'Curb Your Enthusiasm' Premiere Is Most-Watched Episode in More Than Seven Years

The HBO series, which has been off the air for two years, was watched by 2.1 million viewers over two airings last Sunday.

10:45 AM PDT 7/12/2011 by Marisa Guthrie

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HBO

Pretty pretty pretty good.

The eighth season premiere of HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm last Sunday was the most watched episode of the series in more than seven years, pulling in 1.7 million viewers for its 10 p.m. premiere and growing to 2.1 million for its midnight rerun. That marks a 53 percent increase compared to Curb’s seventh season bow.

Curb also got a healthy lead-in from True Blood, which pulled in 5 million viewers at 9 p.m.

The premiere episode, called "The Divorce," had Larry reneging on a Girl Scout cookie order from the daughter of the Los Angeles Dodgers owner (played by Gary Cole) and subsequently instructing her – through the bathroom door – how to use a tampon.

Curb, which has David playing a version of his idiosyncratic and socially inappropriate self, returned to overwhelmingly positive reviews. It probably didn't hurt that the usually media snubbing David also did a substantial amount of press in the run-up to the eighth season, granting numerous print interviews and sitting for a panel discussion moderated by NBC's Brian Williams at the 92nd Street Y in New York.