![]() ![]() Thus, for our sanity, we instead settled on viewing the series within its simple, recognizable “group of friends” construct (with or without dovetailing stories), but noted that the design still resided on top of the requirement that we identify with relatable characters in a mostly realistic universe. Remember, Seinfeld told us in Season Four that it was “a show about nothing,” and in its seemingly corroborating avoidance of lofty, emotional themes, along with the much-discussed “fetishizing of the trivial,” this suggestion has never been rejected outright by the scripts – never mind the plot-heavy stories and gratuitously complex (but since undermined) storytelling, which I have posited as evidence to this “nothing” thesis’ contrary. But there’s nevertheless sustained uncertainty regarding what it is about… and whether or not the show itself even has an answer. So, by the time we get to Seinfeld’s final season, we know it’s no longer about a stand-up comic gathering material. Unfortunately, as we saw, such winking camp undermined the relatable realism that the series still relied upon at the core of its idea-based comedy, and further alienated the show from the audience’s current perception of its premise. ![]() In last week’s entry on the eighth season, we discussed how the show’s diminished capacity to define itself based on its storytelling led to the institutionalized introduction of self-awareness, which crept into both the stories and the characterizations as a means of projecting relatability, thereby shifting Seinfeld’s identity. Seinfeld stars JERRY SEINFELD as Jerry Seinfeld, JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS as Elaine Benes, MICHAEL RICHARDS as Cosmo Kramer, and JASON ALEXANDER as George Costanza. I’m happy to report that the entire series has been released on DVD. Welcome to a new Sitcom Tuesday and the conclusion of our series on the best episodes of Seinfeld (1989-1998, NBC), one of the most popular and critically lauded American sitcoms ever produced. ![]()
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