ON JANUARY 4, HBO will premiere the fourth season of “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” its Golden Globe award-winning, “unconventional” sitcom starring writer-comedian Larry David. The show is an acquired taste. David, who also serves as executive producer of “Curb,” is best known for his work on another Golden Globe award-winning, “unconventional” sitcom, “Seinfeld,” which he co-created. It’s best to think about the relationship between the two television shows by way of an alcohol analogy: If “Seinfeld”‘s nihilistic, self-obsessed humor were likened, say, to 80-proof vodka, then “Curb Your Enthusiasm”‘s is 140-proof. It’s so strong, it borders on toxic.

The show is deceptively simple and, like its creator, abrasive. Each episode follows Larry, who plays himself, as he annoys his wife (played by the comedienne Cheryl Hines); his friends (Richard Lewis, Ted Danson, Jeff Garlin); and his friends’ wives or girlfriends (most spectacularly, the foul-mouthed Susie Essman, who plays Garlin’s wife, Susie Greene). That’s about all that happens. You see, David’s problem is that he is incredibly rich. On the show, as in real life, “Seinfeld” was a monumental success, and the man who once screamed at his audiences in dingy New York comedy clubs is now worth around $200 million.