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Did Seinfeld get better or worse as the series went on?

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siddx said:
Started awful, became merely bad, went back to awful. Featured the least likable cast of characters in TV history until curb.
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What TV shows do people who don't like Seinfeld enjoy? From what I've gathered in my years, it's mainly spiteful females who like Friends too much, and people who watch re-runs of The King of Queens and Two and a Half Men on TBS.
 
BobsRevenge said:
What TV shows do people who don't like Seinfeld enjoy? From what I've gathered in my years, it's mainly spiteful females who like Friends too much, and people who watch re-runs of The King of Queens and Two and a Half Men on TBS.
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All those shows you mentioned are awful, but thanks for playing.
 
Shick Brithouse said:
I know I'm in the minority, but I think the show is terrible. Jerry isn't funny, Elaine is hit or miss, George isn't funny either, and Kramer is the only character that is consistently entertaining.

I get the premise that its a show about nothing, but the formula of pointing out quirks of people and making it the center crutch of the show is irritating.

Extremely overrated, imo
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Lol
 
Fry8 said:
Ha. Not at all. Seinfeld is overrated as fuck.
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Girls_picture_fail.gif
 
BobsRevenge said:
Please broaden my experience of Seinfeld haters and say which shows you enjoy.
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Why? Why does one dudes dislike of seinfeld bother you so much? Tell you what, I'll humor you.
It's Always Sunny, The League, and Louie are the three funniest shows on TV right now and far better than seinfeld or curb.
 
siddx said:
Why? Why does one dudes dislike of seinfeld bother you so much? Tell you what, I'll humor you.
It's Always Sunny, The League, and Louie are the three funniest shows on TV right now and far better than seinfeld or curb.
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That's funny because Sunny is a complete rip off of Seinfeld. At least the later seasons of Seinfeld.
 
elrechazao said:
So you contribute, rather than just doing drive bys in the thread?
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Considering this is only my 3rd post in this thread, and my first one clearly stated the reasons why I don't like the show, I hardly consider my posts "drive bys".

But fine. Currently comedy shows I watch and enjoy: modern family, parks and rec, the office, American dad, and bobs burgers. Might be one or two others that I can't think of.
 
Foliorum Viridum said:
1-2 were rough but had the great ideas and was very funny.
3-7 were just amazing TV. The best sitcom you'll ever get. Doubt anything will top it.
8-9 were okay but without Larry it wasn't really the same and I didn't like some of the direction it took. Other than the awful finale, I still liked them, though.

So it started off good, got great, then ended as good. Not a bad arc for a 9 season show at all.
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Other than liking the finale, I agree. 8-9 had some out there stuff, but I can't help but love the Kenny Rogers Roasters and Merv Griffin episodes. They were still two great seasons.

God, I love Seinfeld so much. Time for a rewatch, I think.
 
Foliorum Viridum said:
You like Lost and think Seinfeld is overrated.

In the last 24hrs you've hit my radar as someone with questionable taste :P
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:P

I like good shows too (Breaking Bad, Homeland, GoT)... but I do think Seinfeld is overrated, I tried watching countless times and it never did anything for me.
 
Shick Brithouse said:
But fine. Currently comedy shows I watch and enjoy: modern family, parks and rec, the office, American dad, and bobs burgers. Might be one or two others that I can't think of.
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I actually like most of those shows as well, with the exception of Modern Family and bobs burgers(I have never seen this show). Modern Family had a good first season, but now I feel it's lost whatever it had... and the acting, even though I know it's a sitcom, is pretty terrible to me. I fucking love Parks, though.

I was generally just asking what you liked more than Seinfeld. I don't really care that you dislike Seinfeld, but I do find it... odd, considering your other tastes in comedy. I would figure Seinfeld would be right up your alley.
 
Puddles said:
Season 1 = Meh.
Seasons 2-3 = Pretty funny.
Seasons 4-7 = Amazing.
Seasons 8-9 = Not quite as good. Glad they wrapped it up at this point.

But Seasons 8 and 9 >>>>> Season 1.
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Basically this is the perfect way to put it. But hell, I'd say seasons 8 and 9 are better than season 2 as well.

The show ended where it should have. Things became more outlandish, but it didn't feel forced or anything, it just felt like a phase that would lead into the end of the show.

Also, the finale is garbage but season 9 really isn't that bad. I've been catching episodes of it recently and I still enjoy it heavily.

Basically, Seinfeld had an "arch" of quality to it, in a way, but it really stayed consistent at its high point in the middle five seasons and didn't taper off all that much in the end, IMO. But when Larry David left there was definitely a noticeable change that obviously affected people differently.

Foliorum Viridum said:
You like Lost and think Seinfeld is overrated.

In the last 24hrs you've hit my radar as someone with questionable taste :P
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I like Lost and I still think that Seinfeld is the best sitcom of all time. So...

BobsRevenge said:
What TV shows do people who don't like Seinfeld enjoy? From what I've gathered in my years, it's mainly spiteful females who like Friends too much, and people who watch re-runs of The King of Queens and Two and a Half Men on TBS.
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As someone who loves Seinfeld, there were some other 90's/early 00's sitcoms that I also enjoyed and that I'm curious about in terms of other peoples' opinions.

The Drew Carey Show
The King of Queens
Spin City
Becker

I never got into Friends though, and Everybody Loves Raymond is only a guilty pleasure.
 
randomwab said:
Other than liking the finale, I agree. 8-9 had some out there stuff, but I can't help but love the Kenny Rogers Roasters and Merv Griffin episodes. They were still two great seasons..
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Yeah it let Jerry get a bit more crazy with the ideas and although it wasn't as good it did provide some fun material.

The finale wasn't AWFUL, but relative to the rest of the show and paired with my insane expectations it was a let down. The concept was pretty decent and I liked the dialogue in the cell, but eh, I always felt it should've been more.

To be fair, I have no idea what sort of finale would've pleased me. I don't think it taints the show or anything :)
 
Foliorum Viridum said:
To be fair, I have no idea what sort of finale would've pleased me. I don't think it taints the show or anything :)
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I'm also trying to think of a finale that would've been satisfying. Maybe it should've been combined with the clip show. Basically, the group gets thrown into jail because of the Good Samaritan Law and they reflect over how they've acted towards others over the course of the entire series, eventually realizing that they're socially inept and deserve to be put away. Or something like that. The idea of the finale wasn't really that bad on paper, but in execution it was kind of lame with all of the court room stuff and returning characters.
 
I think I would've preferred a more normal, low key episode that took place in all of the locations the show usually uses, rather than this big trip and the courtroom etc.

Jerry and Larry said that's why they think the fans didn't react well to it in the extras on the DVDs and I tend to agree to an extent.

Also, there are HOURS of great extras on the DVDs that every fan should watch if you haven't.
 
CrankyJay said:
The point of the show is that it was about NOTHING!
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The point of the show was that the main characters were deeply flawed and selfish people who never deserved a happy ending at the end of the episode like almost every other sitcom before it. That's what made the show truly original at the time.
 
demon said:
The point of the show was that the main characters were deeply flawed and selfish people who never deserved a happy ending at the end of the episode like almost every other sitcom before it. That's what made the show truly original at the time.
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Whoosh
 
BigJonsson said:
It got epic whenever Del Boca Vista was involved
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They nailed those scenes. A few years after the show ended my parents ended up moving to Florida in a place just like this...all the backstabbing and infighting about club president is being played out before my very eyes every time I visit my folks.
 
demon said:
The point of the show was that the main characters were deeply flawed and selfish people who never deserved a happy ending at the end of the episode like almost every other sitcom before it. That's what made the show truly original at the time.
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I don't even want to talk about it anymore. What were you thinking? What was going on in your mind? Artistic integrity? Where, where did you come up with that? You're not artistic and you have no integrity. You know you really need some help. A regular psychiatrist couldn't even help you. You need to go to like Vienna or something. You know what I mean? You need to get involved at the University level. Like where Freud studied and have all those people looking at you and checking up on you. That's the kind of help you need. Not the once a week for eighty bucks. No. You need a team. A team of psychiatrists working round the clock thinking about you, having conferences, observing you, like the way they did with the Elephant Man. That's what I'm talking about because that's the only way you're going to get better.
 
Rash said:
I'm also trying to think of a finale that would've been satisfying. Maybe it should've been combined with the clip show. Basically, the group gets thrown into jail because of the Good Samaritan Law and they reflect over how they've acted towards others over the course of the entire series, eventually realizing that they're socially inept and deserve to be put away. Or something like that. The idea of the finale wasn't really that bad on paper, but in execution it was kind of lame with all of the court room stuff and returning characters.
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No, no, no, absolutely not. I love the complete narcissism of the characters in Seinfeld, and the sarcastic commenting on the minutiae of life. The last scene of the finale was perfect, in my opinion.

"It's Always Sunny" did take the concept of Seinfeld, but with more obscene and eventually even less grounded plots (which you can get away with more on US TV these days versus just 15 years ago). Both are awesome shows, and for people who don't like either, I generally think such people are simply not aware of ridiculousness of many societal norms in life, are easily offended by narcissism, and or have trouble quickly grasping sarcastic comments. Perhaps, I can see that being an issue if one grows up in places like the Midwest, California, or Canada- where people are just too damn nice.
 
Maybe the finale shouldn't even have been in Season 9. Maybe that season should have just ended like any other one, and later they could've done a separate finale episode. The extra time to work out the kinks would have been nice.

Foliorum Viridum said:
To be honest, the reunion arc in Curb was a better finale and good bye to the show than any real finale/reunion show would've been.

We were very lucky to get that.
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Agreed. Season 7 is actually pretty weak among the rest of Curb, but the Seinfeld arc itself was satisfying, and served as a clever way to do a "reunion show."
 
To be honest, the reunion arc in Curb was a better finale and good bye to the show than any real finale/reunion show would've been.

We were very lucky to get that.
 
I agree with everyone's rating of the seasons but I think every season is great with the best being 3-7. When I can watch any episode that's on... that means its perfect. Best sitcom definitely.
 
Rash said:
As someone who loves Seinfeld, there were some other 90's/early 00's sitcoms that I also enjoyed and that I'm curious about in terms of other peoples' opinions.

The Drew Carey Show
The King of Queens
Spin City
Becker

I never got into Friends though, and Everybody Loves Raymond is only a guilty pleasure.
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Man Becker was a great show, i love all those shows you listed, especially Spin City. I watch The king of Queens every morning here in Mexico.

Another show i used to love was News Radio but that didn't age very well, i used to love it back in the day and of course Phil Hartman was fantastic in it. I was so sad to lose Spin City and News Radio back then.
 
The first season is probably the worst in that you watch and think "How did this become one of the greatest sitcoms of all time?" Seasons 2 through 7 were great, started declining a bit, but was still good in seasons 8 and 9 after Larry David left and the last episode completely jumped the shark.

I also hated whenever the audience would cheer the first time they saw Kramer in an episode - just stupid to have that in the episode. Fortunately that only lasted a couple seasons.
 
The show is classic in my eyes and, while the seasons were different in tone, I think that it's one of the most consistently funny programs ever on television.

The laugh track never really bothered me because it don't think it interferes with the show. Compared to other shows with laugh tracks, I don't feel like the cast of Seinfeld ever really paused for a laugh track or let it get in the way of their delivery. Basically, the performances still felt natural. The laugh track also doesnt seem forced because the show is genuinely funny and the laughs are justified.

I understand the hate for Jerry's character and acting ability, but I appreciate the character for its differences with the rest of the cast. I feel like Jerry was always "winking" at the audience with the delivery of his lines. Whereas the other characters were almost entirely contained within the sitcom world and never broke down the barrier between the audience, I think Jerry's performance, like when he often tried to contain a smile or laugh, communicates that he is just playing a character on a sitcom.
 
I can't comprehend someone not liking Seinfeld. It's mind boggling.

Sometimes I watch the reruns twice a night.
 
mfsteve said:
I understand the hate for Jerry's character and acting ability, but I appreciate the character for its differences with the rest of the cast. I feel like Jerry was always "winking" at the audience with the delivery of his lines. Whereas the other characters were almost entirely contained within the sitcom world and never broke down the barrier between the audience, I think Jerry's performance, like when he often tried to contain a smile or laugh, communicates that he is just playing a character on a sitcom.
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Yeah, the genius of Jerry's performance is the fact he knows he's a shit actor and he doesn't try to hide it. If it were any other type of show it would be an issue, but with a sitcom that relies on audience's being aware of the absurdity of it all - to the extent there's a live audience and laughter track - the fact you see him cracking up over his own material only makes it funnier, I think.

I always love the delivery of the line "Let me finish my coffee and we'll watch them slice the fat bastard up" because he can barely get the words out without laughing, but that to me makes it 100x funnier because in real life he'd be laughing as he says it. It makes the show seem more natural in a way.
 
BobsRevenge said:
What TV shows do people who don't like Seinfeld enjoy? From what I've gathered in my years, it's mainly spiteful females who like Friends too much, and people who watch re-runs of The King of Queens and Two and a Half Men on TBS.
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Arrested Development, Community, Parks & Rec, I know all these are recent but i feel the characters and writing is better then Seinfeld
I blame most of my dislike for Seinfeld on the constant reruns, I remember really liking it years ago. also i can't watch friends.
 
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