As anyone with enthusiasm for Curb Your Enthusiasm knows, there are two Larry Davids: “TV Larry,” the character in Curb, and “real Larry,” one of TV’s most respected comedy writers and the co-creator, with Jerry Seinfeld, of the generation-defining sitcom Seinfeld.

In last week’s penultimate episode of Curb’s sixth and, one can argue, best season, the cast of Seinfeld gathered for a table read of the (fictional) Seinfeld reunion show. Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander and Michael Richards giggled, laughed and mugged for the camera, while Curb fans old enough to remember Seinfeld were treated to new Seinfeldisms such as Groats Disease, “bar-mitzfitted” and the iToilet, George Costanza’s latest wacky invention he thinks will make a killer app. (It’s a GPS that points the way to the nearest “safe” toilet, wherever you happen to be in the world.)

The running joke in Curb Your Enthusiasm is that TV Larry – picky, bad- tempered and mean-spirited – wrecks everything he touches, including friendships, family relations and his own marriage. last week, TV Larry managed to alienate just about everyone at the table read. In a risky, daring joke- within-a-joke, the episode ended with Richards launching into a racial tirade that referenced his (real-life) meltdown in a comedy club several years ago that seems as if it happened only yesterday. (“I made mistake! It’s been three years! Please don’t hurt me!”)

In typical Curb-ian – and Seinfeldian – fashion, it now looks as if TV Larry and Jason Alexander’s lifelong friendship will be wrecked over, get this, a borrowed pen.

TV Larry is having a very bad year. he falsely confessed to parading around in women’s panties two episodes back, Curb enthusiasts will remember, to salvage a friendship. And last week it looked as if TV Larry might be hauled off to court for child molestation, the result of yet another ludicrous misunderstanding and TV Larry’s ill choice of words.

TV Larry may be having a bad year, but Curb Your Enthusiasm has never been better. Tonight’s season finale – Entertainment Weekly’s pick as TV’s “Must Watch of the Week” – will have to work hard to top last week’s exercise in serendipity. The remarkable thing about Curb’s season is that the fictional Seinfeld reunion is probably better than any actual reunion show “real Larry” would have written. It’ll be hard to beat last week’s sudden unannounced appearances by such fondly remembered Seinfeld sidekicks as Newman, Bania and mrs. Costanza, but only a fool – or George Costanza – would bet against real Larry.

It’s gold, Larry, gold! Great year. (HBO Canada, 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT)

* It’s Thanksgiving on Dexter, which means Dex (Michael C. Hall) will be torn between carving the turkey for some unexpected dinner guests at Rita’s family get-together and, well, you know. You never know when a good carving knife might come in handy. (The Movie Network, 10 p.m. ET; Movie Central, 9 p.m. PT)

* The amazing race – 2.6 million viewers last week in Canada, topping CBC’s Battle of the Blades by almost a million TV watchers – races through Prague tonight, nearly 20 years to the day after Communist riot police bloodily broke up a peaceful student demonstration, touching off the Velvet Revolution. (CTV, CBS, 8 p.m. ET/PT)

* Jonah Hill plays the voice of a legendary elementary school prankster who returns to his old haunts in The Simpsons tonight, older, not-so-much wiser and still looking to trade on past glories. (Global, Fox, 8 p.m. ET/PT)

astrachan@canwest.com

blog: canada.com/tv guy