Yes, I wasn’t impressed. Ironically, after leaving for two years Larry David came back to co-write that script. The series deserved a better finale. Though I did like its theme song, “I’ve had the time of my life” which I think nicely conveyed how everyone involved felt about the previous nine years. The series truly made television history and remains a real treasure.
It wasn’t very good. Lacked real laughs. I feel like Larry David had some unresolved issues with the show he wanted to work out in the finale. It doesn’t seem to have been intentional but it was definitely going the opposite direction of series ending gimmicks like on Newhart and St. Elsewhere.
We rewatched it w/in the last year or so. I’m not sure how GREAT it was on rewatching, but I’m impressed at the number of lines that my wife and I utter pretty regularly. Very short list:
-These pretzels are making me thirsty.
-Anyone can TAKE reservations.
-Serenity NOW!
Etc seemingly ad infinitum.
Not sure what other series has worked its way into our regular communication as much. Maybe Monty Python.
At the same time we rewatched it, my sister and BIL watched it for the first time. Not sure how they missed it the first time around, but they LOVED it. So, in that respect, it seems to have held up pretty well.
Nitpick: the Old Mill restaurant. (“Trouble at the Old Mill?!”)
Seinfeld aired from July 5, 1989 to May 14, 1998, long enough ago that I don’t remember any cell phones in the show, let alone any smartphones. You see Jerry using a wireless landline phone in his apartment and in one of the episodes set in Los Angeles, he and George search for a payphone to use. I think they show a desktop computer on the side of his apartment.
I’ll never NOT love Elaine’s “Oh. I mentioned the bisque.”
Elaine used a cell phone in the series finale to call a friend whose father was in the hospital, leading to the following exchange:
Jerry: Jill’s father is in the hospital and you call to ask about him on a cell phone?
Elaine: What? No good?
Jerry: Faux pas.
Elaine: Faux pas?
George: Big hefty stinking faux pas.
Elaine: Why?
Jerry: You can’t make a health inquiry on a cell phone. It’s like saying “I don’t want to take up any of my important time in my home so I’ll just get it out of the way on the street.”
George: On-the-street cell-phone call is the lowest phone call you can make.
Jerry: It’s an act of total disregard. It’s selfish.
George: It’s dismissive.
Jerry: It’s pompous.
George: Why don’t you think before you do something?
Elaine: Here’s a thought - Bye bye.
[Exit Elaine]
George: Too much?
Ah, thanks, it’s been years since I’ve seen it! My re-watch binge is currently just near the beginning of Season 6. Just finished “The Chinese Woman”, a woman whose name is “Chan” that Seinfeld accidentally connects with due to a phone problem, who turns out not to be Chinese at all (her original name was “Chanstein”) but who exhibits all the Chinese stereotypes!
In the episode “The Glasses”, Kramer (who seems to know everybody) tells George to mention his name to the optician and he’ll get a 30% discount. So when the optician quotes him the price for his new glasses, George says “Kramer”. Optician says, “what?”. George says “Kramer. I’m mentioning Kramer”.
Later on after George gets his new glasses, he’s in Jerry’s apartment eating out of a bag of potato chips. Kramer comes in and goes, “May I have one of those, madam?” It’s one of those totally unexpected off-the-wall zingers – turns out, George has bought ladies’ glasses! 
I’m with wolfpuppy on this. I’m surprised at how it’s held up, even with my kids’ “looking for a reason to cancel” generation.
I had a much more cynical friend in middle school, and people would ask why we were friends. I came up with “Every McCartney needs a Lennon.”
Frank Sinatra died on May 14, 1998.
His ambulance made it to the hospital in record time. Traffic was noticeably light, since so many people were watching Seinfeld.
I thought part 2 of The Finale (the trial) was very funny.
Babu Bhatt waving his finger: “Very bad! Very, very, very bad!”
Elaine: “Puddy, don’t wait for me.” Puddy: “Alright.”
Jackie Chiles: “Oh, and by the way, they’re real, and they’re spectacular.”
We watched the whole series a few years ago. One episode a night.
In some sense you have to treat it like re-watching Monty Python’s Flying Circus. The great parts you remember only make up a small part of the show. The rest is … forgettable.
But still the thing that just stuck me on the re-watch is what a horrible person George is to his friends. No one in their right mind would want him around. Sure, it’s based on David, and Jerry’s friends with him, etc. But George is so awful a human being that takes you out of the show.
Kramer also causes problem but he gets into interesting things that make up for it.
As to the finale, they were trying to pander to the fan base by bringing back so many guest stars. That is almost a surefire way to fail in general. And for a show like Seinfeld it’s a 100% bad idea.
It would be like The X-Files have Scully and Mulder get it on. That would be a terrible idea. Nope. Never has or will happen. Just forget doing something outside the norm just to please fans.
One reason I started this thread was curiosity about what other posters would think all these years later. These opinions are all subjective, of course, and I respect yours, but I must say that I don’t agree. My perspective is rather the opposite – there are forgettable parts, and indeed a few entire forgettable episodes – but those are just a small part of the series IMHO. Overall, I think it was a huge and innovative contribution to the art of television comedy.
…I just learned in a Seinfeld interview that that neat bow of tying the two stories together…wasn’t done until the night before they shot that diner scene. They wrote that speech and handed the new script to Alexander and told him he had 20 minutes to learn it.
Are there any episodes you just can’t watch? I have three that fall into the “so bad I have to skip” category:
The Dog (S3E4). The one with Farfel
Good News, Bad News, aka The Pilot (S1E1). The one with very little recognizable elements of what we come to love
The Dealership (S9E11). The one where they try to recapture the magic of the Chinese Restaurant and the Parking Garage episodes and fail. It’s almost like George’s part was written by AI. An example of Jerry’s McCartney needing Larry’s Lennon to keep the wackiness from getting out of control.
I agree with you about “The Dog”. Mostly it’s that the idea of apartment-dwelling Manhattanites who hate dogs rubs me the wrong way. As for “Good News, Bad News” (aka “The Seinfeld Chronicles”) I skipped it not because I particularly hate it but because the quality of Seinfeld was spotty at the very beginning, before it really got into its stride, so I skipped a few of the early episodes. I don’t remember “The Dealership” and it’ll be a while before I get there – I’m still early in Season 6!
I think Seinfeld and The Sopranos should swap finales.
I love George’s (ridiculous) story in that episode. “It was a set-up! They were all Twix!”
The main thing that stood out about Seinfeld was the whole “show about nothing” subplot. Later on they did have story arcs like George’s marriage to Susan or getting their pilot made with NBC. But by and large the entire premise of a Seinfeld episode tended to revolve around some mundane activity like losing your car in a parking lot or waiting to be seated in a Chinese Restaurant.
Friends was somewhat original in that I can’t really recall any prior comedies about a group of young people living in a big city (New York or otherwise) where the focus was on them collectively as mostly functional young adults. That was a very new concept in the 90s. Before Friends you mostly had family sitcoms, workplace comedies, or dramas like Melrose Place or Thirty Something. Friends owes more to Cheers about an eclectic group of bar patrons and staff who basically become a surrogate family.
My wife loved the finale of Seinfeld, said they got what they deserved. We would have discussions on who was the biggest sociopath of the series… she voted George, while I voted Jerry.
Definitely worth a rewatch, and like @wolfpup, was surprised at how many Seinfeldisms were still in my daily speech.