10/17 show-nonsense

I'm a big fan of the show, but for the first time Seinfeld started to lapse into what other sitcoms tend to do ( Married with Children for ex.) and that is have contrived, unrealistic situations. I thought Newman was a mailman, not some post office detective. And the Medical chart subplot just turned into unrealistic nonsense. If the AMA would ever call someone like Elaine Benes, it certainly wouldn't be in the middle of the night. And those charts go around faster than telegrams. Sorry, but other than a few funny lines, that episode was stupid. Just my opinion....

Terry

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Outstanding comments!! You have captured my sentiments exactly! Those unrealistic subplots are so irritating on other shows. To see them now on what used to be the most original show on TV is very sad and disappointing. That whole Newman postal inspector thing was totally ridiculous and unbelievable. Not only was Elaine's paranoia over her medical chart extremely tedious and unfunny, as you said, the call from the "AMA" in the middle of the night just totally ruined it. Of course, it did settle the argument of how she spells her last name. Other than that, it was a waste of network air time...

Does anyone know the real reason (or even the official reason) Larry David left the Seinfeld show?

In article , [email] wrote:

In article , [email] says...

Larry wanted to leave after the 6th season, but was convinced to stay on one more season. When the seventh season concluded, he left to go write screenplays and hopefully produce and direct motion pictures. I know that when something of his comes out in the theatres, I'll be there! :)

Informingly yours, -tim :)

Robbin or Gary wrote:

Well, let's qualify that. There have been some pretty ridiculous situations in the past, but they made sense because of the characters doing them and the situations they were in. You would expect George to do something totally neurotic and stupid (within context and given reason) like fishing for the rhye outside Susan's parents' apartment. It's also equally plausible for Kramer to chase down a mechanic who stole Jerry's car because that's the kind of guy he is. Also, the show has weird INDIVIDUAL characters. That's what makes the show funny. But they never have EVERYONE acting nuts like all the doctors were in this show. Every doctor turning down Elaine? Impossible. And not even funny at that.

Also regarding Newman, that was a parody of Wayne Knight's (Newman) interrogation scene in Basic Instinct where he was sweating and talking to Sharon Stone. They should have played that up more and really parodied it, but they did a bad job.

"Seinfeld," in what could be its last season, is following the lead of many sitcoms before it...the writers are edging the plots with surrealism. Hence the insanity of Newman interrogating Jerry while HE sits under the hot lights and Jerry is comfy with a soda; Newman's bizarre business card which merely reads "NEWMAN" (probably to tweak all the newsgroupies who argue over Newman's first name); the medical chart conspiracy; and Ron taking sexy pictures of himself for George, though George never gets his pictures back.

The late, great Chris Elliott sitcom, "Get A Life," got very surrealistic in the second half of its second and last season. It was at the bottom of the ratings, due to poor scheduling by Fox, so the writers said, what the heck, let's have some fun! I believe "Seinfeld" is following the same path.

I like it! It gets boring seeing the same old characters, so it's nice to see some growth and evolution. I'd like to see the writers take more chances like last night.

Lee, I have to respectfully disagree. "Get A Life" was my favorite show of all time. The difference between that show and "Seinfeld" is that Chris Elliot made it clear right from the first few shows of the first season what he was trying to do- Paper Boy 2000, etc. And that is develop a show that was totally "off the wall" As opposed to "Seinfeld", which for the most part, was a show designed to have fun with life's funny and uncomfortable situations that these self centered characters find themselves in. I'm suprised they didn't have a follow up scene where Elaine flies to England and the doctor already has her updated chart in his hands.

Regards, Terry

Thanks for your knowledgeable comments. Yes, it's true that there were surrealistic elements in early "Get A Life" episodes, but they always occured in an environment of realism ("Zoo Animals On Wheels," for example). In later episodes, they went TOTALLY off the wall, with Chris introducing SPEWEY to the Pope, Chris winning a spelling bee on the moon, and Chris stalking a woman scientist from such unusual locales as under the cushions of her sofa, for example.

BTW, George's "full-figure" modeling in front of Kramer's camera put me in mind of Chris' "Fame" send-up from the "Handsome Boy Modeling School" episode.

Regards, Lee

[email] (Terry Weiss) wrote:

Unrealistic situations can't be funny? Watch some old "I Love Lucy" reruns. Seemed to work for them for quite a number of years.

Jerry