Nobody thinks a real person died, okay? So let's get that out of the way. Heidi Swedborg is alive. Okay?
The problem was that the episode stank.
Chuckles The Clown died on "Mary Tyler Moore" and it was one of the greatest 22 minutes of television ever. Henry Blake died on M*A*S*H and it was very touching. On "Cheers", Eddie LeBec got tangled in his penguin costume and a Zamboni ran over him and every person in the bar had a distinct reaction in keeping with their character. What did all of these have in common ... sharp, character-driven writing.
What Seinfeld presented Thursday night was sloppy and lazy. What is starting to infect "Seinfeld" is the same disease that destroyed the brilliant "Moonlighting" ... that feeling that we can do anything we want and the geese will eat it up because they don't know no better.
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I'd like to tackle this statement.
All of the character's responses to Susan's death were in character.
George: he proposed marriage out of desperation not to be alone.. not for love. Susan constantly belittled him, as if he was a child (quite like a mother). He showed us that he tried everything to get out of this marriage, and even considered a plane crash. He's been insensitive all his life... even his FATHER didn't care when George Steinbrenner said George was presumed dead.
Now tell me how George's reaction to Susan's death is not "in keeping with his character"? He didn't jump around and high-five everyone or scream "I'm OUT JERRY, I'm OUT!!!" which is what we could have expected given past episodes.
I think people want George to react in keeping with THEIR OWN character.
Jerry: hardly knew her, we shouldn't expect anything but a friendly compassion to George.
Elaine and Kramer: Susan specifically said she thought they were weird and didn't want to see them anymore. She had quite a bad attitude towards all of George's friends. Kramer didn't even know her name.. She wouldn't give them any role in George's wedding. How would you react to someone who shunned her husband's best friends? Should we expect any compassion from them in this case??? No.
In that final scene, it seemed Jerry, Elaine and Kramer were ready and willing to console George on his loss. They were clearly waiting for some reaction before responding. If the girlfriend of a friend of mine (a person I didn't really know) died, I would surely lend a hand to my friend and try to console him, but I wouldn't weep uncontrollably or whatever.
I think they were perfectly in character. They've never had to deal with a death like this before, so who's to say what is "in character" anyway. They didn't act any worse than they've acted in the past.
Eddie Lebec on Cheers had a much better relationship with the rest of the cast. They all liked him. Also, none of the characters on Cheers had ever shown the lack of concern for people as the Seindfeld characters had done time and time again.