Hi everyone. We've seen a close talker (Judge Reinhold), a low talker (the Puffy Shirt lady) and a high talker ( Elaine's girfriend's boyfriend, who always confused Elaine on the phone.
Let me ask... What is the most logical next step? Of course... The FAR Talker. In fact, they've already done it... George's father, Costanza the elder. He always screams at everone from across the room..
Your point?
aspect of the character so as to avoid an endless stream of Jewish jokes. (Ever see Jackie Mason? It gets old real fast.)<
I do believe they are purposely downplaying that aspect of the character, but I don't believe it's because Jewish jokes "get old." I think that they believe that by making the Jewish characters on the show seem as gentrified as possible, and without making any references to their ethnicity, they can slip it past people in middle America who don't know the difference.
The problem is, they want to have it both ways. They hire Jewish actors on the show (Look, you mention Jackie Mason, but Jerry Stiller is next to Mason as one of the most classic examples of old-fashioned, Catskills-style Jewish comedy still working. The idea that any producer in their right mind would hire Jerry Stiller to play an Italian-American father or a Spanish-American father is absurd. It would be like hiring Mel Brooks to play a Hawaiian.) SEINFELD is one of the best homes for Jewish humor on TV, probably since the old Dick Van Dyke show (yes, Rose Marie and Morry Amsterdam are Jewish. Please don't argue with me here). I think the show is packed with references to Jerry and George's Jewishness, including, most compellingly, their parents, who are so stereotypically Jewish I wouldn't be surprised if the Defamation League took offense. Besides, the joking in many episodes about Nazis (the soup Nazi, the O'Brien episode) and the Holocaust (the Schindler's List episode) are the kind of jokes, that, frankly, I don't think Seinfeld and Larry David could get away with as Gentiles. Look, I won't cite a litany of references again-- it's been done in many other strings than this one-- but I believe they are obviously Jewish and it still floors me that anyone actually believes otherwise. Again, I do agree that it must take a concerted effort on Seinfeld's and Larry David's part to avoid making direct reference to it, which bothers me a bit.
One last thing--- the epiosode where George converts to Latvian Orthodox. Jason Alexander has stated many times that in his portrayal of George, he has shamelessly copied Woody Allen (no questions there about Woody Allen's Jewishness, I hope.) Well, anyone who saw "Hannah ans her SIsters" might reconginize that the conversion episode quite hilariously followed, in a couple scenes, Allen's decision to convert to Catholicism. I mean, that was the joke in that epiosode! yet the writer pulled their punches in that episode and only let Estelle say, "you can't worship in your own faith" -- still staying away from the point.
The obvious reference in George's case, is the O'Brien epiosode, in which he unwittingly poses as a Neo-Nazi, and the white supremecist says to him, "You don't *look* like an O'Brien." Again-- if you take away George's Jewishness, which some people seem determined to do, the entire joke in that episode is lost, and all you have are inappropriate Nazi jokes.
(Gasp) Sorry, I've been letting that build up in me for awhile. I guess the suggestion that Jerry Seinfeld is not Jewish was the one that finally drove me over the edge. Jennifer S. Dawson New York, NY 10011