SEINFELD's GREAT place in TV history

Seinfeld is a show that transends shows like Cheers. Even though I enjoyed Cheers in never pushed the envelope and entered new territories of comedy.

Shows that did were: All In The Family, MASH, I Love Lucy, Seinfeld,... others?

What new territory did "I Love Lucy" enter? It was one of many sitcoms of its period involving a ditzy wife causing trouble for her husband. Others in this genre included Burns and Allen, and I Married Joan.

As successful as it was, I feel to see how "I Love Lucy" was particularly innovative. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

In article ericperlin@SPAMSUCKS!!!pb.net writes:

I am more than happy to correct this error. If you watch I Love Lucy today, almost everything about it seems very "normal" and "typical" for a sit-com. The reason it IS innovative is that all those sit-com cliches were INVENTED by I Love Lucy!

Desi Arnez created the 3 camera set up that most shows still use today. It was his/Lucy's idea to film each episode in front of a live audience (most other shows of that era did them once live and that was it; they saw the benefit of capturing each show for later airing). Plots that are painfully worn-out today were invented by the 3 writers of ILL and have been used over and over ever since.

I Love Lucy may not be THE funniest show ever (that is open to debate), but it IS without doubt (to me) the most influential sit-com ever.

I'll be SO disappointed if Babu doesn't come back to exact his revenge on Jerry.

Gary Chase 525-4599 wrote: <snip why Lucy was great>

Gary, Thanks for the explanation - that is exactly why I listed ILL. It was the first! It is only now that the shows that break that 50 year old mold are daring and innovative. Remember Lucille Ball was a goregeous movie actress before her show, not a comic so taking the physical humour route was a huge risk but it payed off big. The audience saw it as funny because Lucille Ball did not have a history of being the dizzy blonde. She created a terrific character and pulled it off wonderfully.

ericperlin@SPAMSUCKS!!!pb.net wrote:

Yes...The Mary Tyler Moore Show was, IMHO, as good as Seinfeld is today. That was another instance where great writers teamed with great performers.

The Mary Tyler Moore Show, maybe ?

Ronie J Whalen