What makes a show about nothing so endearing and impossible to ignore? Is it that the characters are so themselves that we relate to them, do the situations encountered by the characters border on past experiences, do we know people who seem familiar to the characters and their stories or are a bunch of losers more captivating than unbelievably great looking, almost always funny characters?
I have a feeling it is all this and more that makes this show one of the best comedy shows on air. Here is a show which might never be a classic, nor did it run and win the marathon for the duration on air, the characters are undeniably plain and ordinary looking, their sense of humor sometimes fails to be outright funny, yet, you can sit through the show without ever thinking, “I know where this is going…”, you do not hear those hideous ‘oooohs’ and ‘aaahs’ every-time the lead couple patch-up after a fight or when one says “I love you” or “I missed you” or something equally sweet and disgusting. In-fact you do not get that kind of rot in this show at all. You need no prior knowledge of the show or the characters, there are no deep relationships between the characters you need to know, you can see an episode for the first time, laugh at the absurdity and forget all about it once the 30 minutes are up.
Analyzing in detail, the show is about 4 characters, Jerry Seinfeld (Jerry Seinfeld) a stand up comedian who has never had a proper office job, is intermediately successful and whose apartment is the primary stage for the drama. His on – off girlfriend Elaine Marie Benes (Julia Louis) - simple looking, fur hating, dance challenged and in your face. His friend George Louis Costanza (Jason Alexander), a 30ish, almost bald, always low on self confidence, nervous in the presence of beautiful women, tubby guy and of course, Cosmo Kramer (Michael Richards), the epitome of craziness, absurdity, illogicality and impracticality. This guy borders closely on lunacy and viewers can be sometimes forgiven if they wonder if this guy should in-fact be let loose on the streets and not in the Looney bin.
The characters are either known to each other since before the beginning of the show or are introduced to one another and the audience during. You can see that, unlike some other supposedly great and long lasting sitcoms (I mean ‘Friends’), the characters do not take to each other like leeches instantly, in-fact, there is no super relationship between some of the characters for a long time. For example, George and Elaine can’t think of anything to talk about without Jerry between them, or Kramer usually is asked to walk out of Jerry’s apartment when Jerry is discussing some things personal with either George or Elaine. Theirs is not the perfect friendship as is usually in real life – very, very rare perfect friendships, especially when there is such close proximity between the players.
Every episode is about mundane, day-to-day, familiar situations that we have either experienced or can easily imagine being a part of. However, what is not so common is the way the situations are handled by the characters, Jerry’s whining and sarcastic comments, Elaine’s expressionful reactions, George’s “why does it happen to me?” responses and Kramer’s usually reckless and unreasonable schemes. The characters get stuck in embarrassing situations, look stupid, are funny without trying, do and say things regrettable and lead dull lives. However, there is never a dull moment in the show.
Larry David (Curb your enthusiasm) and Jerry Seinfeld deserve rich applause for thinking out of the box to create this show. The actors are superb, they make theirs, by nature, atypical characters totally believable. It must be mentioned, however, that Seinfeld himself lacks a bit in this regard. You can catch him often unable to control giggling to himself in the middle of the scenes. The others must have had a tough time, keeping straight faces amidst such absurdity. That speaks of their acting capacities.
What is singularly peerless about the show is its dedication to undiluted, non-sentimental, nonsensical fun. If you are looking at a show which has great looking actors who are usually funny (or they are usually trying to be funny) but can easily make you drop tears of joy and sorrow, who end looking cute and great even when they do something stupid, manage to come out winners from any given situation, however embarrassing or foolish it is, go on and on trying to come to terms about their ages, look balding in one season, but miraculously covered in the next, are in tune with the running fashions and never repeat the same attire in more than 2 episodes, watch ‘Friends’.
For everything opposite watch ‘Seinfeld’.
P.s – Some great moments and episodes:
The Cuban episode.
Elaine going “Stella, Stella….” after taking a bit too many painkillers (Jerry and Elaine’s visit to Jerry’s parent’s home – episode)
Elaine stuck in the crowded train.
Newman questioning Jerry about the postal fraud.
George’s (and later jerry and Kramer) infatuation towards Elaine (‘The sexy voice’ episode).
The parking lot episode (SUPERB!!!!)
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