TV Draft Round 3 – Pick 2 – Seinfeld

Welcome to the Hanspostcard TV Draft. The remaining 8 rounds will be posted here. We will have 64 different TV Shows by 8 different writers. I hope you will enjoy it! Today’s post was written by Mike from https://musiccitymike.net

Seinfeld

I must begin by saying that I’m puzzled as to why it took me so long to decide what my next pick in the TV series draft would be. The number of Seinfeld YouTube clips I’ve watched should alone justify making the “show about nothing” my #3 overall pick.

My history with Seinfeld however is odd in that I did not watch a single episode in real time until I viewed the underwhelming series finale at a private corporate event on their then-expensive big screen. By then though I had at least seen some reruns but had yet to become passionate about the show. But not too long after the series ceased, I got hooked by watching many more reruns and running through my Dad’s DVD collection when I visited my folks. Watching Seinfeld soon became highly addictive for several reasons upon which I will elaborate.

Seinfeld ‘s obvious attractions are of course that it is very funny, all the characters are incredible, and like my prior two series picks, it is set mostly in New York City. And to that last point, the show’s brilliant production never once makes you think that it’s all done in a Hollywood studio. It really feels like it’s all happening in the Big Apple.

Remarkably, I have always been fascinated by how timeless Seinfeld is. Despite the lack of cellphones and the presence of Jerry’s dated haircut and his old Macintosh computer visible in the background, the storylines just seem so relevant to whatever decade you are watching them in. Relationship issues, comical character failures and the unabashed selfishness exhibited by the four main characters are things we can all forever relate to and laugh about.

Seinfeld’s impact on popular culture is also unprecedented. For a show that is now more that 20 years expired, there are so many expressions that are now accepted vernacular. Aside from the obvious “Yada Yada” and “No soup for you!”, quite often, personal situations have made me recall and reference old episodes. One recent example dealt with someone who was perpetuating an obvious lie until when like George Costanza, “He finally reached the end of the Hamptons!” Amazing how many people I said this to remembered that car ride ending in a walk when George didn’t admit to his fiancé’s parents that he didn’t have a house in the Hamptons until they all reached the Atlantic Ocean.

Each Seinfeld episode typically had three or four concurrent storylines and we often forget the classics that intersected with one another.  One was when the injured squirrel, for whom George paid for surgery to impress a girlfriend, got snatched away by a hawk during Kramer’s mock Merv Griffin Show. (After he found the old TV show set props in the trash bin.) On the same “show,” Jerry also was outed for drugging his girlfriend so that he could play with her rare vintage toy collection.

Being a baseball fan, having George work for the Yankees and seeing some real-life Yankees and Mets playing themselves on the show was something special. In fact, if I had to pick my favorite episode, it would be the one in which George suggested the Yankees wear cotton uniforms since cotton fabric breathes. Then came the problem when the non-polyester uniforms shrank making play difficult. This was also another great multiple story line show in which the gang watches the hapless Yanks from an Atlantic City hotel room where Jerry also accidently drowns the trained doves from Miss Rhode Island’s talent act. (Kramer was coaching Jerry’s girlfriend for the pageant.)

Writing about this show makes me want to watch it right now. It also makes me ponder where did Kramer get the money to live on and how many girlfriends did Jerry have? It’s hard to imagine what life would be like without the ability to go back and visit Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer on a regular basis.

Finally, while there never was an official Seinfeld reunion show, there was a short segment on Seinfeld co-creator Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm where we did see the show’s main four characters in the future. Here’s a look at those snippets all combined in a clever update that makes you long for some more new Seinfeld. Maybe someday.

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball fan, old movie and tv show fan... and a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

34 thoughts on “TV Draft Round 3 – Pick 2 – Seinfeld”

  2. I liked the show solely in the parking lot and the one in the Chinese Restaurant. That shows you what great writers they had.
    At one time I was watching and I thought…man these characters are mostly terrible people but they do and think thoughts all of us do at some point. Great review Mike.

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  3. Pingback: TV Draft Round 3 – Pick 2 – Seinfeld – Urban Fishing Pole Lifestyle

  4. Good day to you Max.
    I enjoyed reading how you came to be a fan of it. I agree it has aged so well.
    My kids have been watching Seinfeld episodes every day for the last week or so. They adore it. It’s my favourite comedy series followed closely by Curb Your Enthusiasm and after that the original Office series (UK) and Fawlty Towers.
    I think I have seen most episodes of Seinfeld at least 4 times. I disliked the underwhelming finale, but the lead up ‘Time Of Your Life’ and Superman reflection clips were great not to mention the bloopers and making of Seinfeld docs. The whole series is a work of Genius.

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    1. Oh this review is from Mike…but yea I do like the show. I started to watch this in syndication and I liked it. Then…I started to think…hmmm… these characters arent’ the nicest people in the world lol…but they thought things that all of us do…and I could relate to it.

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  5. I also never saw Seinfeld during the original run. I saw reruns mostly and then the finale.

    I believe you either love the show or hate it, at least that’s been my experience. Like any show, there are episodes that are superior to others, and I certainly have my favorites.

    I believe the characters and their unique personalities made the show. I also think the minor characters did, too. That’s probably why sony of them were brought back for the finale.

    My favorite minor characters have to be George’s parents. Jerry Stiller and Estelle Harris were just amazing!

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    1. I agree that Jerry Stiller and Estelle Harris were great. I also liked the more calm parents of Jerry…they all added to it.
      Oh yea…it was a character driven show no doubt.

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    2. It did reflect the times and although those characters aren’t the most likable… you can relate to some of the things they did and said.

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  8. I guess I’m like many of you – somehow I rarely watched it when it was on in the 90s, just infrequently enough to know who the main characters were. I did see the finale – in odd fashion, I was out with friends at a bar (that was during my youngish guy time when a few of us from work all took out to a local club on Thursday nights for drinks and listening to retro 80s music) and they had it on on a huge screen, but with sub-captions so we had to try to read along. Anyway, a year or two later, i started watching re-runs and found the library had the whole collection on DVD (although rarely on the shelf) and I got to see most if not all of them. Some truly hilarious episodes, and unusual not only for having the main characters all rather unlikable, but for having the main guy secondary to his secondary characters. My fave episode has to be the Puffy shirt.

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      1. the Chinese Restaurant one was very good and pretty ground-breaking for using just one set (and one camera probably). I have a book on NBC in the 90s somewhere, and I think I recall reading Jerry and DAvid did that show because the network was griping he was going over budget so they set out to make one as cheap and simple as possible. The parking garage one I think was the one co-written by the King of the Hill writer Daniels.

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    2. interesting take, John. I agree with your assessment of the main characters, but it was still funny (to me at least), but unlike most shows, you didn’t find yourself cheering for the stars. I for one kind of liked the ending and found it appropriate and kind of funny the parade of character witnesses against them!

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  11. I’ve been re-watching the series once it went on Netflix. I am on Season 8 so close to the finish. I forgot what horrible people these four were as far as characters. No wonder the show ended the way it did. But man, it is some fantastic television.

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    1. You are exactly right…in the middle of watching it in syndication I thought the same thing…it was when George’s finacee died of licking the cheap envelopes or stamps that were bought by George…I thought…I would hate these people in real life.

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  13. High school, every Thursday night, 7pm Mountain Time: Friends, then Seinfeld at 7:30pm. It was my reward after completing all my homework. Seinfeld was groundbreaking, and we knew it. And, they did it right and ended on top instead of fading out of creativity like most shows. I miss it being a live, standard tv event 🙂

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  14. Pingback: TV Draft UPDATE – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

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