An exercise in clever marketing, this.

I was worried from the short introduction, when Levine takes one page to describe why "Curb Your Enthusiasm"'s fans like the series, but can only manage one short paragraph on how non-fans don't find anger funny. What I'd expected to be an analysis of one of my favourite series didn't even mention the show's slips into creaky plotting, obvious twists and the risk of crumbling under the formula. Still, I progressed cautiously.

The book's blurb describes it as:

"A biography of Larry David": well, perhaps. Levine compiles a couple of tiny chapters on David's early life and career, cribbed from pre-existing interviews, articles and "Seinfeld" DVD extras. It was little I didn't know before, and Levine's prose was somewhat clunky, but it cobbles together the basics. Of course, I wouldn't be the first reviewer on this website to argue that you could find 60% of this on Wikipedia. Levine at least manages to note where most of his former collaborators pop up in either of David's two famous TV series.

"The making of 'Seinfeld'": I'd dispute that a little. Covering all of five pages, Levine gives us the basics of the making of the pilot, and then roughly a sentence per season - all information which can be found on the DVD extras, I assure you - without really any analysis. Perhaps that's the main problem. While I understand that it was probably the publishers who added "Seinfeld" onto the book's subtitle, and not the author, it's still unfortunate that Levine couldn't have given us even a minute of analysis. Instead, he's basically just happy to state what happened in as few words as possible. Calm down, Levine, no-one's racing you.

"The making of Curb Your Enthusiasm": at least here there were a few surprises, since I haven't seen much supplementary material on this series. Levine covers basic casting and goes into more detail here about preconceptions of the series. However, he can't fight the fact that he himself admits: David had the money, the cachet and the network approval to do whatever he really wanted. This is the story of a TV show which - although, like any program, came together through the confluence of so many events - really had to fight for nothing once it got on the air. Having said that, I've amended my initial, rather cynical view of this section. Although he's only compiling information from pre-existing sources, Levine does manage to give a pretty good overview of the making of the series, and the ways in which David and his actors developed the series into the cult phenomenon it is today.

"Analysis of the series": a bit rich. I've only browsed this latter section thus far (bathroom reading, anyone?), but it seems to consist at least half of an episode guide. Not only is that a bit much for an improv series, but I would've appreciated something more than what could be found on the internet. As a kid I really enjoyed those in-depth episode guides for "The X-Files", but in this age of DVDs and Netflix, can't most people just watch the series? Levine is clearly a fan, and he gives lavish and evocative descriptions of the episodes. He's not completely unaware of the series' sometimes structural flaws, but doesn't venture as many opinions as one would like, particularly when he's devoted two pages over to a single half-hour episode.

(Two examples: 1) In the episode "Shaq", Larry's oft-downtrodden luck changes for the better until the episode's final scene. From this, Levine surmises that luck is a fleeting thing. Why not use this opportunity to examine how - in spite of the usual formula of shows with unlucky protagonists - Larry quite often has luck turn in his favour, or has season-long arcs that actually work out for him on occasion, refuting many series? 2) There's an instance where Larry witnesses a river baptism but interrupts, mistaking it for a murder attempt. Are we really to believe that Larry is so ignorant of an act that has featured in many iconic film and TV scenes throughout time? And if not, how does this fit into Larry's portrayal of Judaism?)

I've been spoiled, it's true, by great analytic books such as [b:Running Through Corridors: Rob and Toby's Marathon Watch of Doctor Who|8509434|Running Through Corridors Rob and Toby's Marathon Watch of Doctor Who (Volume 1 The 60s)|Robert Shearman|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51XacnS5AWL._SL75_.jpg|13375614] or [b:Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium and The Lone Gunmen|6364526|Wanting to Believe A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium and The Lone Gunmen|Robert Shearman|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1284316959s/6364526.jpg|6551764]. "Curb" is one of my favourite comedies of the last decade, and I would have enjoyed some more academic analysis of the series' pros and cons, reasons for its popularity, and questions such as whether we needed "Seinfeld" to precondition us for this, or whether the series' treatment of gender, sex, race, materialism, arrogance, modern-day Judaism, etc, are timely or not. In short, SOMETHING. Still, I did enjoy the basic information that was provided, even if it seemed to rest primarily on the surface. No-one could accuse Josh Levine of being an author, but well done to him for picking a subject he enjoys and making a few bucks out of it. ( )