Seinfeld: Classic or Dud

Anyway, I want to hate this show, it's the type of cultural phenomenon that normally annoys me, but every time I stumble across a rerun I end up watching it and having some good laffs. Last night I saw the one where Elaine dates a mover but breaks up with him because of his stance on abortion. And George invites himself over to a family's house to watch their rented copy of Breakfast at Tiffany's because he didn't read the book for his study group. It was funny. I'll say classic.

BBC2 didin't treat these shows like the comedy gold they were (sticking them late evening etc WTF?!) whereas crap like friends and will and grace get prime time on C4 (OK the former was funny for the first two series).

crosspost: daddino doesn't rock anymore.

I HAVEN'T EVEN BEGUN TO ROCK YET!

I'm afraid of you.

George Constanza is a brilliant character. A recognizable, even sympathetic monster.

Witness this and this. As well as this, once in a while.

Also, I'm fairly sure I would love Larry Sanders, but I've never seen it because of the stupid fucking BBC.

But I do think it's a great show, and sometimes ridiculously funny. And I think the "nihilism" (but it's not that - it's a sympathetic portrait of failed humanity) is what makes it great. Curb Your Enthusiasm does this too, but too much so - we need some real humor and niceness along with the nasty stuff. Also, the particularly New York voice of the show. Complaining about the hackneyed plot lines is like complaining that Buffy has to kill a vampire every week (well, ok, maybe there's something to that).

It's not my personal favorite tv show - I like sentimental, yuppie-sensibility stuff like Mad About You and Northern Exposure, which I won't make greatness claims for. And It's not the greatest tv show ever - whatever that is, it's probably not a sitcom - but I think a good argument can be made for best sitcom of the last 25 years

I totally disagree with this. I've come to HATE the basic attitude of Seinfeld - I watch it every night, it's the only thing on TV in New Zealand - and Jerry's whole, 'My parents love me, aren't I adorable, you all love me, and I'm just gonna be a fucking bastard because I can' thing is really wearying after a while. Seinfeld doesn't even break a sweat. He's always as cool as a cucumber, looking at everyone else - looking at girls - and the sneer is never too far away. Larry David seems much humbler - he can hardly bear to look anyone else in the face, let alone laugh AT them. This makes 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' seem much, much nicer to me.

Seinfeld has ruined me for all other sitcoms: I can't watch any of them without getting bored. I think it's actually gotten better in syndication: the episodes I thought were lame first time around seem funnier to me now. There's also a tragic, hopeless undercurrent to the humor that's perfectly disguised by its breeziness, tho it's probably fatal to take Seinfeld too seriously.

Also, after watching it 53,000,000 times I think I've started to fancy Elaine a bit.

Seinfeld has written characters off for all sorts of nonsenscial reasons, same as they've randomly brought folks back, they would've figured something stupid out

there are definitely a few characters on the show who didn't fit the vibe, Susan probably the biggest one, probably Crazy Joe Davola too, some of the scenes with him feel like they're from a different show. a lot of Jerry's girlfriends as well though they tended not to get many lines

The best thing about Susan was Warren Frost and Grace Zabriskie playing her parents

one strange thing I just remembered was that Elaine's dad was like some gruff Russian war hero, the scene where Jerry and George try to interact with him is great, is it just me or was that never brought up again

"Dear Henry, last night with you was bliss. I fear my.. orgasm has left me a cripple. I don't how how I shall ever get back to work...I love you madly. John.

P.S. Loved the cabin."

Xp you're right, bc Lawrence Tierney was such a nightmare on set they wrote the character off

haha really??

“he’s the master of the house”

IMDb:

When he guest-starred on the Seinfeld (1989) episode The Jacket (1991) as Elaine's father, he scared the cast so badly that they never had him back on. He stole a butcher knife from Jerry Seinfeld's TV kitchen and hid it under his jacket. When Seinfeld undauntedly confronted him about it (much to the dismay of the entire cast), Tierney pretended that he was going to use the knife as a gag in reference to the movie Psycho (1960) during the episode and quickly returned it.

Haha that wasn't the half of it with Tierney:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Tierney#Off-screen_troubles

Yeah, Jason Alexander has been quoted as saying that Tierney x his character, as played and written(based on novelist RichardRevolution Raods Yates, Dad of show producer/writer Andrea Yates, according to interviews and pix in an Inside Seinfeld-type book I skimmed) was antithetical to EVERYBODY else on and behind the show, would have made a fucking awesome recurring character.

Sorry: Richard Revolutionary Road Yates, I meant.
(And yeah Susan's parents were awesome---also thinking of Mad Men Pete's parents, esp in "Old Amsterdam" ep)

I agree - I'm not surprised they fired him and he would've been a great recurring character. The one appearance alone set up so much that was left unexamined (like Elaine's mother who was presumably divorced from him). Damn shame.

Jason totally agrees, if I didn't make that clear!