Fans debate whether "The Chicken Roaster" episode is funny or forced, with most disagreeing with the original poster's harsh criticism and defending the episode's humor.
.... I thought the Chicken episode was the worst Seinfeld I've ever seen. The whole thing was forced from the beginning. The only funny part was the hat falling apart in the restaurant, and maybe the scurrying dummy at the end.
The same old George and the woman who likes him at first until she actually gets to know him. Elaine being incredibly shallow and stupid("Can't the President do anything she wants?") and the whole personality switching thing. I chuckled at the above two instances and just looked at the screen the rest of the time.
People who are saying this is the best episode based on some mythic formula as to what Seinfeld is all about are too full of themselves. It just wasn't funny.
Am I the only one who felt this way. I thought last weeks carpet cleaners were much funnier.
I think you're way off the mark with this posting. Last night's episode was definitely the best of this season, and it ranks up there with some of the classic shows from seasons past.
Concerning Elaine: I don't know why everyone complains that she has become 'shallow' and 'stupid'. She has always been somewhat of a superficial character, but shallow is an exaggeration. Jerry is the shallow one. I wouldn't characterize as stupid her brazen assumption that the president of a company is all powerful; it seems logical for a person with no leadership experience who has had executive power thrust upon her unexpectedly to hold certain naive beliefs about the nature of the job.
The 'personality switching thing' was a great concept executed to perfection. It created one of the show's most surreal moments ever: Elaine is discussing her problems with an attentive Kramer when Jerry pops in, hair and clothes in disarray, begins munching some food and manically talking about his friend Bob Sackamano. The sequence was brief and hilarious. The claim that the idea seemed 'forced' doesn't hold water; if it had been dragged out across the entire episode, then maybe I could agree with you.
Other funny moments: -George singing "Co-stan-za" when leaving the woman's apartment. -Kramer shouting from his window to potential customers of the chicken restaurant. "Bad chicken. Don't go in there. Mess you up!" -Elaine asking the executive who wants to fire her if she can fire him first. -Kramer in bed stuffing his face with chicken when the neon sign shuts off, causing him to sob "Kenny! Kenny!". -When we first see Mr. Peterman, he is hunched over soaking his head with a wet rag ala Colonel Kurtz in a dead-on parody of Apocalypse Now. -Jerry cringing in terror from Mr. Marbles. -Kramer plaintively moaning "Kenny...Kenny" from his window.
There were so many great moments in this show, it's almost criminal to claim it was 'the worst' ever. I guess everyone's entitled to their own opinion, even when they obviously have no idea what the hell they're talking about.
Perhaps a combination of being in the apartment, lack of sleep, radiation from the Kenny Rogers sign, and the supernatural powers of Mr. Marbles? Maybe the reason Kramer is so weird is that Mr. Marbles has been warping his mind for years...
And yet it happened to Jerry after a single night. As I said, any of those items would also have to have applied to others who've been in there. It was just too much of a leap in my opinion. That's why I didn't find it funny.
What? Is that the excuse? Give me a break. So we should all tune in the the Chia Pet channel to watch the plant grow simply because, "Hello, it's television." Get real. You may be that open to whatever crosses your TV screen but most people are a bit more discerning.
The now-famous "Kramer's Marbles" are the ancient sculptures Cosmo stole from the Parthenon many years ago (to use as models for his pasta sculptures). The Greek government has been petitioning for quite some time to have them returned, but he dumped them in a marsh in the Meadowlands and can't find 'em.
I would have to agree that I enjoyed The Checks more, but that's not to say that I didn't like The Chicken Roaster. It had it's moments. I thought that the personality switch between Jerry and Kramer was pretty funny.
I by far thought that the Chicken Roaster was the funniest of the season. The Checks was ok, kinda, guess I've never been confronted by carpet cleaners like that before. Roaster personality switch was classic!
yeah this argument makes sense. so, i guess people who have different opinions are "full of themselves," huh? wait, you have a different opinion so you are full of yourself. Ok, maybe not yourself, but you are still full of something.
The switching of personalites made sense in the confines of the Seinfeld universe. Apparently you've missed the numerous bizzarre happenings that have occurred over the years on the show. The situation just gave the writers a chance to explore another avenue towards getting laughs. I didn't find it funny, myself, and did think it was ridiculous BUT it didn't surprise me since improbable things are always happening on Seinfeld.
Unacceptable. That's a cop-out of an excuse to say that anything goes, and thus, is funny. Doesn't work that way.
I've seen them but they generally were believable. You need some basis in some form of reality for something to be funny. If George started floating around the apartment one day because he ate one of Kramer's beloved melons would that be funny? No, it would be stupid because it's too unbelievable.
Improbable is funny. Impossible is usually not. That's the line I find that Seinfeld has gone over this year.
I didn't say that anything goes. I said that the improbable becomes probable on Seinfeld. It's improbable but POSSIBLE that someone could take on another's personality from living in their apartment and being surrounded by another's possessions. Ok, let's face it, it aint gonna happen. But there are too many other instances of things that would never have happened on the show that I just think the laws of probability are skewed in their little world. What about the episode where Kramer sues the woman who was wearing just the bra for making him crash? Would that case have even gone to court? Hell no! Would Jerry have been infatuated with the woman immediately? Hell no! She was less attractive than Jerry's usual dates. Are George's jobs or the way he has gotten those jobs anything like what exists in the real world? Hell no! There are so many instances of this kind, an average of two a show, I'd say, that I'm just a little surprised you're drawing attention to yet another one.
First you say it's possible, then you say it's not. That's my point. In this case they went too far. No biggie. They could have done several other things that would have been both believable and funny. Switching personalities is akin to my comment of George floating around the apartment. <g>
I hate to say this but there have been many a case like this that have reached the courts. It wouldn't have happened in the way it did there, but, it was BELIEVABLE. Key difference.
And who said they were funny? <grin>
Because, in my opinion, it just didn't work. The concern on my end is that this season is FULL of such examples whereas in the past there were examples of this but few and far between.