“What about the time I chipped my tooth on the bathroom urinal…”

 “…what the fuck is so comical about THAT?”

[Beat.]

“It was a back tooth, Hank.”

 
In quite possibly the most thrilling DVD news of 2010, The Larry Sanders Show is finally being released in full. In case you’re not aware of the series, it was a very close second only to the mighty Seinfeld as the greatest American sitcom of all time (if you’re playing at home, we’d put Soap third on that last, with Arrested Development in fourth and Futurama in fifth).

It had looked like this day would never come. One of the first DVDs we ever rented, around a decade ago, was “Larry Sanders: The Best Episodes”, taking in just six episodes plucked from the first four seasons, and featuring some of the laziest DVD cover art ever. And the only ‘special feature’ was a trailer for Shandling flop “What Planet Are You From?” – indeed, we suspect the DVD was only rushed out to help promote the film, which saw Shandling play an alien visiting our planet in order to cop off with a lady earthling.

It was another couple of years before the first release of a complete season, with a Sony Pictures box-set of the first series being released in February 2002. Sadly, this DVD set didn’t sell quickly enough for tentative plans for the remaining seasons to be released, and fans of Larry could do little but hang around for occasional repeats of the show on Bravo, Paramount or ITV4.

It wasn’t until 2007 that another DVD release containing the antics of Larry, Hank, Artie et al saw the shops, but it was merely another compilation, “Not Just The Best of the Larry Sanders Show”, this time containing 23 episodes over four discs. Presumably due to problems clearing all the music performances from the episodes (such as They Might Be Giants performing S-E-X-X-Y in the episode where Hank rediscovers his faith), that had pretty much been it, meaning fans had little option but to track down illicit copies of the missing episodes from the Web (seemingly all captured from ITV4’s launch-era repeats, as far as we’ve noticed. Not that we’d download stuff like that, honest).

Until now, that is, with Shout! Factory announcing a wonderful 17-disc box set of the unexpurgated Sanders, due to be released in early November for those lucky people in Region 1-land. There’ll have never been a better time to own a multi-region DVD player or be North American.

We’d normally mutter something about blog posts containing nothing more than a copy-pasted press release being a shocking waste of pixels, but in this case we’re happy to make an exception. Full details of the DVD set after the ‘read post…’ button, unless you’re reading this directly from the full article page, in which case feel free to state at the screen wondering there the ‘read post…’ button is.

At Long Last, The Complete Collection of Garry Shandling's
Primetime Emmy and Peabody Award-Winning Television Series
Arrives Just in Time for the Holidays

THE LARRY SANDERS SHOW:

THE COMPLETE SERIES

OWN THE SPECTACULAR 17-DVD BOX SET FEATURING ALL 89 ORIGINAL EPISODES OF

THE HIT SERIES, EXTENSIVE BONUS FEATURES

AND A SPECIAL COMMEMORATIVE 60-PAGE COLOR BOOK

AVAILABLE NATIONWIDE NOVEMBER 2, 2010 FROM SHOUT! FACTORY

A daringly outspoken and highly creative talk show host opened a wisecracked window on the world of late night chatter-and made The Larry Sanders Show must-see TV in television history. Created by Garry Shandling and Dennis Klein, the award-winning hit series The Larry Sanders Show follows Larry Sanders (Shandling) and the twisted inner workings of his late-night talk show. Larry's suave persona on-stage and angst-ridden antics off-stage drew millions of viewers, eager for backstage access to a show unlike any other.
Throughout its six-year (1992-1998) run on HBO, the series raised the bar for fearless, acerbic Hollywood satire. The innovative use of both video and film to distinguish on-air events from back stage happenings, displaying the jarring dynamic between Larry's on-camera poise and backstage neurosis, was brutally fascinating. And in the company of a patronizing, combative staff and a parade of A-list guests - more than game for putting their own celebrity in the crosshairs - you had a backstage pass to a Hollywood that was shockingly raw and hilarious.

Shandling's mercurial Larry was front and center, bolstered by Artie (Rip Torn, 30 Rock), his caustic, often foul-mouthed producer, and Hank Kingsley (Jeffrey Tambor, Arrested Development), his affection-hungry sidekick, whose signature "Hey Now" was one of television's most recognized catch phrases. Larry's staff was portrayed by a great comedic ensemble including Linda Doucett, Janeane Garofalo (24), Penny Johnson (24), Wallace Langham (CSI), Bob Odenkirk (Mr. Show), Jeremy Piven (Entourage), Mary Lynn Rajskub (24), Sarah Silverman (The Sarah Silverman Program) and Scott Thompson (Kids In The Hall).

Marking 18 years after The Larry Sanders Show's initial debut on television in 1992, the entire ground-breaking comedy series will finally be available for the first time on DVD November 2, 2010 from Shout! Factory. Offering the most comprehensive array of both classic and fresh, never-before-seen bonus material, The Larry Sanders Show: The Complete Series DVD box set boasts all 89 acclaimed episodes and a comprehensive collection of bonus content. Moreover, Shout! Factory invites fans and viewers to further immerse themselves in a special 60-page complete guide on the show. A must-have gift set for the holiday season, this uncompromising 17-DVD box set with a special commemorative guide book are collected in a lavishly packaged box and is priced to own at $149.99 SRP.

The Larry Sanders Show was recognized by TV Guide Magazine's list of the "50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time." Time Magazine called it "the closest sitcom to ever come to a perfect pitch." The New York Post labeled the series "one of the greatest achievements in television."

Over the course of its six-year run on HBO, the series garnered three Emmy Awards (unprecedented 56 Emmy nominations), two Peabody Awards, two TV Critics Awards, five CableACE Awards for Best Comedy Series, and numerous coveted honors and accolades including multiple Golden Globe, Directors Guild and Writers Guild Awards nominations.

Laced with acidic irreverence, the series lampooned the enormous egos and sugar-substitute smiles of late night TV. Shandling's impeccable portrayal of the host-genial one minute, verging on meltdown the next - mined his own roots in standup comedy, as well as his experiences as guest host on "The Tonight Show" where he filled in for the iconic Johnny Carson.

Hip and edgy, The Larry Sanders Show's innovative combination of videotape for the talk show segments and film for off-stage scenes created a fresh, documentary infused style unseen in any other TV series of the era, creating an insider's sense of raw Hollywood and paving the way for popular series like Curb Your Enthusiasm, 30 Rock, The Office, Da Ali G Show, Entourage, among others.

A constellation of guest stars consistently graced The Larry Sanders Show - playing exaggerated versions of themselves: Alec Baldwin, Jerry Seinfeld, Tom Petty, Ellen DeGeneres, Sharon Stone, Jim Carrey, Robin Williams, Carol Burnett, Tim Conway, Howard Stern, Dana Carvey, David Duchovny, Roseanne Barr, Jon Stewart, Jon Lovitz, Rob Reiner, Mimi Rogers and many more. They regularly displayed unexpected and often outrageous angles of some of entertainment's most famous faces.

THE LARRY SANDERS SHOW: THE COMPLETE SERIES DVD BOX SET EXTENSIVE BONUS CONTENT

• 60-page collector's book - The Larry Sanders Show The Complete Guide
• Video introduction by Garry Shandling
• All-new deleted scenes
• All-new outtakes
• Garry Shandling lectures at University of Southern California (40 min.)
• Audio commentaries with Garry Shandling, Todd Holland, Judd Apatow and Peter Tolan.
• The Making Of The Larry Sanders Show feature-length documentary
• Garry Shandling and Judd Apatow on "The Writer's Process"
• Interviews with cast and crew - Garry Shandling, Jeremy Piven, Bob Odenkirk, Linda Doucett, Penny Johnson, Janeane Garofalo, Scott Thompson, Wallace Langham, Sarah Silverman, and Mary Lynn Rajskub.
• Garry Shandling's personal visits with guest stars: Alec Baldwin, Sharon Stone, David Duchovny, Tom Petty, Jon Stewart, Ellen DeGeneres, Jerry Seinfeld, Carol Burnett and more.
• Rip and Jeffrey visit with Garry in his living room
• EMMY print campaign gallery (Season 6)
• The Journey Continues...

The Larry Sanders Show is a production of Partners with Boundaries and Brillstein-Grey Entertainment, and is distributed by Sony Pictures Television. It has been sub-licensed for home video distribution to Shout! Factory.

About Shout! Factory

Shout! Factory is a diversified entertainment company devoted to producing, uncovering and revitalizing the very best of pop culture. Founders Richard Foos, Bob Emmer and Garson Foos have spent their careers sharing their music, television and film faves with discerning consumers the world over. Shout! Factory's DVD offerings serve up classic, contemporary and cult TV series, riveting sports programs, live music, animation and documentaries in lavish packages crammed with extras. The company's audio catalogue boasts GRAMMY-nominated box sets, new releases from storied artists, lovingly assembled album reissues and indispensable "best of" compilations. These riches are the result of a creative acquisitions mandate that has established the company as a hotbed of cultural preservation and commercial reinvention. Shout! Factory is based in Santa Monica, California. For more on Shout! Factory, visit www.shoutfactory.com.

Emmy is a registered trademark of the Academy for Television Arts & Sciences/The National Academy for Television Arts & Sciences. Golden Globe is a registered trademark of Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Grammy is the registered trademark of The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc.

Taken from: http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Larry-Sanders-The-Complete-Series/14371#ixzz0z3NMhVlq

----------

 

Hello, it’s BrokenTV again. Hope you didn’t find that shameless promotion of that product cloying, and that you haven’t just smashed your laptop in a fit of self-righteous pique. The only things we don’t find utterly thrilling from all that is the mention of a $149.99 SRP (though it’ll cost much less than that pretty much everywhere) and the fact we’ll probably have to get the region one version, because any region two release might take anywhere between three months and fifty years to hit our local HMV.

And what about those extras? Deleted scenes, outtakes, a new documentary, and the tantalising “Rip and Jeffrey visit Garry” feature, presumably recorded before Rip Torn’s recent episode (entertainingly, the Wikipedia page on Torn currently claims “Rip was also later credited with the creation, promotion, and widespread usage of IPv4. His primary source of income is from this venture”, which is just Premier League-standard Wiki vandalism). The Garry Shandling commentaries should help make up for the entirety of “Ricky Gervais Meets Garry Shandling” being quite horrible to watch, too.

In all, very promising news. Yay.

Tradition dictates we close this blog update with a reference that only fans of the series in question will understand. With this in mind penis vagina penis vagina penis vagina penis vagina penis vagina.