CURBING SEINFELD

Last night, over red wine and T.V., I was pretty wowed by Larry David's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" episode of the "Seinfeld" reunion. Oh sure, it was funny, that's expected. What was truly interesting was watching the cast in rehearsal.

The first "read" was at an elongated rectangular table, with Jerry and "George" and the usual cast, surrounded by writers and producers. An A.D. or someone would call out, setting up the scene, and then off they would go, into the dialogue. They didn't skip a beat, and everyone felt free to laugh -- a lot of fun.

Next, they were on the set, which faithfully reproduced Jerry's familiar New York apartment. The actors went through the motions, script in hand, as positioning tweaks were worked out.

Later, Larry and Jerry are at a dry-erase board in an office, with an outline of the script, highlighting certain jokes and the action. It's pretty amazing to watch Jerry Seinfeld work, it's definitely his true calling. In fact, had they aired this as the final episode of "Seinfeld", the show would have went out on a much better note.

As a whole, it's just stunning how much work the actors put into their craft. I have to say they're under-rated, especially by some of us writers.

Catch it on HBO!