Seinfeld: Classic or Dud

I think the first two seasons look weak now, but at the time I thought they were incredible. This was just on a whole other level compared to most sitcoms at the time.

most dudes I know were watching this in middle-school, under influence of their parents

that was kind of my case. mom got really into it around '94-'95 when i was in 5th grade. followed the last few seasons and watched the hell out of the re-runs. i know and love Seinfeld pretty thoroughly.

Well I'm not saying that teenagers in general wouldn't like it. High school students, I understand. When the last two seasons of Seinfeld were aired, I was 12-13 and thought the show was boring and couldn't understand what was supposed to be so funny about it. My parents watched it all the time. The "final episode" hysteria was huge. On the other hand, I did enjoy pretty much all the other sitcoms that were big ...Cosby, Home Improvement, Fresh Prince, etc. etc. Obviously your results may vary but nobody in my age group that I know ever liked the show when it aired, but in the last few years I'm seeing a huge wave of obsession over this show, something I've never really seen before. It's like if there was a sudden revival of interest in Arrested Development in 6-7 years from people who will then be in their early 20's. Looking back, it totally makes sense. A lot of the jokes are character based and deal with subtle social interactions and sex, stuff the average 13 year old knows nothing about.

aside from Jerry Seinfeld's shoes, I think it's aged quite well.

I still find it odd people are still going on about Seinfeld's finale and yet seem relatively at ease about the scam that was Lost's. Like, I'm surprised no 4chan hackers or whatever sort took to arms and hacked into Damon Lindelof's...whatever thing.

I feel a lot like Cunga - in the US this show just became part of the fabric and furniture of life in the late 90s. There were reruns EVERY DAY, several times a day, for years and years after the last episode aired.

as bad as the seinfeld finale was, it was nowhere near as bad as the lost finale, which most Lost fans are mostly just trying to erase from their memory

of course, now I'm imagining a Seinfeld finale where they figure out that they're in purgatory and have been dead all along

I didn't the Seinfeld finale was bad at all. It was poking fun at the inherent ridiculousness of the show's premise.

I can kind of understand the obsession with the fashion sense at the top of the thread. When I finally started getting into the re-runs I was almost fascinated and distracted by how plain all the characters were for people who lived in NYC. Not saying people like that don't exist in NYC, but they just seemed SO regular. Obviously if it was intentional it was so the show wouldn't alienate any viewers... just my theory.

it's not a really moving or cathartic finale (like maybe MASH or Friends or ST:TNG which resolve major storylines), but i think it certainly holds its own against like Bob Newhart or St. Elsewhere for shticky conclusions and even better than St. Elsewhere where the finale didn't really fit the tone of the show it def fit Seinfeld's tone to have an irreverent take on the show finale. If it were any better an episode it wouldn't be that good. Were Elaine and Jerry going to finally become a couple again? Obv not.

I was almost fascinated and distracted by how plain all the characters were for people who lived in NYC

As the series progressed they got much slicker, especially Elaine. I think part of it was fashion - the early 90s were still very much the 80s - but also part of it was higher budgets and a richer cast.

..and the general cult of affluence which took hold in the 90s, especially in New York.

i still watch the re-runs, they are broadcast on tnt and fox here.

tbs

I was really really into this show from about the beginning, which would mean i must have started watching it around 10 or at the latest right before i became a teenager. I'd never been to New York or known any Jews but it was still LOLtastic to me. I think it speaks to the success of the show that you can make something a 13-year-old kid will find fucking hilarious, even if he doesn't understand half of it. I don't remember not getting any parts of the show, but that is probably because it was so funny and i was laughing so consistently that even if i did miss something, it didnt affect my enjoyment one bit.

I think the only other show i looked forward to was the Simpsons, which kinda makes sense. Both are relentlessly witty and somewhat bitter, and both shows exuded a joyful surrealism that somehow felt more real than any watered-down traditional sitcom could hope to.

A friend of mine made this interesting observation about Seinfeld: It's the one show where at the end of every episode, no one comes out better and everyone pretty much comes out worse. Their associations with each other never help each other, and only serve to drag them all down further. Nothing ever works out, and all their lives end up sucking.

No lessons, no hugs.

Two shows that came close to that: Larry Sanders and (surprisingly) Cheers. People often behave creepily on Larry Sanders, and only on rare occasions would the show cross the line into pathos (sometimes brilliantly). Cheers had a habit of going right up to the line where things turn maudlin, then there'd be a joke to undercut everything. They crossed the line, too, but far less often than most pre-Seinfeld sitcoms; I thought of it almost as a precursor to Seinfeld in that regard.

there are lots of shows like that now - It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, for one. but yeah it was original at the time.

The structure/characters/feel of It's Always Sunny always make me think of Seinfeld if all the characters were even less empathetic and stupider

I just hope Always Sunny will never have to forever live in the shadow of Seinfeld, written off in pop-culture lit by nostalgia fetishist whom find it heresay that something so well liked could actually be not that good. See videogame phenomenon: Halo.

I assumed this revive was due to the death of an actor who played some character Sid Fields on an episode, obv named after the character/actor/writer from David & Seinfeld's fave The Abbott & Costello Show. (Fields was their apoplectic landlord.)

re: sunny, huh?
1. popularity is a pretty good indicator of crap (see weekly TV ratings)
2. Always Sunny isn't that popular (see weekly TV ratings)

Their getting short shrift from critical attention is more likely that it isn't popular enough, no matter how many dick towels they sold.

Morbs, I don't remember that guy from Seinfeld, but I just watched a West Wing episode a few days ago that he was in. Dude got steady work.

Looked at a picture of Fields and recognized him immediately as the ornery old guy who owned all the LPs that Kramer and Newman tried to sell.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wE_WXM93WdU

so

do beckham and posh watch Seinfeld?

yes

idgi

its just a comical misunderstanding

Oh god I thought our Hannah was joking about her being called 7???

Ohhh really? Seven?!

harper seven

Hannah told me first thing this morning when I was half asleep and I thought the kid was called Harper and was 7 pounds something

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRUdaWZ4FN0

Would've preferred Mug Beckham tbh

Missed a chance to go with Mulva imo

^^^I always found it curious that Jerry never considered "Regina" as a plausible name in that episode

Posh and Becks were beaten to the name by Andre 3000 and Erykah Badu, anyway.

god dammit Myonga i've wondered for years what the actual name was but i think you've cracked it

i think the actual name was 'dolores'

Yeah, I was gonna say.

don't remember that bit

does that rhyme in a New York accent?

it rhymes when i say it in my head?!

its the tag to that episode fwiw - he sticks his head out of his window and sorta ruefully shouts 'DOLORES!' at her after shes presumably stormed out

oh god yeah now i remember

iirc they never had a name for her during the show, but as it was being taped they asked the audience what they thought it should be and some woman came up w/ Dolores

haha i didnt know that! i do think that dolores is a better joke than regina: sneakier and dirtier but still obvious enough once he shouts it

yeh dolores is better really. impressed i cd forget something like that for years

Idgi