YMMV / It's Garry Shandling's Show

• Cult Classic: Compared to later postmodern comedies like The Simpsons, The Kids in the Hall and Animaniacs, this show doesn’t quite have the same recognition — in fact, Garry Shandling’s own The Larry Sanders Show usually gets more recognized. However, this show came before all of them, and probably influenced them as well. In fact, writers from this show wound up working for The Simpsons, as well as Seinfeld, which deconstructed the sitcom from a different angle — and consider how influential those shows are. As such, It's Garry Shandling's Show is still recognized by a big following of comedy fans from way back in the day, especially Garry Shandling fanatics.
• Harsher in Hindsight: The first episode featuring Ruth Shandling, Garry's mom, sees Ruth have a heart attack and be taken to the hospital, after a surprise party gone wrong. In 1990, her actress, Barbara Cason, would die of a real heart attack mere weeks after the final episode aired.
• Heartwarming Moments: The season 2 finale, "Mr. Smith Goes To 'Nam." The main plot is about Leonard Smith's Vietnam flashback, but this episode is mainly known for the now-famous appearance of Gilda Radner. This was her return to television after undergoing cancer treatment, and she completely and shamelessly steals the show from Garry the moment she walks on, with the Studio Audience absolutely over the moon seeing her. If you watch Garry carefully, you can tell by his body language how protective he is of her. Also kind of a Tear Jerker in hindsight — it may have been a triumphant return, but it was also Gilda's last TV appearance before her untimely passing, a mere two months after this episode aired.
• Seasonal Rot: Season 4 is unquestionably the least popular season, with the additional of Garry's girlfriend Phoebe kind of throwing the dynamic off a bit, and the show seeming less inventive.
• Spiritual Successor:
  • The first couple seasons of Seinfeld played a lot like a less Metafictional version of this show. Not accidental, since Jerry Seinfeld was a good friend of Shandling, and Larry David even wrote the season 1 IGSS episode "Sarah" (credited as "Mac Brandes"). Frequent IGSS writers Tom Gammill and Max Pross also moved on to Seinfeld.
  • Some of the show's Lampshading spirit lives on in The Simpsons, where staff writers Al Jean and Mike Reiss ended up after its run was over (Sam Simon also had a hand in the writing).
  • Shandling himself went on to create The Larry Sanders Show which further explored the disconnect between the world of television and the world of reality (albeit in a less fourth-wall breaking way).
  • Comedian starring in a self-titled sitcom who keeps Breaking the Fourth Wall to make snarky comments to the audience... are we talking about Garry Shandling, or Miranda Hart?

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