Larry David opens a gift. It's a GPS unit in one of those fused-shut plastic clamshell cases. He tries opening the package, but finds it difficult to get into. Within the next 30 seconds, there is stabbing and screaming; sparks fly as knife metal is stabbed into a stone countertop. Blood is drawn, the gift is destroyed, and the scene has devolved into violence and agony of a magnitude that you can't find on whatever pretentious scripted dramas with which you're currently obsessed. It's just another joke about plastic clamshell packaging, but Larry David made a genius comedic moment out of it.

Curb Your Enthusiasm is the best show on television that you're not talking about. Halfway through its landmark seventh season, the show's dark humor is reaching surprising heights, even though we should expect exactly that from Mr. David. The storied co-creator of Seinfeld has already received praise for what many have summarized as "the HBO version of Seinfeld" -- used as both praise and as a dismissive remark of both shows and their brand of comedy.

Given that it airs on the network famous for its anything-goes original programming, it's no surprise that the show is innovative and sharp. But the show doesn't earn nearly as much lip service among critics and fans as it's predecessor, or contemporary trendy shows like 30 Rock or The Office. It has earned only one Emmy out of twenty-eight nominations. Some of those losses are against the likes of 30 Rock ... but others were against Friends and Everybody Loves Raymond. The success of those shows can be boiled down to the fact that they try to make you laugh and feel good; this is a show that tries to make you laugh and feel terrible. How can you cite gag quotes from an endless stretch of cranky arguments? Most well-crafted comedies make citation an easy task for chatty upbeat office-cooler lingerers.

But that's what's genius about Curb -- it's not easy comedy. It's the uneasiness that makes us laugh, and Larry David certainly has a knack for making us feel uneasy. It's never been a comedy for everyone, and this season it definitely still isn't. The main joke of the first episode: cancer. The main joke of the second episode: road head. (Is that not dark humor? Well, it is when Susie Essman is giving it.) The signature joke of the third episode: After having a disappointing encounter with a network executive, Larry fantasizes standing over the executive's casket, and then makes a coin-flip decision over whether or not to inform him of a potentially fatal health condition. The following three episodes feature Larry getting beaten up, in once case graphically. In the seventh episode, Larry murders both a fellow golfer and a black swan; he spends more time worrying about the swan.

These gags may not easily provide casual conversation to the uninitiated or squeamish, but for pure comedy's sake, nothing else currently on TV can compete. If you've seen 30 Rock lately, you'll find it's extremely clever yet irritatingly formulaic.

Step 1: Liz Lemon is stymied by a bunch of conniving idiots again! Step 2: Repeat. Many of the other revered comedies of this decade, like The Office (the workplace is full of conniving idiots, except Jim and Pam) and Arrested Development (the family is full of conniving idiots), also fail to deviate from this basic structural TV formula. These shows have little fresh to offer, even if the writing is sharp; it's all about the almighty punchline.

Curb isn't afraid to use buffoonery as a gag, but also isn't afraid to poke fun at Larry, and all of us, for having darker urges and emotions. In exploring that territory, it pitches the sharpest and filthiest comedy fastballs you can find on TV this decade. Curb Your Enthusiasm is no longer easily dismissed as a sequel-like continuation of the Seinfeld psyche, an imitator that points out all the flaws in the original; it is a comedy powerhouse in its own right. Even with all its much-hyped network comedy competition, it stands alone as real must-see TV.