It's Garry Shandling's Show
The Natural
TV Flash files “The Natural” as hour 38 of 72 in the TV Flash guide — It's Garry Shandling's Show (1986–1990) on Showtime, season 3, episode 5, aired 1988-12-02, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S03E05: listed hour 38 of 72 in the It's Garry Shandling's Show guide, hour 5 of 20 in season 3. It aired 1988-12-02 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Live Election Show” (S03E04). Next is “Home Sweet Home” (S03E06).
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Natural sit in the It's Garry Shandling's Show guide?
S03E05 is listed hour 38 of 72 — hour 5 of 20 in season 3, season 3 episode 5.
When did It's Garry Shandling's Show S03E05 air?
The Natural aired 1988-12-02 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Do I need Larry Sanders first?
Reverse that. This Showtime meta-sitcom invents the self-aware grammar Sanders later weaponized. Fourth wall, theme song, studio audience as props — the ancestor, not the sequel.
In the series
Why this series still plays
This is the theme to Garry's show — and he will tell you so, then walk through the wall. Showtime's meta-sitcom treats the studio audience, the theme song, and the fourth wall as props. Neurotic cable comedy that invents the self-aware sitcom grammar The Larry Sanders Show would later weaponize. Short, strange, and still ahead.
Showtime, 1986–1990, later Fox reruns: a comedian lives a sitcom life and constantly reminds you you are watching television. That is the window, not a golden-age confession with extra linen. It's Garry Shandling's Show is Garry Shandling and Alan Zweibel breaking the fourth wall for sport — studio audience, theme song, and the wall itself as props. Molly Cheek and Jessica Harper orbit a neurotic who will tell you this is the theme to Garry's show, then walk through it. Cable comedy prestige before it was a boom.…
Filed against
- Garry Shandling as Garry Shandling
Garry Shandling played Garry Shandling until the fourth wall was a prop — It’s Garry Shandling’s Show as 1980s catalog meta-sitcom, then The Larry Sanders Show turning the neurosis into HBO ego blood sport. TV Flash files him as the man…
- Molly Cheek as Nancy Bancroft
Molly Cheek’s Nancy Bancroft lived inside It’s Garry Shandling’s Show while Garry walked through the wall — 1980s Showtime meta-sitcom, studio audience as a prop, a theme song that introduces itself. Neurotic cable comedy inventing…
- Jessica Harper as Phoebe Bass
Jessica Harper’s Phoebe Bass walked through the wall of It’s Garry Shandling’s Show — theme song as a character, studio audience as a prop, 1980s Showtime meta-sitcom inventing the self-aware grammar a later talk-show satire would…