Wow, it's hard to believe that it's been ten years since Seinfeld aired its monumental finale. Newsweek decided to celebrate the anniversary by having two of its writers debate whether the show has held up over the years. One minor problem with the article, though: the arguments made on either side don't make any sense.One of the reasons Marc Peyser didn't think the show held up was because, after watching the show's reruns for the first time in years, he found that "The pacing - no show had ever packed in so many scenes, some of them lasting a few seconds - now seems formulaic and forced." Well, duh, of course it seems formulaic now, since almost every sitcom that has come since has adopted that method of storytelling.
If he had argued that the later episodes became formulaic, I'd be more inclined to agree; after Larry David left, the writers were too busy trying to shoehorn plots for each main character into each episode to make sure the stories flowed together well or were even very funny.
Peyser then goes on to say that the plots were incredibly insignificant, about clothes and meals and George Steinbrenner rants. But then he says that's why people likd the show. He blunts that contradiction, though, by saying we've outgrown the show now, using M*A*S*H, Mary Tyler Moore, and Taxi as three examples of sitcoms that people haven't outgrown. I beg to differ in one case: how many people now say the last four seasons of M*A*S*H were preachy and unfunny? I guarantee people weren't saying that back around, say, 1981 or so.
David Noonan's article in support of Seinfeld was even worse, though. Did he argue that the show still holds up because of Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer? Because of the funny plots? Nope; he decided that the key to the show's longevity was Uncle Leo, Morty and Helen Seinfeld, Newman, Frank and Estelle Costanza, and Jackie Chiles. It was the side characters that made Seinfeld so great! Oh, and the sets! The sets were awesome!
Excuse me while I bang my head on a table. I loved the side characters as much as the next guy, but without the Big Four, the show would have never worked. And I don't think I ever really took notice of the sets, aside from the fact that Jerry had a blue-and-black couch early on before it gave way to the all-grey couch (Noonan noticed Jerry had a a white coffee table early on, something I never even caught).
How about this: If you still laugh at the reruns, then you think the show has held up. If you don't laugh, then the show hasn't held up. I'm in the first camp. How 'bout you? Let me know in the comments.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-06-2008 @ 11:41AM
Darren said...
The show has definitely held up, I still watch re-runs to this day and I am still hoping and Praying they do a Movie sometime in the near future!
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5-06-2008 @ 12:04PM
Galley said...
It's still the best sitcom, ever. Those guys are obviously idiots (not that there's anything wrong with that).
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5-06-2008 @ 12:05PM
categorically said...
I can't watch the show anymore. It just hasn't held up as much as some others that I enjoy (looking at the Simpsons for example).
It may be that there have been so many Seinfeld clones over the years, but the show is tiresome. Much like the Cosbey show before it, I just can't get into Seinfeld anymore.
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5-06-2008 @ 12:13PM
edd said...
Before Arrested Development, it held up. Now I find any 'stage-sitcoms' too slow paced for my liking. The crown has been passed!
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5-06-2008 @ 12:43PM
Jimmy said...
I enjoyed Seinfeld as much as the next person, but I don't buy the argument that it was the best sitcom ever. My personal favorite was Cheers, and let's not forget I Love Lucy, All in the Family, and, as previously mentioned, Arrested Development.
I am interested in reading the Newsweek piece, though.
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5-06-2008 @ 1:25PM
GL said...
I didn't think it help up, but I have found in the last few months that I've been gravitating to those reruns when I can't find anything to watch. And I've been laughing all over again.
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5-06-2008 @ 1:28PM
Dee Schwartz said...
We watch the reruns every night and love them. Time has not changed people and these people have personalities that every generation can identify. Great shows, loved them then and love them now.
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5-06-2008 @ 1:38PM
Scott K said...
It holds up fine for me. I hadn't watched many reruns until my Tivo started recording them as suggestions, now I usually watch one lying in bed and it usually surprises me how funny I find the show.
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5-06-2008 @ 2:28PM
bevo said...
I still watch Seinfeld because it is the best sit com on television.
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5-06-2008 @ 2:35PM
jordancda said...
Just watched the first and second seasons a month or two ago and I laughed my butt off. I didn't find it stale at all. Obviously the clothes and sets (the telephones were huge!) were outdated but the jokes and setups were all still funny and the plots still believable. Its still relevant to me.
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5-06-2008 @ 2:42PM
Dawn said...
I STILL miss the show
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5-06-2008 @ 2:52PM
hub said...
Did you actually *read* the article? He said the main four rank way up high but that the richness of the supporting characters *in addition to the main four* is what made the show great. And he specifically said the sets OTHER THAN Jerry's apartment and Monk's.
Way to completely miss the point of Noonan's article.
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5-06-2008 @ 4:44PM
Joel Keller said...
Of course I read the article. I just thought that Noonan was making a big stretch to make his point. Maybe he thought that it was too boring to write about Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer and had to cite something else. But it just weakened his argument.
5-07-2008 @ 3:46PM
hub said...
That's fair, but I still think you missed the thrust; everything you mentioned has been written about ad nauseam. So in this ten years retrospective, I think he was picking up the other pieces that make it a *great* show. I can't name one show that has such memorable supporting characters. C'mon, Lt. Bookman, the library cop, was on for ONE episode, and I still remember him and his curmudgeony ways.
5-07-2008 @ 11:31AM
Paul Camp said...
I didn't laugh at the first runs.
Larry David specializes in Shout Humor. I don't like shows that shout at me. I get increasingly irritated as they go by.
And you know if any of those idiots were my friends, I'd kill myself.
But that's just me. The wife loves it.
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5-07-2008 @ 3:43PM
hub said...
Well, sure, they're supposed to be annoying as all hell. They're *horrible* people. Which is kind of why I love the fact that the finale had them thrown in jail for doing the same thing they had done for nine years. It was karma running them down with a HUGE car.
5-06-2008 @ 9:41PM
MacGuffin said...
Seinfeld has definitely held up, 10 years later. And it is definitely in the top 10 best sitcoms of all time-probably in the top five.
Curb Your Enthusiasm is the best sitcom of all-time in my book. I have probably seen each episode a dozen times and I laugh every time I watch it, which is every evening at 11:00 on HBO.
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5-07-2008 @ 1:51AM
Will said...
I find that sitcoms, generally, don't hold up for me in viewing them after there're off the air. Stuff I watched & thought was funny when it aired bores me now. Maybe it was my choice in sitcoms (Still Standing comes to mind. Tried to watch the reruns &thought they were terrible.) I like Two & a Half Men, but I can't watch the reruns anymore. But Seinfeld DOES hold up for me. I don't watch it often, but that's only because I know every show practically by heart. But if I do watch it, I still find it funny & well-written. I'd say it's my favorite sitcom ever, I like it that much.
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5-07-2008 @ 9:48AM
MosquitoControl72 said...
I go in and out of Seinfeld. One bunch of months I love it, then for a year or so I'll avoid it. In part, I can't stand Elaine. Sometimes.
When I go back, though, I end up awestruck. Why? I can't believe how packed the episodes are. For one, it's rare to not see a syndicated episode and go "Oh man, this is a classic, it's the one where...!" But then you see what else happens in it. It's never just the one where one thing happens, it's the one where three memorable things happen. You think you remember the episode where Jerry drugs his girlfriend to play with her toys, the episode where Kramer finds the Merv Griffin set, and the episode where the squirrels break the agreement against George. Then you rewatch and see those are actually all the same episode.
Insane.
So I think, in part, it's held up. The humor has changed, but as a whole the show holds up. As well as early-mid level Simpsons have, as well as I'd expect Futurama will.
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5-07-2008 @ 6:36PM
Peter said...
I still love Seinfeld after watching some reruns more than 10 times. I definitely favor certain episodes however - and am disappointed if the ones I didn't like as much are on instead - can't forget Soup Nazi, Elaine dancing, George Marine Biologist, George Bad Boy, Sue Ellen Mishke, Festivus, etc.
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