NEW YORK You know you want it.

You may never have said it out loud, that you wanted a Seinfeld reunion. Why would you, cool Seinfeld fan that you are? You know TV reunions are lame. You also know the Seinfeld gang is way too cool to stoop to doing one.

But now Larry David has reunited his four Seinfeld stars for a sassy story line on his current series, Curb Your Enthusiasm. He has recaptured the twisted genius of the old show and reignited it, fresh and funny and safely removed from any danger of lameness.

The made-for-TV version of himself that he portrays on his HBO comedy (a caviling provocateur named Larry David who formerly produced a show called Seinfeld) sets the plan in motion for a Seinfeld reunion on Sunday nights episode of Curb.

But not before resisting.

You know those reunion shows, theyre so lame, TV-Larry scoffs when the idea is first bought to him.

Then, befitting TV-Larry, when he eventually consents, its not for any logical good reason.

His ulterior motive: to win back his estranged wife, Cheryl (Cheryl Hines). He means to cast her, a would-be actress, as the ex-wife of George Costanza (the character who, played by Jason Alexander, always served as Davids Seinfeld doppelganger).

Granted, Pirandello would be easier to sort out than this double-helix of parody and truth. Doesnt matter. What matters is, this particular Curb the third episode in its triumphant seventh season is a compact masterpiece. It finesses a hilarious clash between David and the Seinfeld foursome (Alexander, Michael Richards, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and, of course, Jerry Seinfeld), reconvened 11 years after the Seinfeld finale with hilarious, organic aplomb.

Why isnt it lame? says TV-Jerry when TV-Larry coaxes him to say yes.

Because well do it in a way that wont be lame, vows TV-Larry, flush with his covert Cheryl-targeted agenda.

And he does! They do! They mount a real reunion within a mock reunion. They wangle a way to have it both ways, for themselves and for the audience. How cool is that!

Larry and Company would never have done it under any other terms.

Honestly, and I know I can speak for Jerry, too, I can tell you that neither of us ever gave a moments thought to doing it for real, said David.

And in contrast to the overeager, unctuous NBC executive who proposes the idea on Curb, David says that, in real life, NBC has never made an overture for a reunion in all these years.

Fine, but what if Larry had picked up the phone and volunteered? Wouldnt those NBC execs be doing back flips (or something even more unseemly)?

Yes, said David with a sly smile. Yes, I think they would have. I think it would have been an unpleasant sight to witness. Or even hear. I dont know what would have been worse to see it or hear it. Suffice it to say, he spared himself and NBC from finding out.

But in the meantime, he thought of the idea to bring back the four Seinfeld stars within the context of a Curb story line. Then the plot line of his winning Cheryl back presented itself. Here was a potent synthesis.