I recall that some time during its original run, "Seinfeld" came under fire from anti-tobacco and anti-smoking groups for its alleged promotion of tobacco products. The argument was that the popular sitcom represented tobacco/smoking in a favourable light by having several of its main characters smoking cigars.
I was disturbed at that time because I truly believed that that criticism was a thoughtless, knee-jerk response to only a few moments in the sitcom's entire run. And the response wasn't unique to anti-tobacco concerns.
In fact, "Seinfeld" is replete with moments that depict smoking as entirely unromantic, repugnant, and quite plainly, despicable. Consider "The Boyfriend", aired this afternoon in syndication on the New RO. Elaine, eating in Monk's Diner, brushes an ashtray aside, expressing her total distaste for smoking. Later, she rejects Keith Hernandez because of his smoking habit. She'll name smoking in "The Invitations" as a compelling reason to break off an engagement, providing George with his latest stunt in terminating his relationship with Susan Biddle Ross. "They made *me* sick!" he says of his short-lived affair with a pack of smokes. And how can any "Seinfeld" fan forget Kramer's hysterical entrance in "The Abstinence"? Exposure to cigarette smoke leaves him, in his own words, "hideous!"
It was, I recall, the act of cigar smoking in which several of its main characters indulged, that generated the critique of the sitcom. However, considered again in its entirety, "Seinfeld" emerges with a fairly clean bill of health. Only Cosmo Kramer is portrayed as a cigar afficionado, and, even then, is featured more times without the offending product in his hands than with it. A closer look at his cigar habit reveals it to be a dangerous one: "The Wallet" finds him painfully singeing his own hair; "The Bubble Boy" depicts the destruction of Mr.Ross's beloved cabin, set ablaze by Kramer's neglected cigar butt; and even the much maligned "Peurto Rican Day" emerges with a strong anti-tobacco sentiment. Kramer's cigar is yet again responsible for a crisis, this time sending the Peurto Rican National Flag up in flames and creating an inter-cultural incident.
I don't deny that both Jerry and Elaine light up on occasion. In "The Foundation" Elaine celebrates her effort on the J.Peterman catalogue by boasting, between puffs of her cigar, "it's a peach!". She and Jerry test-drive a would-be wedding present for George in "The Calzone", puffing furiously on Todd Gak's pseudo-Cuban cigars. Jerry describes the experience as similar to trying to "smoke a chicken bone," hardly appealing to anyone (except those with a chicken bone fetish).
It's this diversity, though, that is consistently dismissed by critics of the sitcom. Even a quick overview reveals it to be far less guilty of "promoting" tobacco products than some critics have suggested.
"Seinfeld" wannabes have come and gone, their short sitcom lives as forgettable as their titles. It was that diversity, that willingness to push the envelope, which made "Seinfeld" infinitely complex and wildly entertaining--and its formula impossible to duplicate.
sincerely, a seinfan,
Sydney Olerinshaw.