When it was originally running, I was a HUUGE Seinfeld fan. Taped them all off the TV and watched them over and over and over. Well after the series ended I got a little burned out and moved on to my other television obsessions (Simpsons, Futurama, Red Dwarf, Curb, etc.)
Well I’ve now acquired the complete set of Seinfeld eps. in a different format and have been watching and loving them all over again. Since it’s now been several years later, I notice a lot of things I didn’t notice the first time around. One such example are the various Larry David sightings. Now becoming so much more familiar with him from watching Curb YE, I notice that he’s all over the place in Seinfeld, whether it’s the voice of the car thief on the car phone, the store clerk who won’t accept the $20 bill with pink lips, or the mysterious man in the cape.
Yeah sure in this day and age you can just read the wikipedia article for every documented appearance, but I feel a little good about noticing these things myself without any prompting.
Any little stuff you’ve noticed the second, third, or 50th time around? Doesn’t have to be just jokes or appearances. Anything!
Another one:
(while going through security at the airport) “Ladies and gentleman…I implore you.” We’ve come a long way since then, huh?
What I notice is the old phone technology. Jerry’s cordless phone in the apartment is huge! Also, they have car phones in various episodes. There’s also one episode (I forget which) where Jerry’s locked out of his apartment and he has to call Elaine on a pay phone to get keys.
Also, there were quite a few guest stars who later became famous. I saw one the other day that starred Grace from Will and Grace, for example. Ray’s brother from Everybody Loves Raymond played a mechanic in another episode (the one who thought Jerry didn’t treat his car well enough and stole it to take it to the country).
Jerry’s clothes from the first couple seasons are unintentionally hilarious. Purple mock turtleneck tucked into Mom-jeans? Yeah. He’s got that going on.
Also, for several weeks after his moronic racist diatribe, I was less that thrilled when Kramer slid into Jerry’s apartment. I still kind of am, honestly. It’s a shame.
The phones is a good one. It’s amazing actually how many of the plotlines and “misunderstandings” wouldn’t be in this age of cell phones.
And yeah, the racist tirade really kills some of the enjoyment. It was hard to laugh a Kramer the first couple times I saw him again. But I got over it. Kramer is just a funny character – fuck Michael Richards.
Hee. I always liked the bit about “Alec Berg” having a John-Houseman-type name. “Alec Beeerg” But after all these years I just noticed that Alec Berg is one of the producers. [Kind of like using the cringeworthy “Dickie” to name Elliott’s son on Dick Wolf’s Law & Order SUV.]
Does Larry David play the back of George Steinbrenner, and his voice?
And I just read the story about Larry David leaving a writing job in a huff (SNL?) and then returning in a few days like nothing happened, a la George from the real estate company.
The Macs are pretty noticeable. Jerry had new ones all the time, and watching them is a great little time capsule. In particular I remember when he got the “20th Anniversary” edition Mac, which sold like a turd.
Yeah along those lines there’s also the story of when Jason Alexander just started work on Seinfeld and told Larry David “This is totally unbelievable. No one would be find themselves in this kind of situation and no normal person would act like George does here.” To which David replied that it had, in fact, actually happened to him and he reacted just like that.
There was also a character named “Joe Davola” on a few episodes, who was portrayed as a obsessive nutcase. I’ve recently noticed that name coming up in the credits at the end of “Smallville.”
I’ve noticed that there is one basic ‘New York City street’ soundstage. The characters are supposedly wandering around Manhattan. But almost every street they walk down is the same set, with the same basic building backdrops just redecorated with different storefronts, and shot at a variety of angles over and over again. I’ve noticed that same basic set used in ‘Friends’ and a variety of other NYC (or generic ‘big urban center’) set shows, and even a few movies.
I’ve also noticed that the hallway between Jerry & Kramer’s apartment does not fit with the interior of Jerry’s apartment (they are obviously two unrelated sets). And for that matter, the interior of ‘Monks’ coffee shop does not match up with the exterior location shot of the actual Tom’s Diner (the stand-in for Monk’s).
Speed dial hierarchy was her bit. She’s actually kind of bad in the role. Her delivery is really weird.
Watching early Friends and early Seinfeld you see that they used to cast regular looking people in roles as girlfriends and boyfriends. Eventually as the shows got more popular everyone the characters dated were model quality.
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I might be way behind the times on this, but until very, very recently “Seinfeld” still seemed a production of the modern day to me, in a way that other '90s sitcoms didn’t. “Murphy Brown” which ran almost the same years, seems a product of a whole different era; “Roseanne,” another contemporary, is already a staple on Nick at Nite!! “Seinfeld,” in contrast, still hangs out with more modern reruns, at least on my local affiliates: it’s still a staple in prime-time rerun slots on FOX and TBS, airing back to back with much newer reruns of, say, “Family Guy” and “South Park” without feeling like an anachronism. Even “Friends,” which was so rooted in the '90s culture, feels more out-dated than “Seinfeld,” even though it is a significantly younger show and ended only a few years ago. Only recently have the huge cell-phones and old fashions and, more significantly, the fact that even the shows that “Seinfeld” spawned have come and gone, made the show feel more separate from the current day. And even having said that, the show is still modern enough that it would feel out of place on one of the nostalgia networks like Nick at Nite. I think this is a great testament to the show’s staying power and classic status.
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Speaking of “Seinfeld” extras who went on to become famous in other things, the episode with Tim Watley, the re-gifting dentist who later became Malcom’s dad, is on TV behind me…
My absolute favorite was the guy that lived in Long Island, and showed up later at Jerry’s apartment b/c Jerry casually said “if you’re ever in town…” The guy winds up getting drunk with Kramer and showing back up at Jerry’s with a hooker, which Jerry has to pay for right when the Cops walk in.
The guy was…Michael Chiklis, aka Vic Mackey from [The Shield*. :eek:
Kramer’s still hilarious (though not my favourite), but some of the more racist bits (like most of the Asian characters) are a bit… uncomfortable. But then again, they were uncomfortable the first time around.
I noticed several years ago when I was watching reruns from some of the very early Season 1 episodes that Jason Alexander really channels Larry David who I think the character of George is supposed to be modelled after. It’s almost dead-on for the neurotic character that Larry David plays on Curb Your Enthusiasm.