Seinfeld

Plot synopsis:
Many Seinfeld episodes are based on the writers' real-life experiences, with the experiences re-interpreted for the characters' storyline. For example, George's storyline, "The Revenge", is based on Larry David's experience at Saturday Night Live. "The Contest" is also based on David's experiences. "The Smelly Car" storyline is based on Peter Mehlman's lawyer friend, who could not get a bad smell out of his car. "The Strike" is based on Dan O'Keefe's dad, who made up his own holiday—Festivus. Other stories take on a variety of turns. "The Chinese Restaurant" consists of George, Jerry and Elaine waiting for a table throughout the entire episode. "The Boyfriend", revolving around Keith Hernandez, extends through 2 episodes. "The Betrayal" is famous for using reverse chronology, and was inspired by a similar plot device in a Harold Pinter play, Betrayal. Some stories were inspired by headlines and rumors, as explained in the DVD features "Notes About Nothing", "Inside Look", and "Audio Commentary." In "The Maestro", Kramer's lawsuit is roughly similar to the McDonald's coffee case. "The Outing" is based primarily on rumors that Larry Charles heard about Jerry Seinfeld's sexuality.
=== Themes ===
Seinfeld broke several conventions of mainstream television, with the series often being described as "a show about nothing". However, Seinfeld in 2014 stated "the pitch for the show, the real pitch, when Larry and I went to NBC in 1988, was we want to show how a comedian gets his material. The show about nothing was just a joke in an episode many years later, and Larry and I to this day are surprised that it caught on as a way that people describe the show, because to us it's the opposite of that."
It became the first TV series since Monty Python's Flying Circus to be widely described as postmodern. Several elements of Seinfeld fit in with a postmodern interpretation.
The show is typically driven by humor interspersed with superficial conflict and characters with peculiar dispositions. Many episodes revolved around the characters' involvement in the lives of others with typically disastrous results. On the set, the notion that the characters should not develop or improve throughout the series was expressed as the "no hugging, no learning" rule. Unlike most sitcoms, there are no moments of pathos; the audience is never made to feel sorry for any of the characters. Even Susan's death elicits no genuine emotions from anybody in the show.
The characters are "thirty-something singles with vague identities, no roots, and conscious indifference to morals." Usual conventions, like isolating the characters from the actors playing them and separating the characters' world from that of the actors and audience, were broken. One such example is the story arc where the characters promote a TV sitcom series named Jerry. The show within a show, Jerry, was much like Seinfeld in that it was "about nothing" and Seinfeld played himself. The fictional Jerry was launched in the season four finale, but unlike Seinfeld, it wasn't picked up as a series. Jerry is one of many examples of metafiction in the show. There are no fewer than twenty-two fictional movies featured, like Rochelle, Rochelle.
=== Catchphrases ===
Many terms were coined, popularized, or re-popularized in the series' run and have become part of popular culture. Notable catchphrases and terms include:
"Yada, yada, yada"
"No soup for you!"
"These pretzels are making me thirsty"
"Not that there's anything wrong with that!"
Festivus
spongeworthy
double-dipping
re-gifter
The lexicon of Seinfeldian code words and recurring phrases that evolved around particular episodes is referred to as Seinlanguage, the title of Jerry Seinfeld's best-selling book on humor.
=== Music ===
A signature of Seinfeld is its theme music. Composed by Jonathan Wolff, it consists of distinct solo sampled bass synthesizer riffs (played on a Korg M1 synthesizer) which open the show and connect the scenes, often accompanied by beatboxing. The bass synthesizer music eventually replaced the original music by Jep Epstein when it was played again after the first broadcast "The Seinfeld Chronicles". The show lacked a traditional title track and the riffs were played over the first moments of dialogue or action. They vary throughout each episode and are played in an improvised funk style. An additional musical theme with an ensemble, led by a synthesized mid-range brass instrument, ends each episode.
In "The Note", the first episode of season three, the bumper music featured a scatting female jazz singer who sang a phrase that sounded like "easy to beat". Jerry Seinfeld and executive producer Larry David both liked Wolff's additions, and three episodes were produced with this new style music. However, they had neglected to inform NBC and Castle Rock executives of the change, and when the season premiere aired, the executives were surprised and unimpressed, and requested that they return to the original style. The subsequent two episodes were redone, leaving this episode as the only one with additional music elements. In the commentary of "The Note", Louis-Dreyfus facetiously suggests it was removed because the perceived lyric related closely to the low ratings at the time.
In the final three seasons, the bits were tweaked slightly with more frantic rhythms; a bass guitar was added in addition to the sampled bass from earlier seasons. Throughout the show, the main theme could be re-styled in different ways depending on the episode. For instance, in "The Betrayal", part of which takes place in India, the theme is heard played on a sitar.

Tags: humor

Review:
I caught a few episodes of Seinfeld over it's final two seasons run on public channel, and made it a point to catch a lot more of Jerry and friends during it's reruns.
I found it very amusing on first viewings, but as time wore on, I began to like it more and more, and to eagerly borrow taped episodes from friends, and to hunt for re-runs on syndicated channels.Of the two comedy TV series in the history of television, I would choose both Seinfeld and Monty Python as the cultural landmarks of the medium.
Characters do not hug each other on Christmas, fall in love, wax on and on about family and friends, there is no faux-cathartic season ender so favoured by the writers of, say, "Friends".Instead, we have the narcissistic Jerry, constantly mining the minutiae of everyday detail for every bit of situational comedy; we have the hyper-aggressive Elaine, whose strings of breakups with boyfriends are as impressive as her petty neuroses leading up to the breakups themselves; the ultimate schlub-loser George, who lies to every single woman he dates, sells faulty equipment to the handicapped and muscles off women and children when fleeing an apartment fire; and the impossibly inventive physical comedy of the entrepreneur cum schmooze Kramer.Over and over again, week in and week out, the quartet discuss trivialities with unbridled zeal, as the non-descript narrative pings from one mundane setting to another.
That is where the brilliance of Seinfeld lies, in the ability to go to the most bizarre ends to fulfill the potential of a less than hopeful comedic premise; and the endless, pointlessly smug and nihilistic banter that almost invariably escalates into some of TV's classic lines, such as when George shouts triumphantly after winning an argument that "there is no bigger loser than me!".Surely, we won't find something like this again, for many more years to come..
The characters are fantastic, the actors performed so well that you can't think of them like anything but the character they played, maybe this is the reason because they couldn't success in other shows.
like 4 children in adults' bodies.Jerry Seinfeld played himself and surrounded himself with an ex-girlfriend (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), a childhood friend (Jason Alexander), and a neighbor (Michael Richards).
you name it, they harpooned it.Great supporting cast over the years included Jerry Stiller, Estelle Harris, Barney Martin, Liz Sheridan, Wayne Knight, Patrick Warburton, John O'Hurley, Len Lesser, Heidi Swedberg, and others.And so many brilliant actors who only showed up once or a few times: Steve Hytner as Bania, Mark Metcalf as the Maestro, Megan Cole as Peggy the germophobe, Sheree North as Babs Kramer, Charles Levin as the mohel, Elmarie Wendel as Helene the actress, Philip Baker Hall as the library detective,
To think of people like Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer.
You obviously don't have the intelligence to grasp the humor of the series, content only with the easy-to-understand slapstick of today's comedy; but nonetheless, in your blatant stupidity, you cannot grasp why it ISN'T funny, either -- so you pick the standup.Nice.In any case, despite the negative reviews or even the positive, Seinfeld stands the test of time, and is the greatest sitcom ever made.
Even TV Guide's compiled list of the "greatest television series' of all time," not at all exclusive to comedy (20/20, I believe, made the list), put Seinfeld right where it belongs: NUMBER ONE.The last and greatest juggernaut of comedy, I know I'll be watching the untiring reruns that never seem to get old when I'm old and gray and long since committed to a retirement home.And do you know what?The intelligent viewers of humanity's next generation will be doing the same thing..
I mean, I LOVE the show Friends but every time the guys have a new turtleneck or sweater, and the girls always have a new dress or a new pair of pants, which is totally unrealistic (for the guys anyway).This show had consistent humour all the way up to the last season, which is unusual for many shows.
I LOVED George styling his hair to look like the bald guy from NYPD Blue, Elaine buying the JuJubes on the way to the hospital, Uncle Leo yelling "STOP THE SHOW" on the PBS special--these were just some of the great moments!
I was sitting in my apartment tonight watching the end of a sitcom era with the last "friends" episode and it brought me back to 1998 when we all said goodbye to "seinfeld".
"Seinfeld" gave us all so many catch phrases and we all continue to enjoy these characters and episodes six years after the show ended.
The others just fall way short of making any noticeable effort to put on some truly original humor.I think that in a couple of years, one of the Turner cable stations will have the syndication rights to "Seinfeld".
And yet, its humor reaches closer to universal than local in status as it's a series that's not only had lots of success within that East Coast, but all of North America as well as in other parts of the world.The characters are written with depth and excellent consistency over nine full seasons, and while they're awfully realistic they're also utterly fictional: in a sense more realistic than actual reality as they're each given a distinct personality laden with all the detailed annoyances and pettiness of the real life individual, but made so extreme they're caricatures, like half-real half-cartoon characters.
Very few shows will achieve such an eerily close to reality connection while maintaining quality TV writing: excellent story telling (brilliant in fact, Larry David's ability to knit an episode together with elements of the plot at the beginning linking up with the later stages is completely outstanding, at times real gems of maze-like complex interconnections), great pacing, a rich variety of funny ideas throughout a same episode as well as from one episode to the next.So at a macro level the episodes are brilliantly structured and conducted, but the show's got a whole panel of quality items at the micro level: whether it's the Jerry Seinfeld standup segments earlier in the series or the little bits of detailed content that fill up the gaps between the main scenes in the dialog and what not, or the hilarious secondary characters that'll tag along every once in a while to bring their own individual cringy flavor to the whole, there's never ever a dull moment to be had, not even if one's chaining up episodes in industrial quantities at a time - it's just constantly fresh, full of content, uniquely creative and perpetually hilarious.Seinfeld is the "show about nothing": it's superbly orchestrated, and yet, it's filled often with the most ridiculous humor, and manages to get away with not being self-indulgently repetitive or stale.
Whether you like them or not and for whatever specific reason, the genius of Seinfeld and David combined has produced a most potent combination in TV comedy history, and probably 'the' most potent.
The humor is prolific, the show oozes with it, but it always kept it together and stayed true to the formula: never gave an inch in originality, never strayed from what the show was about (it never went relationship-y for example when it would've benefited greatly from it given its commanding favorable position), never changed the characters to fit a more profitable agenda and the great thing about it is while it's certainly a very liberal-leaning show it doesn't make a definitive political statement: both creators were about the humor, making people laugh - and that was the very motor that drove the whole show, it never set out to deliver a message, it was just humor for the sake of humor, and that is objectively in that field incredibly rare and by definition the very nature of humor.
Just about everyone knows the Seinfeld setup, four loser friends (Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer the nutty neighbor) who pour over the minutiae of everyday life, whose storylines (however abstract and different they are) always come together at the end.Although by the later seasons the show had gotten more wacky and bizarre, the quality of the comedy never dipped in all it's nine seasons.
Where shows like Cheers and Friends (even Frasier) rely almost entirely on one liners and emotions, Seinfeld's characters had practically no emotions (George once pulls the plug on a hospital patient's drip, and pretends to be disabled to use the spacious disabled bathroom) and the one liners were all part of the conversation.It really is difficult to say anything negative about Seinfeld, there's no episode where you could say the writers weren't trying or had given up, even in it's last season the show performed the ambitious "Backwards episode" where the story finished at the beginning and started at the end.
I'll never forget that ridiculous episode where we're supposed to laugh because Jerry and Elaine spend all their time in line at a bakery and because George and Kramer spend all their time whining about being boxed in by an illegally-parked car at a liquor store.
what is the big deal with this show?jerry seinfeld is anything but funny and the situations in this show are absolutely ridiculous ( not in a good way thought ).
the acting is pathetic , even for a sitcom , and seinfeld's stand up in the beginning of the episodes are as annoying as the rest of the show .
I was excited to begin watching Seinfeld, the great ratings, the reputation, the quotes, everything around me was giving the impression that I'm about to watch the greatest sitcom ever, the I'm about to experience an hours of non stopped laughs..
I watched Seinfeld intermittently during it's original series run in the 90's, mostly because the people I happened to be around back then loved it, as did most everyone else it seemed.
Jerry Seinfeld has started the tradition of bad comedians telling man jokes that just aren't funny.
I don't find the set-up, or the characters funny.It was a cult hit in its day but here in the UK it didn't really air much and is more of the sort of show you think you should like but really can't get into.The less said about the rubbish series finale the better.
I have tried watching the show on several occasions and I've found problems with it: Seinfeld is not remotely funny, the writing is of poor quality, the characters aren't likable, the acting is fairly poor (then again, the quality of acting is mainly dependent on the quality of the writing) and instead of a plot, it has a poorly-conceived concept.
I just recently finished watching Seinfeld in its entirety after years of sporadic episodes and it is without a doubt the best and funniest show that was on TV.
Nothing specific: just what happens in the lives of Jerry Seinfeld, George Costanza, Elaine Benes, and Cosmo Kramer.
It has been over nineteen years since the show about a stand-up New-York City comedian, "neat freak" named Jerry Seinfeld, and his three colorful friends, a loser, a doofus, and a neurotic ex-girlfriend aired its final episode on May 14, 1998 but still no sitcom on TV has come close to its incomparable brilliancy which lies in the ability to make somehow a viewer addicted to the narcissist and selfish characters that constantly put themselves into the pointless and absurd situations.
In its best episodes, "Seinfeld" is perfection that no other show would ever achieve.Even now after all these years I keep asking myself why the show about four rather selfish, egocentric, immature, often back-stabbing and outrageous characters who are afraid of commitments has been so universally loved and admired?
Even Curb Your Enthusiasm, Larry David's baby in all its greatness is not as enjoyable as "Seinfeld." Curb Your Enthusiasm is about George Costanza whose dreams came true - he is rich and had for several seasons a beautiful loving wife but he does not have Jerry, Cramer, and Elaine in his everyday life.
Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld set up the premise and structure of the show with such great finesse and panache, it had everything from compelling character to classics eps and wonderful interweaving storylines that could be cunningly linked into a whole half hour, Now this was comedy unlike Friends which relied on cheap predictable gags, perhaps the subtle dark humour in Seinfeld was too intelligent for some people.
After seeing the complete first season and some of the series of the second one, I must admit that it is not ELR or even "Friends" that's the most overrated sitcom of all times, but it is Seinfeld instead.
I guess their were a few funny things most of the stuff was just stupid.Watch a much better show like friends for instance because that is a good show..
The laugh tracks don´t bother that much when the sitcom´s actually a very good one, but there are just very few American sitcoms worth watching: Seinfeld, Just Shoot Me, The 3rd Rock From The Sun, Frasier...
You got some good ones likes MASH, friends and 3rd Rock from the sun, but then you get the mother of all American comedies SIENFELD.Sienfeld is by far the most hilarious and best sitcom that America has to offer.
I think Kramer and George steal the show but Jerry is still a good comedian and hands down to him.There hasn't been an American comedy as good ever since Seinfeld left us, sure friends was big but it was 2nd class compared to Sienfeld.
The only reason many post here is that they came here in the first place because they are fans of the show, so I think you can take the fact that most of the posters think Seinfeld is "the greatest sitcom ever" with the proverbial "grain of salt".Well, I didn't come here because I'm a fan of the show - I came here to see if anyone else thinks what I do of the show: somewhat funny at times, but mostly badly written with many situations or story lines that barely tickle your funny bone at all - I mean how much brains does it take to think up some of the nonsense on that show (like dropping a toothbrush in the toilet).
Jerry Seinfeld would do his comedy routine which was based on an incident which occurred in his life, this was what the weekly series was about!!
What a superb continuity work, i mean, every character actually lives in the city, they just don't disappear in the next episode, they have the chance to come back later if necessary, personally, i have to say that this is my favorite show, its so cleaver, funny, hilarious, it makes me cry of joy even in the reruns, what a great sitcom, this is what comedy means: SEINFELD.
They would never make a show like this today in the new P.C. Western World, someone somewhere would be offended by Jerry's offbeat humor(& then sue him for damages on top of that) :( And mostly true to life comedy, many of the people I worked with were like the show's greatly funny cast of characters.IMO, it's still funny seeing this now on DVD, but by the same token, it makes one sad because they will never make another show like this in today's P.C. unfunny climate.
The story follows the life of the comedian Jerry Seinfeld from a fictional point of view ,and his relationship with his friends ,George (Jason Alexander ),Elaine (Julia Louis Dreyfus ) and Cosmo Kramer (Michael Richards ).The group keep talking about relationships ,love,movies ...and also causing a lot of problems around them .This was a great show that was always faithful to his style and I don't agree that the last episodes were bad .Many shows try to imitate the brilliant humor of this show ,and all fail."Seinfled " is unique ..
After having watched almost every episode of Seinfeld it is clear that it paved the way for the single camera comedies of today.
Not just does it influence a few shows such as Curb Your Enthusiasm, which is by mostly the same people so would obviously be similar, and Scrubs but almost every comedy owes it in some way.Seinfeld cleared the way for finding humor in a television show outside of the situation but just in the banter between characters, who chatter about inane topics with pitch-perfect delivery, or having episodes derived out of the minutiae of everyday life.
Characters like George or Kramer really carried the whole thing for me, or even Elaine's boss.
Jerry Seinfeld is an unfunny comedian who somehow got popular enough to get offered a starring role (or maybe he came up with the idea, I never bothered to find out because I never cared) in this hilarious "show about nothing" featuring the daily grind of a small group of friends in New York City.
jerry seinfeld, george, kramer and elaine are all good friends and they don't seem to be very concerned with anything that happens outside that bubble.
Set in New York, episodes from the lives of friends Jerry (played by Jerry Seinfeld), Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), George (Jason Alexander) and Kramer (Michael Richards).
Or what about George's classic Ahab-like confrontation with the ailing whale with George proclaiming."The sea was angry that day!" or what about an early episode where Jerry & Elaine try to work out an arrangement where they can remains friends but have sex too or as they put it."How to combine 'this' with 'that'..." Of course, like most series finales, Seinfeld fell prey to the need to wrap up, close story lines etc, making the last show perhaps their worst show ever with the possible exception of, ironically enough, the very first show.
The writing (some of it the best ever by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld).
I like Jerry Seinfeld as a comedian, but my personal favorite was Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
Watched a classic and an old sitcom SEINFELD season 1.
Its a sitcom starring and co-written by Jerry Seinfeld.