Well, here's it is folks, the first post Larry David show. How was it? It did seem a bit different...
First off, I noticed that there were many moving camera shots, something that Seinfeld normally didn't do. I have a suspicion that Larry didn't like them for some reason and preferred stationary shots to tracking ones. The whole effect seemed rather odd to me and seemed to change the tone of the show somehow. Made it a bit more lighthearted. I'll have to get used to it. Also, no opening monolog. While there have been shows in the past without them, I say good riddance once and for all -- I think more show instead is a good trade-off, considering the snippets from his stand up act were getting old. I mean, who hasn't read Seinlanguage by now?
But the show was funny. Lots of great stuff including Peterman, the Karate class, the Star Trek references, Jerry's focus group meeting at Monk's, George's obsession with cheese, and the flashback to Jerry's break-up with Jeanane Garafolo. Also, the little bit where Jerry tells his father that he isn't getting married and then yanks the line out of the jack after the phone rings a split second later was priceless. There were too many funny things happening to conclude that the show "sucked" (something that has been bandied about in a.t.s. recently).
On the other hand, it was not one of the better episodes because there were so many plots going on at the same time, and only one of them dovetailed nicely into the other (Elaine's & Kramer's). The rest kind of fizzled out at the end, which is disappointing. I conclude that its all a matter of tying up loose ends and throwing out stuff to see what works and what doesn't, so I will reserve judgement as to whether or not this ep is a harbinger of things to come. But Seinfeld traditionally seems to start slowly, so I'm not too worried about it.
While it was funnier than many Larry David episodes, the show did seem to lose some of its edge and focus. The scenes with Susan's parents and the foundation board dragged too much, and they really didn't do anything with Dolores/Mulva. I guess she had some time off from her USA series.
Best line: "My neck feels like one big monkey fist!" (this really has nothing to do with my sig -- I don't have an obsession with lower primates if that's what you're thinking).
Hanson
"Take your stinking paws off of me, you damn dirty ape!" - George Taylor