Seinfeld: Classic or Dud

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― Jrvision (visionjr), Wednesday, 28 May 2003 09:54 (twenty-one years ago) link

< / brag >

― Jrvision (visionjr), Wednesday, 28 May 2003 09:55 (twenty-one years ago) link

"I am a fancy boy."

― Ally (mlescaut), Wednesday, 28 May 2003 13:07 (twenty-one years ago) link

All you hataz are NOT SPONGEWORTHY.

― Elaine (nickalicious), Wednesday, 28 May 2003 13:20 (twenty-one years ago) link

I sort of find the show shrill and insulting, like a Jewish/New Yorker version of blackface minstrelry. George is like the Sambo of the UWS.

Perhaps if I watched it enough and could get into the rhythms, pick up the nuances (if there are rhythms to be gotten into and nuances to be picked up) and noticed the characters interacted with but ultimately transcended such carcicature, I'd like it better.

― amateurist (amateurist), Wednesday, 28 May 2003 14:04 (twenty-one years ago) link

I get this sense that people (who watch Seinfeld) are flattering themselves in this perverse and counterproductive way by imaginging themselves to *be* these grotesque caricatures, like it gives their self-involvement some kind of splendor by association. I guess in this way it is a complex mixture of self-hatred and aspiration and conforming to others' expectations and occasional transcendence of these things as "Will and Grace." That show makes me uncomfortable too, but my superficial sense is that the staging and line delivery is better in "W&G" (I don't know about the writing).

― amateurist (amateurist), Wednesday, 28 May 2003 14:08 (twenty-one years ago) link

I think a couple words left out may have rendered those last two posts incoherent. Please let me know if that's the case.

― amateurist (amateurist), Wednesday, 28 May 2003 14:09 (twenty-one years ago) link

mentioning Will and Grace in a thread about Seinfeld renders everything incoherent. what is going on?

― Alan (Alan), Wednesday, 28 May 2003 14:11 (twenty-one years ago) link

"if there are rhythms to be gotten into and nuances to be picked up"

yes, Seinfeld is all about nuances and rhythms.

"staging and line delivery is better in 'W&G'"

The staging and line delivery (as well as the writing) are the main things that make Seinfeld so laugh-out-loud-able. Some of the funniest moments are based purely on the way one of the characters says something or a basic interaction (the other funniest moments come from an intricate and complicated script revealing itself).

― A Nairn (moretap), Wednesday, 28 May 2003 14:28 (twenty-one years ago) link

Line readings: they always seem to be playing to the gallery, like they're always cocking their heads audience-ward to gauge the reaction while it's happening (like: "Eh? Yeah, you think that's funny? You like that?") that slows everything to a turgid crawl for me, even if the pacing is ostensibly frenetic.

Stan Brakhage loved this show but he had bad taste far as I can tell.

― amateurist (amateurist), Wednesday, 28 May 2003 14:37 (twenty-one years ago) link

Didn't he direct a bunch of episodes?

― slutsky (slutsky), Wednesday, 28 May 2003 14:39 (twenty-one years ago) link

Yeah, this is the scene where Elaine goes to buy a salad and spends 15 minutes whinging about the varieties of crouton:

http://www.fredcamper.com/PF/Brakhage/hellitself2b.jpg

― amateurist (amateurist), Wednesday, 28 May 2003 14:41 (twenty-one years ago) link

The Eight-Ball Jacket.

"Are you really gonna wear that thing?"

"All signs point to 'yes'".

― hataz can lick my significant shrinkage (nickalicious), Wednesday, 28 May 2003 14:47 (twenty-one years ago) link

Nice finish on that one, Amateurist.

― slutsky (slutsky), Wednesday, 28 May 2003 14:48 (twenty-one years ago) link

Um, I've seen (I think!) pretty much every episode of Seinfeld, and I don't remember that scene.

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Wednesday, 28 May 2003 14:48 (twenty-one years ago) link

Puddy is my favorite character EVAH. "I'm not the one going to hell."

― Ally (mlescaut), Wednesday, 28 May 2003 14:53 (twenty-one years ago) link

Art Vandalay.

― Chris V. (Chris V), Wednesday, 28 May 2003 14:55 (twenty-one years ago) link

"And you wanna be my latex salesman."

― Ally (mlescaut), Wednesday, 28 May 2003 14:56 (twenty-one years ago) link

AJ Pennypacker

― Chris V. (Chris V), Wednesday, 28 May 2003 14:57 (twenty-one years ago) link

Buck Naked.

― Ally (mlescaut), Wednesday, 28 May 2003 15:02 (twenty-one years ago) link

Advantage, VARNSEN!

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Wednesday, 28 May 2003 15:02 (twenty-one years ago) link

"We already got a T-Bone. It's Neil, in accounting"

(I actually work with a Neil, in accounting, and yes, we called him T-Bone for a while)

― Ally (mlescaut), Wednesday, 28 May 2003 15:04 (twenty-one years ago) link

"I'm not gay! My names Buck Naked and I'm an out of work porn star!"

My fav line:
"I'm gone for two weeks and you turn my house into...into..Bourbon Street!"

― Chris V. (Chris V), Wednesday, 28 May 2003 15:05 (twenty-one years ago) link

"Oh... I spend Baby!"

― Chris V. (Chris V), Wednesday, 28 May 2003 15:06 (twenty-one years ago) link

"But I don't want to be a pirate!"

― Ally (mlescaut), Wednesday, 28 May 2003 15:09 (twenty-one years ago) link

Jerry Stiller rocks. I even watch King of Queens just for him.

http://wwwimage.cbs.com/primetime/king_of_queens/images/sub_bio_pic_jstiller.jpg

― Chris V. (Chris V), Wednesday, 28 May 2003 15:11 (twenty-one years ago) link

I hate all the Stillers. I think I basically hate all of this nth generation Borscht Belt humor.

― amateurist (amateurist), Wednesday, 28 May 2003 15:12 (twenty-one years ago) link

http://www.movieprop.com/tvandmovie/Seinfeld/puddy.jpg

― Ally (mlescaut), Wednesday, 28 May 2003 15:14 (twenty-one years ago) link

high five, Ally.

― Chris V. (Chris V), Wednesday, 28 May 2003 15:16 (twenty-one years ago) link

Low five.

― Ally (mlescaut), Wednesday, 28 May 2003 15:17 (twenty-one years ago) link

The show would definitely suck without Kramer. In certain ways
he's as shallow as petty as the others, but he's also so sincere
and puppy-dog-like, you can't help but sympathize with him -
as he falls flat on his arse time after time. All of his half-arsed
schemes fail, don't they? And he apparently doesn't have a job; I
think he literally survives by eating Jerry's food.

Will & Grace doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same
thread, much less paragraph. It's just so cheap and
obvious, although the pill-popping secretary is vaguely entertaining.

― squirl plise (Squirrel_Police), Wednesday, 28 May 2003 15:32 (twenty-one years ago) link

Kramer has a job...he's on strike from the bagel joint.

― Chris V. (Chris V), Wednesday, 28 May 2003 15:33 (twenty-one years ago) link

Ok, so in the window of my office is a big huge model ship. I'm not sure why. Our company has nothing to do with cruises, shipbuilding, fishing, the ocean, etc. It's just there. And all the time, we are getting people ringing the bell to ask us about the goddamned ship, like the ship is some kind of interesting thing. So I'm outside smoking, and this old couple comes up and asks me about the ship, like what happens all the damned time.

Thanks to this thread, I blurted out, "It's the Andrea Doria."

― Ally (mlescaut), Wednesday, 28 May 2003 15:33 (twenty-one years ago) link

Kramer does have a job. He's a bagel maker. He's just on strike, yo.

Argh. crosspost.

― NA. (Nick A.), Wednesday, 28 May 2003 15:34 (twenty-one years ago) link

Amateurist: No_self_hatered=No_sense_of_humor.

― Jrvision (visionjr), Wednesday, 28 May 2003 16:35 (twenty-one years ago) link

Top o' the heap classic. Best non-animated comedy in the history of television, even though the last year or two's worth of episodes (sans the beating heart guidance of Larry David) were a bit "out there" and stretching for material, plus they made George this sort of annoying crank. And the last episode sucked bigtime.

I watch reruns of this show whenever I have the chance, seriously. I'll watch 2-3 episodes a day if I'm watching TV and there isn't an episode of Survivor or Temptation Island on.

Jerry himself is probably the weakest link, but I find his "bad" acting not even bothersome. He does add some classic lines like "I just had a bowl of Kix" and of course there's the whole "awthatsashame" sort of dismissive lack of caring tone that informs the whole show. It's George, Kramer and Elaine who make the show hum like a fine-tuned Beemer. Plus the classic support cast (George's parents, Jerry's parents, Uncle Leo, Newman, Puddy, the Rosses, Mr. Pitt, J. Peterman) -- just excellent, excellent casting where each actor is probably playing the role of their career.

My favorite show of all time would still have to be The Simpsons, but overexposure to the more classic episodes has left me really not wanting to re-watch those episodes much, but something about Seinfeld is different. It puts other "comedies" like the shite that ABC shows (dumbass shows with Jim Belushi, John Ritter, etc.) to shame, even with the wacky slap-bass keyboards, bad poofy Jerry hair, and the black jeans/white sneakers look.

― Baked Bean Teeth (Baked Bean Teeth), Friday, 30 May 2003 19:58 (twenty-one years ago) link

I feel like my unwavering revulsion at this show is the promising beginning to what will surely be a long career as a total killjoy. I'm proud of it.

― amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 30 May 2003 20:25 (twenty-one years ago) link

A show that should be about evil black humor and contempt theoretically = up my alley. But it is not.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 30 May 2003 20:27 (twenty-one years ago) link

That's cos you hate everything except for Kevin Shields

― Ally (mlescaut), Friday, 30 May 2003 20:32 (twenty-one years ago) link

No, I hate him too. Twelve years and no new album?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 30 May 2003 20:43 (twenty-one years ago) link

seven months pass...

Slap-bass put me off this, so I've never seen more than about 2 full episodes. But I saw the film 'Comedian', have been told how amazing it is, so:

WHY THE FUCK ISN'T IT ON VIDEO??????

― Enrique (Enrique), Monday, 5 January 2004 15:24 (twenty years ago) link

Comedian is actually not that great at all. Half of it's about some annoying, self-obsessed upstart comic they used to juxtapose against Jerry's celebrity.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 5 January 2004 15:45 (twenty years ago) link

Yeah, which was quite comic, wasn't it? I enjoyed the film either way.

― Enrique (Enrique), Monday, 5 January 2004 15:46 (twenty years ago) link

Juxtapose against Jerry's celebrity = make him look like a sympathetic character? Someone described the film thusly to me over the weekend.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Monday, 5 January 2004 15:48 (twenty years ago) link

Yeah, I'd agree with that, but, hell, Eisenstein would approve. I mean, if you like Jerry, there's nothing necessarily wrong with that.

― Enrique (Enrique), Monday, 5 January 2004 15:53 (twenty years ago) link

Whoops, I misread your original post, Enrique. I thought you said you hadn't seen Comedian but was told it was amazing. Seinfeld the show is naturally k-classic. I'm currently drinking tea out of a Seinfeld mug that a high-school girlfriend's mom gave me, like 8 years ago!

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 5 January 2004 16:21 (twenty years ago) link

Seinfeld was on late at night in the UK (well, about 11.20), and there were never mugs to accompany it to my knowledge. But the absense of DVD/VHS is weird, it being so culty.

― Enrique (Enrique), Monday, 5 January 2004 16:24 (twenty years ago) link

I really liked Comedian, I found it kind of fascinating.

enrique: apparently the cast members had been in some sort of dispute over royalties--it's supposed to be out on DVD soon though.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 5 January 2004 16:25 (twenty years ago) link

Stupid royalties. They all rolling in it already!

― Enrique (Enrique), Monday, 5 January 2004 16:26 (twenty years ago) link

Seinfeld Season 3 (I think? 1992-93, at any rate) is one of the greatest single seasons in TV history.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 5 January 2004 16:27 (twenty years ago) link

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