neuroses behind the glitz of Hollywood is illustrated by the long line of A-list stars of the day saying good-bye to Garry Shandling and his show: Warren Beatty, Jim Carrey, Sean Penn, Jon Stewart, Jerry Seinfeld, Ellen, Carol Burnett, Bruno Kirby and many others.

To top it all, we end with the glorious three amigos, fire-eating producer extraordinaire Arty, man-child Hank and high-maintenance but loveable Larry.

Knowing Garry's sad real-life journey after the show, and knowing how much of himself he put into the show and being Larry - it is very hard not to watch Larry's good-bye monologue without being a little emotional - as we knew he was really talking to us - the fans of this brilliant series.

"Flip" features an amazing blend of dark Hollywood insider humor, humanity and great performances - notably by Jim Carrey at his over-the-top-best - and remains one of TV's best finale episodes. Bravo!

I remember starting the first season or so of Larry Sanders and not really seeing the great show that others claimed to. The show has consistently gotten better from that point and, while the final season is not the high point of the lot of them, it is still a very satisfying and enjoyable season. The plots are generally centered around the show coming to an end and the reasons for this, with various characters having threads leading off of this. As such it perhaps has a bit of a darker edge to the humor, and is a bit less sparky and fun as a result, but it is not a dramatic shift by any means.

The key thing is that it remains funny and there are frequently good laughs throughout, although the tone of the show tends to give it that edge somewhat. This is seen in particular in Hank, where his clownishness is a bit more tragic in some ways in this season in particular. The spread of material throughout the supporting characters is not always successful, and not all of the narrative threads are as engaging or as funny as others, with one or maybe two episodes not working quite as well as the others because of this. Outside of this there is a certain amount of business as usual, with Larry stressing about guests, his image, and so on.

I think I prefer some of the previous seasons to this one, but the difference is not so significant. Ultimately this is a solidly good final season which keeps itself together right to the final scene, where it goes out with a delicate touch which is true to the characters and is enjoyable in how low-key it is.