The New Yorker ran an article back in October 2007 entitled We are All Larry David. Larry David is the creator, along with Jerry Seinfeld, of the television mega hit Seinfeld. If you have ever seen his subsequent show, Curb Your Enthusiasm in which Larry David is front and center, Larry David makes Woody Allen look like a people person. He seems to have no redeeming qualities. He is neurotic, horribly inept in his personal relationships, and well, in my opinion, not at all funny. My son Alex loves Larry David, demonstrating once again that there is no accounting for taste, and I respect that.
The New Yorker article is about a second year psychology student who worked for a summer teaching social skills to a group of “schizophrenic patients” at a state hospital. He was having a difficult time trying to get his patients to role play everyday social situations until he hit on a brilliant idea. And do you know what this brilliant idea was? Watching television with his patients! Not just any TV show but Curb Your Enthusiasm, which really struck a chord with this group, no doubt due to the heavy doses of neuroleptics they were on (my opinion, not the article’s).
I won’t go into my opinion of this article, but just offer it up as further reading material. You can access the article here.