Must-See TV on HBO

Having the reunion of the “Seinfeld” characters on HBO Sunday night is a sign of how much the television landscape has changed since the sitcom about nothing went off the air in 1998.

“Seinfeld,” co-created by Larry David, now the star of “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” was a keystone of “Must See TV” when NBC was the dominant network with powerhouse shows including “Cosby,” “Cheers,” “Friends” and “E.R.,” a lineup that not only delivered huge ratings and great demos, but were critical favorites as well.

Now NBC is a shadow if itself. It’s best comedies—“The Office” and “30 Rock”–get what passes for decent ratings these days, and the network has turned into the Jay Leno network at 10 p.m., which is proving to be a ticket to last place. (A low-cost profitable ticket perhaps, but a low rated one relative to a popular scripted drama, like “Law & Order SVU.)

In the fictional world, Larry David agrees to organize a “Seinfeld” reunion for NBC, mainly as a vehicle to get back together with his ex-wife on “Curb,” Cheryl Hines.  Spoiler Alert: That plan goes awry when Jerry Seinfeld runs into Meg Ryan and offers her the part.

Along the way, David has a fight with the head of the fictional NBC, who cancels the project. (There may be a grain of truth in that because amid the coverage of a potential takeover of NBC Universal by Comcast, some reports indicated that Hollywood doesn’t like the way NBC does business as a part of General Electric.)

In the real world, when Jerry Seinfeld does a deal with NBC, it’s either to air promotional snippets for “The Bee Movie” in prime time, or to create a reality series.

And in the real world HBO is where Larry David has a very funny show and Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer all get together one more time to end the show on a more positive note.

Speaking of HBO, “Entourage” concluded its sixth season in epic fashion, somehow managing to pretty much wrap up all of its meandering plot lines: E and Sloan, Turtle and Jamie Lynn Sigler, Johnny Drama and his career, Ari and Terrance, not to mention Ari and Lloyd.

Throw in appearances by Bono, LeBron James and an overly intense Matt Damon and the finale was so fully packed it felt like way more than 30 minutes.