The Larry Sanders Show was a satirical television sitcom that aired from 1992 to 1998 on HBO, starring stand-up comedian Garry Shandling as vain, neurotic talk show host Larry Sanders. The series was partly inspired by Shandling’s stint as a guest host on The Tonight Show.

The Larry Sanders Show is easily one of the best five TV shows of all time (I’m sorry, this is not open for debate). And now I own a DVD with 23 of “the best episodes” of the series as well as eight hours of new stuff. I’m going to try to hoard this like the last baggie of ganja but suspect I’ll burn through these in a week or so. This is just one more reason why it’s better to be me than you.

It seems The Big Question of the last few days is: Will Tony Soprano be alive or dead at the end of the season/series finale this evening? So, for the record, here’s my prediction:

He survives. But he will be completely, existentially alone. No friends. No family. No one. I have no idea how this happens plot-wise, but that’s my guess.

This series –and I was a fan– should have ended a season or two ago. I hope Mr. Chase and the writers can find a way to end it with the same class it began.

Update: I was wrong. Not about Tony being alive at the end, but about being alone. The family was all together, eating onion rings. So what’s David Chase telling us? You can be a self-centered, lying, murdering son of a bitch and live out your life without retribution? Who knows. And it’s his call. He gave us all those great stories for eight years… if he wants to leave it hanging at the end, he’s earned the right.

Talk Soup was a television show on E! from 1991-2002, featuring selected clips of the previous day’s daily talk shows, surrounded by humorous commentary delivered by the host. This is where I first saw Greg Kinnear, who hosted the show from ’91-95.

Somewhere along the way, E! changed the name from Talk Soup to The Soup and the current host is Joel McHale, who looks like a cross between a young Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Seacrest.

And he’s damned funny. Funny in the way David Spade wants to be. Funny in the way Dennis Miller was before he went right-wing nuts. Funny like Jon Stewart with a dash of Matt Frewer.

Robert De Niro and Al Pacino will team on-screen for just the second time in “Righteous Kill,” a $60 million indie production in which they play cops chasing a serial killer. The script is by Russell Gewirtz, the guy that wrote “Inside Man.” De Niro and Pacino had just two scenes together in “Heat” but will be on-screen together pretty much throughout this new flick. With that budget… and these two movie greats… I have to wonder how you could make a shitty movie. Let’s hope they don’t.

Chemistry. Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn had it. Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd had it. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson had it. Who has that kind of chemistry today?

Just watched the last half of the movie and was reminded how good Scully and Mulder were together. Where are Duchovny and Anderson now? Duchovny became something of a parody of himself but I don’t recall seeing much about Anderson. Good for her.

Gillian Anderson was white hot. She was put-a-sparkler-on-your-tounge hot. She wasn’t Victoria’s Secret beautiful…but she was leave-a-note-and-run-away-from-home sexy.