Missing from recent Seinfeld episodes

I think I have figured out what has been missing (from my own stadpoint)from the more recent episodes. I don't think the Seinfeld is necessarily less funny than it was a few years back. I think that the element of realism is missing. I mean, look at some of the goofy plots and storylines there ahve been the last 2 (or 3?) seasons and compare them to the first 100 episodes. I use that 100th episode as a timeline, because it has highlights. I mean , I can actually picture what happened to the gang in "The Parking Garage" or "The Chinese Resautant" or "The Deal" happening to myself, or people I know. Now (in recent seasons) it seems like they try to make George the most outrageuos, Kramer the goofiest, Jerry the most neurotic (for lack of a better term) and Elaine the most stereotypical as possible, THEN they attempt to write a show around that, without respect to whether or not these situations cold actuall happen or not. Irthink that is what attracted me to Seinfeld in the early years. Very imperfect people in very impefect (but relatively realistic) situations.

Comments??

Couldn't agree more. The difference is especially visible on nights when a 97-98 Seinfeld is on NBC and a syndicated repeat is also on. (Here in NY, the old episodes are shown at 11 p.m., so the new stuff is already in our minds.)

Once they established the characters' personalities, the writers (or more likely, the group of writers who took over during the run) fell back and exaggerated those personalities rather than refine them, which is what the first 100 episodes did.

Is that par for the course for most long-running TV series? To some extent, yes. But one also wonders if the broadening of the characters was the element to turn the show from a top 20 series to a top 5 one. Maybe that says more about the audience than about the series.

There have been some fine episodes this year, including the Merv Griffin set and "The Cartoon." But I don't get the sense of subtlety that I did from the older ones.

I'm one of Seinfeld's more loyal fans, but I have to agree. The 9th season episodes are still very funny (which is and always has been the main focus of the show), but the charm of these four losers in situations that we've been before in is gone. Then again, how many of us have been offered pilots from NBC? And how many of us go visit a nasty bubble boy in New York and burn down 19th Century cabins? Not all of Seinfeld's older episodes were very realistic, but most of the episodes did concentrate on that realistic formula. Hopefully Jerry and Larry can bring back that realism for the final one.

I have gotten a lot of flames about my post (which I have copied below). For the record..I LOVE Seinfeld. I DO NOT hate it. I have literally watched every episode to my knowledge. I will continue to watch it. I am not happy about Seinfeld ending. I AM happy that it is syndication and I can see it until I am old and gray....well at 28 I'm already starting to gray, so old anyway. Thanks to the many folks who emailed comments that didn't have profanity or insult my intelligence.