MovieChat Forums > Get a Life (1990) Discussion > what happened to Larry?

what happened to Larry?

posted 18 years ago by wermuth601
8 replies | jump to latest

Does anybody know what happened to Larry? He was Chris' best friend, yet he was gone after the first season. Did Sam Robards quite, or get fired, or did the shows writers and producers decide that he was dull/ unneccessary and write him out (does it count as being fired if an actor stops appearing on a series because the character wasn't popular?)?

I've only seen eight episodes of the series, and Larry only appeared in four of the episodes that I saw, and in them he mostly just stood there, observing what was happening and usually getting only one line. The only time I've seen him get plenty of lines in the submarine episode. Otherwise, he seemed to lack a personality. I do know that there are some episodes where he was a major character, and I am sure that he did more in those episodes (though it would be funny if an episode focused on him just standing there and watching things without saying much).

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] critterdom 18 years ago

He ran away from home. Chris talked him into it. There was an episode about it toward the end of the second season. Then there was an episode or two highlighting the sexual tension between Chris and Sharon. Then, the show ended.

I hope that helps.

[–] robertblessing 18 years ago

Blockbuster and Netflix has some episodes on DVD. 2 DVD's to be exact. But not all of the episodes.

[–] wermuth601 18 years ago

I know the on-screen explanation for Larry leaving, but I was wondering what the behind-the-scenes reason was. Did the actor quit? Did the actor get fired? Did the writers/ producers/ whoever decide that he wasn't working out as a character?

[–] SmegForBrains 18 years ago

I don't know the specifics, but here is what I think happened. They wrote the character as a straight man for Chris's out there character. He was supposed to be our (the viewer in the real world) touchstone in the crazy reality of Get A Life. But as the first season progressed the show got weirder and weirder, and he basically served no purpose anymore. The world of the show was so out there that his character didn't connect us to it anymore, and he felt like more of a distraction than anything. At that point if you were willing to accept the craziness of the Get A Life universe at all you didn't need this realistic character to connect with anymore. So I think in the second season they wrote him out to make way for Brian Doyle-Murray's character, who served more of a purpose, and was more useful to the show overall. They kept Sharon because her antagonism towards Chris was a great tool for the writers, and was even enhanced by his being responsible for her husband running away. I am not 100% possitive (it's literally been years since I've seen many of the episodes) but I believe that Larry ran away in the first episode of the second season, so I doubt there were any bad feelings from the actor, or the shows makers. I think it was just a case of creative changes to the show, and budgets being cut severely. And his character was expendable at that point.

If you look at the two seasons of the show they are quite different. The second season they really let loose and did some pretty crazy stuff. I think this is because they pretty much knew there definitely wouldn't be a third season. I mean it was pretty much a miracle that the first season was even finished, let alone a second one made. There is absolutely no way Get a Life would ever even be considered for TV today, let alone make it past even a few episodes, LET ALONE an entire second season as well. It was a very different time, and Fox was a very different network.

Then again they seem to be happy to rehash ideas because Seth MacFarlane, the king of rehashing other people's ideas, is rehashing the basic premise of Get a Life into his abysmal looking new show "The Winner". I guess it's just the creativity an innovation of shows like Get a Life that they aren't interested in anymore.

[–] wermuth601 18 years ago

Was it Chris or Sharon who was responsible for Larry running away? I've seen some sites that said that Larry ran away after Chris reminded him of all the trouble that he'd caused him, and I've seen a few sites that said that he ran away because he couldn't deal with Sharon anymore.

Speaking of this episode, did Larry actually appear in that episode?

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] SmegForBrains 17 years ago

I think you are pretty much correct. I remember it the same way. He ran away when Chris reminded him of how unhappy his life was with Sharon. Chris spent the episode looking for a new friend. Larry came back, and then ran away again when Chris reminded him of what life was like with him as his best friend.