"It's Garry Shandling's Show." (1986) TV series 1986-1990

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Creators:

Garry Shandling
Alan Zweibel

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Release Date:

10 September 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot Keywords:

Sitcom | Breaking The Fourth Wall | Spoof | Character Name In Title

Awards:

Nominated for 4 Primetime Emmys. Another 5 wins & 9 nominations

Cast

Garry Shandling	...	Garry Shandling (72 episodes, 1986-1990)
Molly Cheek	...	Nancy Bancroft (66 episodes, 1986-1990)
Michael Tucci	...	Pete Schumacher (64 episodes, 1986-1990)
Scott Nemes	...	Grant Schumacher (62 episodes, 1986-1990)
Paul Willson	...	Leonard Smith (47 episodes, 1986-1990)
Bernadette Birkett	...	Jackie Schumacher (44 episodes, 1986-1990)
Barbara Cason	...	Ruth Shandling (31 episodes, 1986-1990)

Runtime:

30 min (72 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Filming Locations:

Columbia/Sunset Gower Studios - 1438 N. Gower Street, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Our Production Company

Trivia:

Paul Feig's TV debut.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Making of 'The Larry Sanders Show' (2007) (V)

Silliness run amok

The series has a few rough edges, but still light-years above most other sitcoms.

The series has a character named Garry Shandling (played hilariously by Garry Shandling) running a show out of his living room with story lines about his trials and tribulations of living in an apartment complex with somewhat eccentric neighbors always popping in, his TV mom making things difficult for all and sundry, his success or lack of it in personal relationships, and other mundanities that somehow get blown up completely out of proportion.

And the show has probably the silliest of all opening theme songs.

Garry makes no effort to hide the fact that the show is taking place on a soundstage. He often talks directly to the camera and also often involves the studio audience in an episode's story. No canned laugh tracks here. The laughter heard is the actual audience laughing themselves silly at all the absurd shenanigans going on before them.

It's a running gag on the show that it makes no pretense that it isn't happening on a soundstage. If Garry is going to go to the seaside, he jumps into his butt-ugly electric car and drives 20 feet to another set of seaside stuff with the camera following his actions. It's funny, funny, funny.

Sometimes, a particular episode will bog down a little, but the overall series is excellent comedy. Highly recommended watching for enjoying a good time.