Seinfeld: Classic or Dud

1: rewatching and it's all funny
2: in particular the fact that JS is the worst actor in TV history lol

Agreed, casting him was a masterstroke

yeah it wouldn't be the same with anyone else. the fact that he doesn't come off like a real person is important to the show; he's just the avatar of the typical stand-up guy where funny things are happening to him all the time and he just reacts the way a dumb horny teenager would

to think they could've easily cast anyone as Jerry Seinfeld

thatsthejoke.slapbass

Jerry the "actor" and "character" is also the lead as support, the star comedian here as straight man (actual comedy biz terminology, so no quotes), who sets up and reacts to joke of other performers, the ones who are veteran sketch actors, while he's from world of stand-up (also in it, as "character" Jerry's profession). This as at least as old as The Jack Benny Program, but/and it still works. (I still watch TJBP on digital antenna station, but Seinfeld has finally disappeared into HBO MAX or NBC Peacock or some such shit.)

Of course, even with set-ups etc., each of the four principal has his or her own "subplot," story-line, even-steven, so eps like Rubik's Cubes(think this is what was agreed to after Jason Alexander freaked out because George wasn't or barely in an at least one ep).

all true, except to add this: jack benny is a much better actor than jerry seinfeld (bcz everyone is)

this is why seinfeld is a funnier show than the jack benny show ("brought to you by LUCKY STRIKE")

i've been watching this at length over the last two weeks. seen all the eps but they never get old

I think Larry David is maybe an even worse actor than Jerry Seinfeld

I'd say the four principals are like the four Beatles: almost pointless to separate the parts from the whole.

(So you can bet I'm all over this thread saying who's better than who...)

the working of the whole entirely depends on JS being a terrible actor (wins already said this)

the scene where jerry is on the phone with his girlfriend pretending to be someone she knows and putting on a terrible fake voice is one of my favorite moments in the series. a guy who can't really act playing a version of himself (also a guy who can't really act) trying to play a made-up person based on nothing but a name. it's like his acting goes beyond bad and into another dimension.

They called it PUNK!

This was back when his general contempt for humanity was within acceptable limits and came off as being enjoyably self-aware about the whole enterprise

seinfeld is a funnier show than the jack benny show well yeah

I WAS IN THE POOL

His "acting" always fits, one way or another, I agree---and this series was the only time (in public, prob private as well) that he could be arsed to adapt---later declined to go the usual TV comedian-to (often bad) movies route, because film is "a ponderous medium," said he wanted to start an ad agency, which seemed seemed right persona-wise (although lotta biz-running adaptation required), but don't think he ever did.

recent posts are reminding me to catch up with CiCGC which i forgot had transferred to netflix (like a distant age ago)

i know it's hit-and-miss at BEST but

said he wanted to start an ad agency

v funny that his comedic deal is "I have no inner life to speak of!" (also likely his actual deal)

the ep where Kramer is worried about his virility is weird cos Jerry keeps asking him incredulously "you never got one past the goalie", like it's normal as a right of passage for every man to accidentally impregnate someone.

I mean, that's the shit teenagers talk about. I thought the central joke of his character is he never developed past the age of 14

right from the beginning seinfeld was different because all of them laughed at each other being funny. it’s almost like breaking character, except it plays as a kind of realism, because real people, real friends, laugh at each other when they’re being funny, or being ridiculous or whatever. this kind of delight in each other tempers the outlandishly selfish things they do

sam and diane would appreciate each other this way a little bit on cheers which i think is one of the biggest reasons cheers feels so warm

"that's what you brought me inside to tell me? your dad wears sneakers in the pool?"

Watched loads of it back when it showed on BBC2 at a late hour but never seen it from the beginning. Is season 1 worth a watch?

"sam and diane would appreciate each other this way a little bit on cheers which i think is one of the biggest reasons cheers feels so warm"

Good point

Season 1 is dire. it doesn't even feel like the same show, outside of one or two eps

Cool I'll start from S2.

yeah it's much more the classic show starting there

season 1 is short iirc but yeah you’re not missing much.

it's only 5 episodes. kinda reminds me of the 1st season of The Simpsons, it's still pretty funny but the pacing is off and the dialogue is considerably less tight than it would be later on. also there is some early-season weirdness - Kramer is named Kessler, Jerry's Dad is played by a different actor, and George still has some hair on the top of his head. also like The Simpsons it really rounds into form in Season 2 but I think the show gets better from there, before getting a bit too weird and conceptual by Season 9. Seinfeld S9 >>>> Simpsons S9 though

Yeah the two shows (Seinfeld and Simpsons) follow extremely similar paths imo. Imagine what S33 of Seinfeld would be

have a very clear memory of getting mildly dunked on by my history teacher (high school football coach) and a couple of fellow students in 9th grade for stanning Seinfeld S1 when new tv shows came up in class. proud I was on the right side of history

the early episodes aren't that bad. they feel very slow-paced and quiet next to the later episodes, but it's fun to watch the characters gradually become themselves. and episode 2 or 3 has the beginning of george's "art vandelay" thing.

Imagine what S33 of Seinfeld would be

They tried to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqGo42jEXPw

love how future-jerry is wearing an ugly gold necklace there for some reason

did a full rewatch a couple years ago and one my favorite things that struck me is how the show leans into a completely childish view of the adult working world (i'm assuming jerry has never had a non-comedy job.) a huge portion of economic activity in Seinfeld World revolves around inventors and inventions, like a kid looking around the room and thinking that everything you see must have been invented by somebody, so it might be a perfectly normal thing in your daily life to encounter the inventor of the cobb salad or the soda can poptop or whatever. every job is either that or a completely mysterious and unknowable "office job", which are presented like a 3rd grader trying to imagine what his dad does all day when he leaves the house in a suit every morning.

The degree of realness is always part of the childishness: George's boss who picks on him, making other underlings laff--George's revenge prank plot, Elaine charging all sortsa toys, incl for friends, on her boss account, wheeee-'til called in by administrators, and of course Mr. Peterman eventually comes back from his Southeast Aisian playground, awww poor Lainie! George takes job and immediately wants perk of palacial bathroon eqipped for handicapped, so he cosplays as one, etc etc. (yer right)
Re Season 1 handicaps: Seinfield later said "Too much testosterone," didn't work 'til JLD showed up. and indeed, her debut ep immediately seems better overall. Also, not being from sketch comedy, he was struck by her improv experiments in rehearsal---especially pratfalls in a Chanel suit: "I could never do that."Her skillz gave actors Michael Richard and Jason something compatible to work with, a little further away from The Jerry Zone.

(Richard and Larry David and several actors who show up over the years on Seinfeld were on ABC's Fridays, a blatant lift of Saturday Night Live's format etc, but a good 'un, pretty often.)

OEO i do think you're on to something, but also this unreality of work is endemic to all sitcoms not set at a workplace (and even some of those i'd reckon).

well sure, i guess thats true. idk maybe it just struck me differently because i watched it all in one large dose, but it felt like there was something about the way that stuff is presented that felt very particular to his sort of weird blinkered view of the world, living a life being attended to by service workers, and imagining that all of them are as singlemindedly consumed with the object of their work as he is with comedy - his barber spends all day fantasizing about hair, his health club pool guy is obsessed with towels, etc

Oh yeah, deliberately so---I used to wonder if Larry David got the basic idea from Woody Allen's Manhattan, the black & white, white, affluent enough, though characters don't think so, insular. urban fretfest after cute, colorfully expansive Annie Hall---but it's an urban syndrome from way back, though mainly represented in movies before this---which is what NBC's Brandon Tartekoff worried about: would AMERICA take to "four Jews walking around New York complaining." Also, the rules were: "No hugging, no lessons learned," in "a show about nothing"---nothing for everyone, a comedy 2nite.

is it ever revealed what exactly it is George does with the Yankees? again kinda proves OEO's point, he just "works for the Yankees" and gets to meet the players and what not but never really does any work

love how future-jerry is wearing an ugly gold necklace there for some reason

for me the best part is that goofy head shake thing that Kramer does at the end. sometimes the funniest shit this show does is the most inexplicable. honestly one of my favorite jokes in the whole series is the one where Jerry is in the confession booth and when he pops out George is there for some reason and he just goes "Jerry I need to talk to you!!" as though George either knows where Jerry is at all times or never strays further than 500 feet from him.

xpost originally it was 'assistant to traveling secretary", but I think he got promoted?

nothing will ever top for me...

"you made all the stops?"
"THEY KEPT RINGING THE BELL!"

do people pronounce roof "ruff" like jerry and kramer in that clip

Season 1 is dire. it doesn't even feel like the same show, outside of one or two eps

― Cool Im An Situation (Neanderthal), Monday, November 29, 2021 5:57 PM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

i like season 1. and it's only 5 episodes (because the network was so reluctant to give them a show). but maybe not a good place to start if you've never watched the show before

rewatching parts of the pilot the only thing I can think is "no network today would even consider picking this up"

is it ever revealed what exactly it is George does with the Yankees?

aside from the yankees, theres plenty of episodes where george & others have office jobs where they either do nothing or literally dont even know what their job is. thinking of the ep w/george and the 'pensky file', or the one where kramer starts showing up to an office ("i dont even really work here" / "thats what makes this so difficult"). by the last season when george works at Kruger Industrial Smoothing its to the point where even mr kruger doesnt seem totally clear on what they all are supposed to be doing. theres definitely a running thread of 'office jobs' being a weird interzone where nobody actually does anything yet jobs are sustained through some kind of strange alchemy. not hard to picture jerry & larry david waking up after late nights of standup, looking at crowds of commuting nyc office workers and thinking "what on earth could they possibly be doing all day thats so damn important?"