It’s been ten years since the series finale of Seinfeld, and Newsweek is publishing a short pair of point/counterpoint essays on whether the show was the television classic it was hailed to be in 1998. I thought it would be a good time to take a look back at the series as a whole and get the opinion of Dopers: Is Seinfeld still a television legend?
After reading the essays, I’ll have to say the point raised on the second page about secondary characters is a good one. Watching the show in reruns has given me a new appreciation for the comedy contributions of George’s parents, Uncle Leo, Newman’s cartoonish villainy even the dopey Putty. Then again, I agree the whole George Steinbrenner schtick hasn’t really aged very well, and George’s fiancee Susan always seemed more like a plot-trigger than a real person, proof that too much of the “straight man” can be incredibly dull.
I’ve also found the show rewarded second (and more) viewing; repeated in-episode phrases like “whacked in the head with a sock full of pennies” are something I missed the first time around. On the other hand I think overindulging this wackiness is what caused the show to fall off the rails in the final season (George’s hare-brained attempts to save the “Frogger” game were a conspicuous low-point in a season full of them).
Now, I have no doubt that there are folks here that never liked Seinfeld, but I’m more interested in how the perspective of time has changed or cemented your opinion about the show. Do you still watch the reruns, even though you’ve heard “No Soup for You” and seen the puffy shirt about a jillion times over the past 10-20 years? Has the show aged well (i.e. do you notice more flaws/hidden jokes now than then)? Do you consider it a classic now, or the most overrated sitcom in TV history?
Sure, I notice that it doesn’t look as good now on an HD tv, but the jokes are still hilarious. Every time I rent a car I think about the scene with Jerry talking to the rental agent about how “anyone can take a reservation, it’s the holding that really matters.” That’s true and funny as long as there are car rentals companies, or any other companies that take reservations and then don’t have what they promised - hotels, etc. The first essay writer strikes me as the kind of guy who never really “got” Seinfeld, but watched because all of his friends did, and now he’s finally got a chance to say, “See, I knew this show wasn’t funny.”
“I don’t know where you think this relationship is, but if you’re thinking of instituting an open-door urination policy, let me disabuse of that notion right now.”
It definitely holds up. Seinfeld is directly responsible for many phrases that my friends, family, and I still use on a weekly, if not daily, basis.
Good, snappy dialogue doesn’t go out of style. That’s why we still can laugh at the things said by guys like Twain and Wilde, whereas other things dependent more on a spate of pop culture references for humor may have fallen by the wayside.
I thought of that car rental episode just this morning when I was reading the Air Canada pit thread (Jodi mentioned something about car rental reservations at some point).
I think the show holds up pretty well, and I think there are lots of concepts that have lived on - someone just the other day mentioned “pulling a George Costanza” in reference to the episode where he gets caught fishing an eclair out of the garbage.
I also have to defend the last season, over the years it has really grown on me (although I remember disliking a lot of the episodes the first time around).
But “Serenity now!”, the stomach voice, the slicer, the backwards episode, the reverse peephole, the hospital acting ("I burned for her, much like the burning during urination) and the prostitue maid are all from the last season.
That is exactly the catchphrase I came in here to post. :eek:
The show’s still a classic, for the reasons already stated. Some gags don’t work quite as well anymore, I’ll admit, but overall the show’s still very fresh and very funny. My friends and I refer to it all the time. “Seinfeld moments” will recur forever, people being people, so it will remain relevant. The show certainly has the legs of acknowledged comedy classics like I Love Lucy, The Carol Burnett Show, The Honeymooners, MASH* and the like.
I was a devoted Seinfeld fan during the 90’s but I’ve barely watched it at all lately. I watched The Contest recently and noted that it wasn’t all that funny. Its main selling point was the shock value of talking about masturbation on network TV. Joke-wise there’s just not very much there. Some episodes were better, like the one where Kramer hits a golf ball into the blow-hole of a whale.
Oh yeah. Maybe because I’m in the exact right demographic (I was in my mid-20s, single, apartment-living in NYC and hanging out with a core group of friends when Seinfeld was airing), but while some of the references are getting dated, they don’t get stale. (I just get older.)
In particular, I find myself saying “SERENITY NOW!!” to myself from time to time – at work, in traffic, at home, any place I feel it necessary. It is therapeutic, if only because it calls to mind Frank Stiller doing it on Seinfeld – and that cracks me up every time, no matter what kind of pressure I’m facing.
“Are you supposed to yell it like that?”
“The man on the tape wasn’t specific.”
And “double-dipping” has definitely entered the nation’s lexicon.
People remember the big, major jokes, like “master of your domain,” the puffy shirt, and so on, but when I watch the reruns I always like the little throwaway jokes the best. Like the Frogger episode mentioned earlier.
“That was my mail-order bride!”
“You weren’t there, so I signed for her.”
“That doesn’t give you the right to make out with her!”
“Here’s the outlet.”
“The what?”
“The outlet. Where the electricity comes from.”
“Oh, you mean the holes.”
Ok, maybe they lose something in a message board post, but you can trust Slippery Pete.
Or another favourite:
“Is the chop the way you like it?”
“I usually like mine with an angioplasty.”
Probably the show loses some humour as the years go by, as it becomes more dated. However, this is more than compensated by the increased humour of Jerry’s tucked-in sweaters and tight jeans.
Never liked it. George was the most annoying character on TV, and it was never as funny as it should be. Other than the first limited run (which looked quite promising), I could not sit through a show. Once Jason Alexander was added, it was absolutely unwatchable. Much of the humor had the people acting like total idiots for no particular reason other than it was “wacky.”
Even the most heralded shows – like “Master of the Domain” – were not as good as they could have been. I once read a description of how Kramer dropped out of the contest, and it made it sound funny, but when I saw it, it was staged to eliminate the humor (Kramer shouldn’t have been out of the room for more than ten seconds).
There were worse comedies, of course, but no one comes on to say Full House was a classic.
Master of your domain
Not that there’s anything wrong with that
Yada, yada, yada
A Festivus for the rest of us
No <noun of your choice> for you!
Sponge-worthy
“Hey, the jerk store called. They ran out of you.”
This is why it took me a long time to warm up to the show. I started seeing it just sporadically after it had already been on the air for a while–usually seeing only the second half of the show as filler between something that ended at an odd time and another show–and the first five or six times I saw it every goddam episode was centered on toilet humor. I think the first one was Elaine in the restroom with no toilet paper, then the sick guy peeing on the couch, then the pizza chef, the one with the art book was probably in there…I thought that was all the show was about.
What I did like about the show was the multiple unrelated story threads that would end up getting tied together. I think the Jon Voigt’s car episode was one of the best.
I don’t recall Jason Alexander ever not being part of the show.
I loved the show first run, but missed the first season and some of the second. When the DVDs came out, I bought them as soon as they were available. What a joy! Mrs. Flex and I spent a lot of time laughing at the episodes we hadn’t seen before and laughed just as much at the ones we had. I continued buying box sets and we’re now the proud owners of the entire series. We’ve made it to season 7 so far and we’re lovin’ it. I can’t believe it’s held up so well. Even the Chinese restaurant episode that is now outdated by cell phones is still hilarious. My vote is that this is a definite classic.
Still a classic for me. The writing was great, though it suffered somewhat after Larry David left (end of season seven, or eight?). For about five seasons, Seinfeld was among the best shows on the tube.
And there’s never been a funnier name than A. G. Pennypacker, wealthy industrialist.
Edit: I believe Jason Alexander was there right from the pilot. In fact, I believe he said that when he heard the show had been given a four-episode green light (after the pilot), he figured the whole thing was doomed, destined to be summer replacement fodder.
Someone’s already mentioned the fact that Jason Alexander was never not part of the show, but this statement really makes me wonder if your post has wooshed me. I’ll have to time it, but I think 10 seconds is almost exactly how long Kramer was out of the room.
I can tell what Seinfeld episodes I’ll like most by Elaine’s hair. If she has long hair and that, I dunno what you call it, bouffant thing up front, it’ll be gold. GOLD, JERRY! If she has shoulder length wavy hair (which looks hotter) then it just won’t be as good.
To me the earlier episodes were great because they truly were about nothing. Just funny people hanging out. I mean, obviously there was stuff like waiting at the Chinese restaurant and even The Contest. But the plots were simply a device to deliver jokes. Then with the later seasons it seems like the plots were so over the top that it got in the way of the jokes. Episodes like George trying to prove he has a black friend. Or when he tracks down that family to watch Breakfast at Tiffany’s. To me they were just uncomfortable.
And yes, I realize I just listed maybe the only 2 Seinfeld episodes featuring black people as the ones I don’t like. Fuck.
Wait, I like the one where George is the car parker where he ruins Woody Allen’s shoot. That had a black guy in it! Awesome, I’m not racist.
Anyhoo, it just seemed like they were forcing at the end of the run what came so naturally at the beginning. Still a classic though, even the shitty episodes.
I don’t recall Jason Alexander ever not being part of the show.