On Tue, 9 Jan 1996, R. Traylor wrote:
When I first started watching, it was a little-seen show buried on Wednesday nights filled with actors I'd never seen before, and it seemed like a real find. Now that the show has become hugely popular, the expectations are a lot higher, and it's hard not to judge each new show against the long list of great episodes which came before, even though that's a bit unfair. The fact that the actors are now celebrities also changed the way I watched the show. My belief in the characters was 100% before because they inhabited them so well. Although they're acting just as well or better now, I can't help looking at George and seeing Jason Alexander and the same for the rest of the bunch. It takes away a little bit from the realism. So I guess I've had the same experience that you have, finding myself not laughing quite as hard, but maybe that's inevitable given the show's success and longevity. It's hard to come up with new ideas when so many of the best ones have been used. There's also a dilemma for the writers- if they stick with familiar material, they'll seem to be repeating themselves, but taking too great a departure could alienate some fans. The whole rythym of the show- any show- becomes familiar after a while, and it's hard to stay fresh. After a while Seinfeld's "oh what a tangled web we weave" formula, in which usually little white lies and a whole lot of coincidences lead to some kind of tie-it-all-together comic conclusion, starts to look obvious. But while I don't find it as fresh, it's still the funniest show on TV IMO. The writing has been less predictable this year, and the characters seem to be going in new directions. They could go through the motions and still be a top-rated show, but the enthusiasm still seems to be there on the part of the writers and cast.
Justin