Tropic Sprockets / The Plot Against America and Curb Your Enthusiasm on HBO

By Ian Brockway

As we are practicing social distancing these days, a new series “The Plot Against America” from creator David Simon (The Wire) and based on the novel by Phillip Roth, is available streaming Sunday nights at 9 on HBO.

Herman Levin (Morgan Spector) is an insurance agent in Newark 1940. He has a son Sandy (Caleb Malis) crazy about drawing, and another, Phillip (Azhy Robertson) wide-eyed and curious. The city is nervous in wartime.

Herman has the chance to get a promotion but Mrs. Levin (Zoe Kazan) is anxious. Anti-semitism is in the air.

The suburban 1940s atmosphere is shadowy and vivid, reminding one a bit of “Radio Days.” The radio indeed is front and center. Lindbergh’s vocal presence is felt there, and scarily in the newsreels, speaking of America First.

Winona Ryder is wayward Aunt Evelyn who develops a crush on Rabbi Bengelsdorf (John Turturro) who may or may not be level headed.

The premiere is a thoughtful meditation about what can happen when fear takes hold. This initial chapter is suspenseful and compelling with nostalgic depictions of big cars, brown houses, scuffed sneakers and more than a few eerie parallels to our current age. Stay tuned!

And for those looking for a bit of levity, a new batch of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” is also available on HBO.

The series, now in its tenth season, stars comedy writer Larry David (Seinfeld co-creator) and can be thought of as a kind of darkly humored “Seinfeld” with echoes of “Fawlty Towers.”

The show features the tall, awkward Larry in a sequence of hapless events that often spiral out of control because of his passive aggressive traits or misread cues.

There have been many iconic episodes. In one, Larry has a nervous friendship with a rapper (Christopher Williams), who says the N word to him. In another, a sleepy Larry mistakenly eats cookies set aside for a Christmas Nativity scene. And in arguably the most outrageous episode, Larry has an embarrassing frog in his throat due to cunnilingus.

On camera through the seasons, Larry has been married to Cheryl (Cheryl Hines) who plays the straight role to his behavioral dilemmas. Larry has a manager / friend the irreverent and loud Jeff (Jeff Garlin). He is also close to the neurotic comic Richard (Richard Lewis), the highlight of early seasons.

Numerous celebrities come into Larry’s path. He inadvertently trips Shaquille O’Neal sending him to the hospital and complains to Michael J. Fox about shaking up a soda can. Another highlight of the early years is Funkhouser (Bob Einstein), a gullible friend of Larry’s who is always quick to take offense.

Much of the humor comes from Larry’s awkwardness, both physically and psychologically. Like Basil Fawlty in “Fawlty Towers,” Larry just can’t let things go, whether it is a mislaid IOU, or the perceived theft of shrimp in Chinese take-out. These events might not seem humorous on the surface, but they become so under David’s hyperbolic lens.

Now it is 2020. Larry is divorced from Cheryl, but he pals around with the hyperactive Leon (J.B. Smoove), a housemate he met from past seasons when he housed a family in dire straits.

Larry has a run in with Mocha Joe (Saverio Guerra) when he says his coffee is not hot. Joe bans Larry from the store. At a party, Larry becomes crestfallen when he sees comedy creator Phil Rosenthal. Phil corners him and asks him to lunch. When the day arrives, Larry gets the idea to wear a red MAGA hat to his lunch, which makes Phil run for the exit. Worse, people mistake Larry’s friend Jeff with Harvey Weinstein.

While not as piercing as earlier seasons (there is no Bob Einstein, who sadly passed last year, or musical snippets from Bernard Hermann) given that Leon’s repartee is predictable and Lewis is not as surprising, Larry, Jeff and his wife Susie can still be counted on for chuckles. There is comfort in the familiar.

Write Ian at [email protected]

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