# Seinfeld: Why "A show about nothing"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 29, 2006, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-why-a-show-about-nothing/366585 "2006-07-29T22:51:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2006, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-why-a-show-about-nothing/366585/41 "2006-08-19T07:58:08Z")
[QUOTE=astorian] The actual show was structured and often had standard sitcom stories, characters and plotlines. But I think the original pitch was, “Let’s do a show where a comedian and his friends just get together and talk and break each other up with absurdist conversations. A show where the humor springs more from sitting around talking than from set-up situations.” [/QUOTE] Forgive the bump, but a lot of what’s been said here about Seinfeld also applies to The Young Ones. TYO had just slightly more of a solid premise than Seinfeld, in that Neil, Rik, Vyv and Mike lived in the same house. Beyond that though: – Four main characters with nothing in common between any of them. – Perpetual dysfunction and arguments about the most mundane things. – Three of them totally nasty and self-serving, and even the one who’s not doesn’t really contribute anything to society. – No goal, unless striving to do nothing is a goal. Ben Elton said in an interview that the characters were college students because that was the ideal excuse to have all four of them just hanging around all day. – Definitely no hugging or learning. – No overall story arc. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-why-a-show-about-nothing/366585.md?page=2)