Episode Guide (and Series commentary)

This question seems to keep coming up so... I have a complete episode guide in MSWord format giving title, number, original airdate, summary, writer, director, and guestcast. If anyone wants it I believe I can email it for--$0.00. What a bargain! I am trying to get a hold of "The Dealership" and "The Buttershave" from this season. Especially "The Dealership" as I thought it to be a specific type of classic Seinfeldian humor in the way it revolved around a single event-- being at a car dealership...e.g. Parking Garage(23), Chinese Restaurant(16), Library(22), Limo(35), Airport(50), Subway(30), Dinner Party(74). These episodes showed how the characters responded to situations and people surrounding a particular situation or event. The much maligned Puerto Rican Day belongs to this same class of shows and demonstrated some of that early technique of humor.

The success of Seinfeld, in my opinion, was due to this quirky brand of humor-- finding humor in situations we face every day (hence, the "show about nothing") and which we could identify with. It can be frustrating to forget your spot in a parking garage, wait at a restaurant, deal with coach class, buy a car, lie about your persona to get a free limo ride from the airport and accidentally assume the identity of a nazi....well, you get the idea. Seinfeld's humor came from this simple look at life and how the character's exploits are inextricably linked (e.g.--In "The Shoes" Elain's illness leads to George looking at cleavage he shouldn't have been looking at and the Pilot almost gets cancelled; In "The Jimmy" Kramer's dental work ends up putting Jimmy out of commission and George's shoe plans fall through; In "The Opera" Jerry and Elaine are running from and dating the same Crazy Joe without knowing it; in "The Stall" Elaine is having a toilet paper feud, Kramer is having phone sex, and Jerry is dating--all the same person!). These countless links and brand of everyday humor helped make Seinfeld what it was. I always enjoyed line delivery and facial expression. The cast clicked with great timing and trying to produce a quality product. Sometimes I would rewind my tape and look at a scene several times to admire Jerry or Kramer's delivery (George and Elaine, too).

As the show got older the episodes became a little too slick--missing was the raw punch from earlier seasons. The show seemed more modern and sometimes obscure with less of the type of humor that Seinfeld created and delivered as a stand-up. I still thought the show was the best on at the time, though. The Finale just tried to hard. Larry David wanted to do something grand, but Seinfeld didn't become popular off "grand". David wanted to create something big that would encompass almost a decade of success and be innovative at the same time. The idea was admirable, the jail ending was attractive and workable, but it turned into a clip show of old jokes. There was too much reliance on old material instead of creating new humor. David should have concentrated on writing a new show peppered with subtle references for the seasoned viewer. I beleive the concept was workable, but there was just not much filling in the framework. David should have stuck to the original recipe. That's all that happened, in my opinion. It was an admirable effort with a misguided direction. That doesn't change the brilliance of the series. That Seinfeldian humor permeated throughout the series, even into later years--I enjoyed most every episode. Some later eps I enjoyed were The Foundation (127), The Bizarro Jerry (129), The Abstinence (135), The Andrea Doria (136), The Summer of George (148), The Junk Mail (153), The Merv Griffin Show (154), The Betrayal (156), The Dealership (159), The Reverse Peephole (160), and The Maid (167)...and most of them in fact. The best sitcom ever in my opinion...a great brand of humor.

really enjoyed your comments on the series. I was more critical than you of the finale but I resonated to your description of the series.

It was really unique for the reasons you suggest. My sister was won by the bakery episode (dont know if it's called that, but the one where they are trying to get to a party and when they finally get there, are so fed up they leave. She lives in NY and found all the obstacles to be right out of her own experience. Laughing about what frustrates us is very healing (as well as fun) Do you have any thoughts about why people get so caught up in the moral evaluation of the characters, some even perceiving them as downright evil?

cc

This was "The Dinner Party" #74. This definitely was a solid, funny episode. And your sister realized that because she bonded with the characters due to common experiences. This was the essence of the show--the ability to identify with it.

I think much of this talk, which has only sprung up in full force as of late, was spawned by the need to criticize the show. We can't praise it forever. In some sense it is correct to morally evaluate the characters because we realize that they push buttons inside us which we can identify with in every day life. The characters, though, can do and say things that those people in a civilized society would not. Larry David and Seinfeld were very crafty in the way they tested our sensibilites with situations and actions that we could all taste and feel. It seems that David is a complex individual and his willingness and ability to test the waters of a civil society based on feelings we can identify with is part of what makes the show so appealing. The gang can be mean-spirited, but I wouldn't call them evil. For the most part they just were able to say and do things unacceptable in society because they only live in TV society. We shouldn't focus on this. We should focus on, in my opinion, why we respond to Seinfeld's humor so strongly at times and how we can identify with it. The characters were not meant to be role models, but I think the show was always a vehicle through which we can further understand ourselves. But, most of all, the show was to give us a break from real life while discussing it, and to let us enjoy a big hearty laugh--at friends, society, and ourselves.