Topic: Seinfeld on All4

[good times]

Always liked how Seinfeld never had any "serious parts" like you see crop up now and again in most other comedies. Not that they can't always work but I can imagine it would seem horribly out of place on this show, like a subplot about Elaine being with an abusive boyfriend a la Roseanne.

Isn't there that one moment at the end of Season 1 where there's a poignant scene between Jerry & Elaine? One of the reasons I skip that season on rewatches, too out of keeping with the rest of the show.

[Puce Moment]

Having seen Friends about 20 times round but being on my first watch of Seinfeld it was weird seeing Janice turn up in an episode as George's love interest. I've never seen her in anything else so obviously kept waiting for her to go "Oh...my...GAWD"

If your radar is up, you will notice tons of stuff that Friends ripped off/borrowed/homaged at in Seinfeld. The Kramer going to LA episode from yesterday had whole sections that seemed to have been lifted by the Friends writers for Joey's trip to LA to be an actor.

[Endicott]

I can't think of any poignant moments, but if you mean the episode where they sleep together, it's hilarious. And of coursed, both Seinfeld and David realised it was a mistake and it was dropped and never mentioned it again.

[icehaven]

If your radar is up, you will notice tons of stuff that Friends ripped off/borrowed/homaged at in Seinfeld. The Kramer going to LA episode from yesterday had whole sections that seemed to have been lifted by the Friends writers for Joey's trip to LA to be an actor.

Yep definitely! Can't think of any specific examples right now but there's been several moments where I thought "they did that in Friends", and I'm only on early series 4.

[icehaven]

I can't think of any poignant moments, but if you mean the episode where they sleep together, it's hilarious. And of coursed, both Seinfeld and David realised it was a mistake and it was dropped and never mentioned it again.

That almost bothered me, as the last bit of that episode had Kramer saying something like "I liked it better when you weren't a couple", establishing that they are again, then in the next episode they aren't and that's it. But then I thought I'm overthinking it, it's one of those shows where there isn't always continuity (I'm sure George goes from unemployed to employed between episodes in series one or two as well) and it's just implied that it fizzled out again. Continuity seems to be becoming more of a thing as it goes along though.

[BeardFaceMan]

I can't think of any poignant moments, but if you mean the episode where they sleep together, it's hilarious. And of coursed, both Seinfeld and David realised it was a mistake and it was dropped and never mentioned it again.

It wasn't so much them realising it was a mistake, more that they didn't want to do it in the first place and the network made them do it, if I remember rightly from the DVD docs.

[olliebean]

That almost bothered me, as the last bit of that episode had Kramer saying something like "I liked it better when you weren't a couple", establishing that they are again, then in the next episode they aren't and that's it. But then I thought I'm overthinking it, it's one of those shows where there isn't always continuity (I'm sure George goes from unemployed to employed between episodes in series one or two as well) and it's just implied that it fizzled out again. Continuity seems to be becoming more of a thing as it goes along though.

There's the odd instance of the continuity having been muddled by the episodes being broadcast in the wrong order. (The only example I can think of offhand is the yo-yo callback being spoiled by being broadcast before the episode it's a callback to, but I'm sure there were a couple of more plot-relevant ones too.) The DVDs have them all in the correct order, but All4 has them in the original broadcast order.

[Gurke and Hare]

I'm watching The Raincoats right now. For a show about nothing, it's pretty tightly plotted. And the close talking stuff is fantastic.

[magval]

Having seen Friends about 20 times round but being on my first watch of Seinfeld it was weird seeing Janice turn up in an episode as George's love interest. I've never seen her in anything else so obviously kept waiting for her to go "Oh...my...GAWD"

Similarly Megan Mullally turns up and never does that Karen voice that I always thought was her actual voice.

[Puce Moment]

I'm watching The Raincoats right now. For a show about nothing, it's pretty tightly plotted. And the close talking stuff is fantastic.

I don't think anyone took the "show about nothing" very seriously at the time, and even less so these days.

Fuckers needed to watch some Central European sitcoms from the mid90s to understand how nothing works.

[SpiderChrist]

I keep reading the thread title as Seinfeld on the A14.

[magval]

Where did 'the show about nothing' come from? Did NBC promote it that way or something? I remember Boomhauer saying it but I doubt that propelled it permanently onto the Internet like.

Seinfeld is fucking NOT about nothing. Why would that not apply to Friends, which is similarly not about anything in the same way?

Is it in the show? When they're pitching 'Jerry' to NBC?

[ajsmith2]

I think the ‘nothing’ really means ‘nothing significant’, as in the ‘no learning no hugging’ rule, and the fact that the characters have no moments of ‘actually this is serious’ like nearly every other conventional sitcom up to that point: they have no significant break ups/births/death/marriages etc that cause character development or affect them as they usually would lead identification characters.

[BeardFaceMan]

I think it the 'show about nothing' thing was because it was one of the first shows where characters have long conversations with each other that have nothing to do with the plot or anything, just a conversation about a candy bar or Superman or something like that. The 'no hugging, no learning' thing is much more appropriate, it's like every episode was a hard reset, they really did just care about making the show as funny as possible and filling it with jokes, and it shows.

[Dr Rock]

Also it's not 'high concept' like the fictional 'He's My Butler' alternative. What's Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air about? It's in the theme song. Or shows like Different Strokes, The Beverly Hillbillies, Mork & Mindy, My Two Dads, etc.

[Endicott]

Is it in the show? When they're pitching 'Jerry' to NBC?

Yes.

[magval]

But it is very, very clearly about neuroses and minutiae, dating and city life, family and friendship. These are not components of the show, they are what the show addresses, deconstructs and comments upon. It is about the tiny pettiness of life. It's about what some people can't see but almost everyone practices.

It's about fucking tons of stuff. It's about MORE than Friends is about, for fuck sake.

Not disagreeing with yousins above, disagreeing with this very readily accepted bullshit misnomer.

Hate the idea if people can't describe something's appeal in one sentence that they would just accept fucking "nothing" as an alternative.

[Andy147]

The "show about nothing" discussion and pitch, from "The Pitch" (S4 Ep3).

[Gurke and Hare]

My point wasn't accepting that it's truly a show about nothing, by the way, simply pointing out that by the standards of any sitcom the plotting of that episode is astonishing. It's Fawlty Towers standard the way the different plotlines intersect.

[tourism]

But it is very, very clearly about neuroses and minutiae, dating and city life, family and friendship. These are not components of the show, they are what the show addresses, deconstructs and comments upon. It is about the tiny pettiness of life. It's about what some people can't see but almost everyone practices.

that all sounds like something you could describe as 'nothing'

[El Unicornio, mang]

Isn't there that one moment at the end of Season 1 where there's a poignant scene between Jerry & Elaine? One of the reasons I skip that season on rewatches, too out of keeping with the rest of the show.

That could count, definitely something you wouldn't see later. There's another scene, I think in season 1 where Kramer makes a serious comment about getting old/dying or something. But they were still finding their feet with the first season, probably realised that serious moments didn't really fit.

[icehaven]

The "show about nothing" discussion and pitch, from "The Pitch" (S4 Ep3).

I just watched that episode a few days ago and it's probably my favourite so far. Was it a response to Seinfeld being called a show about nothing already or is that where it came from?

[Puce Moment]

I think it the 'show about nothing' thing was because it was one of the first shows where characters have long conversations with each other that have nothing to do with the plot or anything, just a conversation about a candy bar or Superman or something like that.

I always took that to be just stand-up content jemmied into people's mouths tangentially connected to the current plot. I'm probably being harsh. It's just something I hate in other sitcoms, films, interviews and just about anything.

[BeardFaceMan]

I always took that to be just stand-up content jemmied into people's mouths tangentially connected to the current plot. I'm probably being harsh. It's just something I hate in other sitcoms, films, interviews and just about anything.

Usually I'd agree with you, just see all the awful films that popped up in the wake of Reservoir  Dogs and Pulp Fiction when Tarantino took a similar approach to dialogue in his films, but I really can imagine Seinfeld and David sat around having those types of conversations that George and Jerry have.

[icehaven]

If your radar is up, you will notice tons of stuff that Friends ripped off/borrowed/homaged at in Seinfeld. The Kramer going to LA episode from yesterday had whole sections that seemed to have been lifted by the Friends writers for Joey's trip to LA to be an actor.

Yep definitely! Can't think of any specific examples right now but there's been several moments where I thought "they did that in Friends", and I'm only on early series 4.

Just watching the episode in S4 with Jerry's new girlfriend with the annoying laugh, and it's literally Janice's laugh!

[Puce Moment]

Just watching the episode in S4 with Jerry's new girlfriend with the annoying laugh, and it's literally Janice's laugh!

Haha fucking hell. Some of the rip offs are so blatant

[good times]

Haha fucking hell. Some of the rip offs are so blatant

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtSwe-mwrFk&feature=emb_title

Not fully watched this yet, but here is 14 minutes worth of Friends/Seinfeld rips

[good times]

I'm really noticing this time around how ridiculously good-looking all the women who date Jerry and George are. I know this is par for the course in American sitcoms regardless of how unattractive the male characters are, but it's ludicrious, even moreso when they dump them because they don't like how they hold a fork or something. And Elaine gets stuck with all these douchey slobs.

It always makes me quite uncomfortable this, especially as it is literally without exception.

Can see why Jerry might punch outside of his league given his reasonably success career as a comedian but some of the stunners George gets... it's quite odd, and as you say Elaine never goes out with any good looking guys (even the so-called pretty boy Tony or whatever his name was isn't really good looking even though it's a plot point)

I like to imagine maybe it's just some running joke but I don't think it's overt enough, and most likely is down to sexist casting (which pains me to say given how much I love the show)

[El Unicornio, mang]

It always makes me quite uncomfortable this, especially as it is literally without exception.

Can see why Jerry might punch outside of his league given his reasonably success career as a comedian but some of the stunners George gets... it's quite odd, and as you say Elaine never goes out with any good looking guys (even the pretty boy Tony or whatever he was called isn't really good looking like the plot wants you to believe)

I like to imagine maybe it's just some running joke but I don't think it's overt enough, and most likely is down to sexist casting (which pains me to say given how much I love the show)

It does seem like an American TV thing, an assembly line of women who look like they just stepped out of a shampoo commercial, ready to be slotted into any love interest storyline.

Here's all of Jerry's:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vYqo8U7OMvAJ:kramersapartment.com/jerry/jerry-seinfelds-girlfriends/+&cd=27&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk

There are some more interesting characters among them, to be fair.

I always thought the laugh thing that Seinfeld and Friends did was supposed to be a piss take of Fran Drescher

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O29ZA24Jao

[buttgammon]

It always makes me quite uncomfortable this, especially as it is literally without exception.

Can see why Jerry might punch outside of his league given his reasonably success career as a comedian but some of the stunners George gets... it's quite odd, and as you say Elaine never goes out with any good looking guys (even the so-called pretty boy Tony or whatever his name was isn't really good looking even though it's a plot point)

I like to imagine maybe it's just some running joke but I don't think it's overt enough, and most likely is down to sexist casting (which pains me to say given how much I love the show)

It is odd. I watched the 'Tony' episode the other day and was shocked at how unexceptional that man was - not even the best looking bloke in the roster of ordinary blokes Elaine goes out with.