Fall of Seinfeld?

I don't know.  Oct. 3' show was okay, but the writing still seems a
little different, like in the (shudder) 2nd new episode this season. It
almost seems like the show is being written like a Seinfeld rip-off.
They're trying to hard to use the elements which have always made the
show funny, and in doing so, are ruining it.
   The "Kramer gets a job" bit was too stupid.  It was totally out
character, and worst of all, the husband-wife translation theme has been
done on many other shows.
   The "Lost City" bit was terrible.  That's what I'm talking about when
I say the show's suffering from excess of its own conventions.  It was
just too much.  It seemed like it belonged in a Simpsons show, and, while
the Simpsons is the best show on TV, that kind of comedy doesn't belong
in Seinfeld.  Seinfeld is supposed to be reality-based with just a
little-twinge of surreality now and then.  The whole "city" thing didn't
fit.
   As for "Bizarro World", I liked it, but it also went too far.  I
didn't believe for a second that Elaine would actually fall for these
guys.  And the Bizarro reference was too...obscure.  How many non-comic
fans caught the significance of Bizarro Jerry talking in the
third-person?
   It was better than the 2nd episode, but the writers need to relax a
little.

@d.umn.edu wrote:

You have got to be kidding! Last night's episode was classic Seinfeld and if you don't think so, you obviously don't follow the show very closely. It had all of the elements that have made the show great for so many years(creative dialogue, intertwining plot lines, etc.) It was extremely funny and was much better than the first 2 episodes this year. I barely even cracked a smile the past couple of weeks, but last night I found myself laughing out loud on several occasions. Do me and the rest of the people in this newsgroup a favor--quit trying to find fault with the best show on T.V. and enjoy it while it's still around!

Brent Madden wrote:

Sorry. Now YOU'll to prove yourself. Explain to me the intertwining plot lines in the last episode. Where do the "hands" have anything to do with the Bizarro three. And similarly, how does Kramer's job do the same? The only "tie-in" seemed to be George using the picture of the hands-girl as a way into the club...other than that though, the plots were fairly disparate.

It was better than the first two...mostly on the strength of the hilarious concept of Bizarro Jerry. :) But doesn't even come close to "Master of My Domain" or "Not that's there's anything wrong with it" or even Soup Nazi.

In article , Gussel Timer writes:

Give it up. "Master of My Domain" is overrated. Masturbation jokes made me giggle when I was a teenager, but come on, now, it's pretty much bathroom humor, innit?

And why does the show have to interweave all the subplots anyway? Does that make it funnier? Maybe a little more clever, but I thought the whole overall dilemma of escaping from one's own pathetic existence (which three of the characters faced in this episode) was a clever enough thematic interweaving. George, Elaine and Kramer all attempted to break out of their ruts, prompting Jerry to lament "The system is breaking down", before they all slid back to business as usual.

I can't help but note a sense of desperation in the characters. They all seem to want to change their lives, but somehow are drawn back to the comfort of their shrill friends because it seems a lot safer than the alternative. I mean, as petty and pathetic as these guys are, I'd say the nice safe world of Bizarro Jerry is a void I'd be loathe to step into. And working for those suits? Kramer's way better off living on the margins and mooching off Jerry. George? His only sense of meaning is his relation ship with his friends, or more specifically Jerry and "the two nutcases". And yet, I'm not sure the show's writers have the will to hold this center together much longer. They seem impatient for these characters to get on with their lives and to grow out of their stagnant existence.

I've never seen television comedy done so well, personally. It manages to avoid the mawkishly sentimental practice of showing us a "Very Special Seinfeld", and yet it's not afraid to veer close to tragedy and pathos, which is what separates it from the competition.

I couldn't have said it better. What a bunch of bellyachers! Some fans they are. Bizarro Jerry episode was excellent! I laughed at everything from the beginning discussion of zoo vs circus to the closing of the bizarro guys. I LOVED IT!

On Fri, 04 Oct 1996 12:15:12 -0700, @d.umn.edu wrote:

I didn't think of it that way, but you're right. The show really does look like a poor rip-off of itself this season.

In article , @d.umn.edu says...

You have to admit though, the 'man hands' thing was hilarious!