Seinfeld: Classic or Dud

i think all the characters in Seinfeld are yupster flaneurs throughout the series, tbh

and yeah clemz otm, George esp is doing a p annoyingly transparent Woody Allen impression in first season

yupster flaneurs

what..?

Larry Sanders might be the only sitcom I know where I can go back and feel like they knew exactly what they were doing, and what they wanted the characters to be like, from the very first episode.

Arrested Development too, but I agree this is quite rare for sitcoms

Larry Sanders might be the only sitcom I know where I can go back and feel like they knew exactly what they were doing, and what they wanted the characters to be like, from the very first episode.

― clemenza, Tuesday, October 17, 2017 9:07 AM

first episode of Larry Sanders got bumped to air as 13th of 13 because Shandling didn't feel that confident of it.

(Sanders continued to shuffle TX order throughout the run, often causing bemusing continuity errors of you were watching regularly - it's frustrating that the DVD box didn't revert to production order, at least in those instances.)

ha yeah I was gonna bring up arrested there

there's an S1 commentary track or sth where jason alexander describes being taken aback by the audition script, to the effect of "it was so different, it didn't read like a sitcom at that time, it was like a woody allen movie, and so when i went in I really leaned into a woody allen impression and left thinking wow I really blew that audition, there's no way that's what they were looking for" or something

i had an eerie realization a while back: seinfeld ended in may 1998, the same month they aired the last episodes of simpsons season 9, which is probably the last gasp of "golden era" simpsons before the rot really sets in. now imagine if seinfeld were still on the air in 2017, with the same cast but all-new writers, and that's how bizarre it really is that the simpsons is still chugging away almost two decades later. puts me in mind of the stephen king story w/ the kid who gets stuck in limbo for millions of years and goes insane.

― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Wednesday, September 27, 2017 2:27 PM (two weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

What's the name of this King story

(first three eps of Sanders to air were 4, 5 and 6)

weird name

lol

It's called "the jaunt"

lol I'm as old now as George was on the first episode of Seinfeld

Now you can own a Seinfeld set replica!

https://seinfeldsetreplica.com/?%3Fcampaign=Festivus

Jerry Seinfeld and Family Visit Anti-terror Fantasy Camp in West Bankhttps://t.co/GoKMnoH8Kg pic.twitter.com/d83Ub7APye

— Haaretz.com (@haaretzcom) January 8, 2018

"Caliber 3 is a counterterrorism and security training academy that in recent years has built on its expertise to create a new line of business: special programs for tourists seeking a taste of the Israeli military experience."

...

A friend gave me Seinfeldia for Christmas. Looks quite good.

Seinfeldia was good. Jennifer Armstrong--same author who wrote Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted a few years ago. Maybe this shouldn't have been a surprise, but the amount of material that was right out of the writers' lives--sometimes papered over, sometimes almost verbatim--must have been in the 90-95% range. Frank Sinatra died sometime during the airing of the final episode...may have actually been watching, that was a little unclear.

One example: Elaine's father, the curmudgeonly author (played by Lawrence Tierney), was based on Richard Yates, father of a writer's ex-girlfriend. Usually, though, it was just some stupid thing that had happened to a writer the day before.

i should pick that up, looks like a fun read.

i saw a clip of jerry a while back where somebody asked him why his character hated newman so much, and his response was that there really wasn't any reason, it was just funnier that way. if you think about it, there's really no rational reason jerry should despise newman while having no problem with kramer.

Sinatra died the day the finale aired. I only remember that because there was a news item about how Nancy was mad about not finding out quickly because she was so wrapped in watching the episode.

I never figured out if the joke behind Kenny Bania was that he was a terrible comedian or that him and Seinfeld were basically the same

I think it's just that he's annoying

Kenny's a McGuffin character who's always just a slave to that week's situation. Whatever was needed he was there - following in Jerry's footsteps, or he was dating Jerry's ex or using Jerry as mentor. Often didn't make sense in single episodes that he suddenly he had a cable show or whatever but it just served that week's plot.

At least one Bania episode was related to events. The one where he becomes popular riding Jerry's coattails was meant as a joke about all the bad NBC shows that got good ratings because of a time-slot before Seinfeld. (Whatever Jerry/Newman backstory there might be never came up in the book.)

It's pretty weird that Elaine's dad only appeared that once

there's really no rational reason jerry should despise newman while having no problem with kramer

I always say Kramer as well mannered and had good intentions, whereas Newman was just devious and was always out for himself.

(from wiki)

His [Lawrence Tierney] performance was brilliant, and they contemplated making him a recurring character. However, when he was caught stealing a knife from the set, and later pulling it on Seinfeld in a threatening fashion, it became clear that he would not be invited back

(that was response to Wins re Elaines Dad)

Although I recall the DVD commentary version of that being slightly different and not mentioning the threatening part at all, just that he stole cutlery and kept hiding it from Jerry.

^^ could've been the inspiration for the guy casted as Kramer for Jerry and George's pilot who stole (or didn't steal) the raisins

Wasn’t it Larry David who dated at some point Richard Yates’ daughter?

Thanks for the heads up on this being a behind-the-scenes thing, clemenza. I'm interested in reading it now that I know it isn't the instantly-clearanced quickie boilerplate pop culture cash-in that it appeared to be at first blush. I love in-depth televisual post-mortems, e.g. Bill Carter's NBC late night books and the Simpsons oral history.

No, she's a good writer--recommend the Mary Tyler Moore Show book too.

The knife-pulling episode comes up in the book, too. (The episode would have been on the air before Reservoir Dogs.) Also: Richard Yates evidently hated the character, although there was some suggestion he was just playing up his gruffness and secretly loved it.

I think so--it think it was David who dated Yates' daughter.

just bought this book thanks to the revive. sounds great.

it's mostly all in this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9T7En0N2bg

ah thanks Jed

🤯 The origin/making of the Seinfeld theme.

So much to unpack here...
First: This dude.
Second: He re-recorded it for every single episode
Third: the bpm set to Jerry’s timing?
Fourth: it wasn’t a real bass?!

source: https://t.co/yMj4bo4FVA pic.twitter.com/KGTRf2GDzn

— Ian Chan (@chanian) February 15, 2020

Amazing.

incredible

Yeah that is incredible.

ha, awesome. also that video someone posted later in that timeline about them adding nonsense lyrics to the theme for one episode!

Someone should replace all the dialogue in "Seinfeld" with slappy bass sounds, kind of like an update on the "Peanuts" muted trumped grown-up talk.

I wonder how much money he makes off of those fake slappy bass sounds?

In other news, I just rewatched "The Mosquito Coast" the other day and was surprised to see Jason Alexander pop up as a hardware store employee arguing with Harrison Ford. I know his first movie was that classic slasher flick "The Burning," which was 1981. I guess "Mosquito Coast" was only his second, in 1986, which means there must be so many Jason Alexander screen tests out there.

I also learned, checking imdb, that he was a frequent guest on a show called "E/R." Not "ER," "E/R." Not only was"E/R" *also* about a Chicago hospital, but it starred Elliott Gould as one Dr. ... Sheinfeld.

The world has turned upside down.

E/R also had George Clooney on it!

This is too much.

omg that soundtrack guy is a hero

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

https://www.seinfeldgame.com/