seinfeld popularity

-> How do you account for the popularity of the Seinfeld show -> in Middle and West USA, given the extreme New York flavor -> of the the humor and story-lines???

I think there are far more people who can relate to the reality of New York. Shows based in California always seem to have an unreal aspect about them. Everyone in rich and beautiful, has a nice, big, well decorated house, everyone is employed, etc. My life is not like this. I mean Jerry is living in a normal appartment, with furniture similar to mine (but he does have more cereal boxes than anyone I know), and the characters seem to lead a more realistic life.

Try to imagine Ralph Kramden driving a bus in LA... it would not work. Or Rob Petrie commuting to Barstow instead of New Rochelle. NOT.

Thats my 2 cents...

Alan Kennedy - [email]

"Flaming Globes of Sigmund.... thats not funny...."

blah blah blah..... -> in Middle and West USA, given the extreme New York flavor -> of the the humor and story-lines???

Jerry does seem to throw around the dough, however. $300 for Leo's watch and around $750 to pay for the hit and run, not to mention the wad o' cash he put in the billfold given to his father!

In article [email] writes:

I think it was $400 in the wallet. Then there was the $1500 supposedly lost then used for the cement-filled washing machine, the four-digit figure for the rained-on leather coat, the BMW 850 (about 80 grand, I think), and so on -- I'm sure others can come up with more. And judging from the new house he bought in LA, he's certainly not hurting in real life, either. (There was a feature on it in the Real Estate section a couple months ago.)

John

                          ^^^^^^^ It was suede! :-)

I wonder if he makes as much as Ted Danson...

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Who was the Mediterranean woman, as Kramer called her, in the Coma episode? I missed the credits when I taped it. Is she really Mediterranean? She sounded Swedish to me.

Nathan

In article

[email] (John Schiermeier) writes:

(stuff about Jerry Seinfeld having lots of bucks deleted)

Didn't your hear? He makes $4000 per episode (he splits $8000 with his co-creator).

Not much to purchase a Hollywood Hills dreamhouse with...or wait: which iteration of Jerry are we talking about? The one who's making a series about nothing, or the one who's in a series about nothing in a series about nothing...

My already-tenuous hold on reality is slipping fast.

Paul "Oh, dear; I think you'll find reality's on the blink again" Sabourin.

Speaking of throwing away the dough:

     Who carries $300 in their wallet?  In NEW YORK no less!?
     Jerry just pulls out $300 bucks to give Leo and I'm thinkin': Yeah,
right...

$300 barely covers a heavy date in New York (theatre and dinner afterwards). While you might think one would use credit cards, it is not at all unusual. New York is very expensive. You always need to have twenty to thirty bucks just as reserve in case you get stuck somewhere and need a cab bad.

As far as carrying a lot of money around and the potential for getting mugged, how much money you have does not have much to do with it. People who get mugged generally advertise themselves in some way as a

In article [email] (Steve Mitchell) writes:

He planned it the whole time...the dinner, the waitress, it was all a huge plot to get Uncle Leo to sell him that watch back. He had to take the chance of carrying enough pay off money...

--tom

He didn't know Uncle Leo even had the watch until they were in the restaurant already. He couldn't've planned it.

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[email] (Steve Mitchell) writes:

I assumed he had gotten the money in his wallet previously, just for that purpose.

Actually, as anyone who lives here knows, $300 bucks is about one weekend's spending money for a young urban professional of Jerry's means, although most people would probably make two or three trips to the cash machine over the weekend, since there is one on every corner. This is why schmucks like me stay home and watch so much TV. The point being, it isn't really that farfetched for New York. Haven't you ever carried a weekend's worth of cash around?:-)

	Finally, the discussion comes round to the original point of the
	first posting of the "Seinfeld popularity outside New York" theme.
	I originally posted the question because I believed that, unless
	the viewer has had experience of living in New York, many of the
	new york jokes and references are lost.  The amount of discussion on
	the small matter of Jerry's cash proves this point.

	Thank you Robert for bringing your understanding of a simple
	New York truth to light; people carry/spend much money in
	the Big Apple.  I hope that people like you (who know of NY life)
	will not have to continually explain the ways of city life
	to Seinfeld fans from west of the Hudson.

Enjoy...

Oh, please, enlighten us with your wisdom. Yes thanks to Robert for explaining the deep meaning behind the perplexing idea of carrying a lot of money. Shit, thanks for your explanation,too Jeremy. I hope people like you (who know of NY life) will not continually bore the Seinfeld fans west of the Hudson with your *NY* wisdom.

OK Steven, if you want to talk about boring, how about discussions regarding how much money Seinfeld spends per episode.

Anyway, I will not be posting to Seinfeld in any way other than the most banal and mundane, since that seems to be the fad. Somehow, though, I thought that there was more to the show worth discussing than what was your favorite line, what type of bike Jerry owns, etc.

{* End sarcastic tone here *}

In all seriousness (the above was sarcastic, a New York trait), I have been lambasted enough for the thread I started about Seinfeld popularity and understanding. I did receive many responses through the mail which have resulted in good discusions of the abovementioned theme. But I can understand that the tone I used was a little condecending (sp?). No offence intended, just a little proding to provoke a discussion. I really was getting bored of the simple rehashing of last week's episode. This is not to say that the discussions of style (is doing the rubber pencil funnier with/without Elain's commentary) are not interesting. I really do enjoy these. And anything about Kramer is fun to read, because it brings to mind a picture of Kramer which always brings a smile or chuckle.

Enough said, enjoy the show and rest easy the New York attitude is being retired. (but maybe we could stop the bean counting?)

Jeremy

PS. As someone pointed out to me via email, you don't have to be a cartoon to enjoy the Simpsons, but it helps.

DavidGe asks: Haven't you ever carried a weeks pay in your wallet?

Not a chance Dave, I'm about as cheap as George.

I have to say that since this is TV, I don't mind seeing people with $300 in their wallet, even in NYC...sure you carry it because without a doubt your apartment will be ransacked when you get home..(not really, I'm from NJ, right outside of NYC and it's in no way as bad as the rest of the country perceives). HOwever, television is *fantasy* life and a lot of what happens on Seinfeld, would never really happen in real life (e.g. deflating the bubble boy)... but that's what makes the show funny--the absurdity, the fantasy of having hundreds of dollars to throw in garbage cans....someday that'll be me!

Re: Television fantasy/believablity:

Well, true Seinfeld does outrageous things that we all take without questioning, but the $300 in the wallet is pushing it. It's not unlike when you watch a horror or sci-fi movie and during a special effect say, "That wouldn't happen that way!" How could we possibly know the correct way to kill a monster or explode a spaceship? It's just gut instinct I tell ya...

I hate to repeat myself here, but carrying $300 in your wallet _IS NOT_ farfetched in New York City. Since my first gentle post regarding this topic didn't sink in, allow me to itemize:

It's Friday Night. You're treating your significant other to dinner and entertainment. Still with me? You decide on a moderate restaurant and average tickets at a Broadway show. Dinner for two, with appetizer, entree, dessert, and a couple of drinks each will cost you $80.00. Average tickets for a Broadway show are $50 each (good seats are $65). You've spent $180 already, not including any incidentals such as cab fare. That IS life for average middle class people in this city.

If the disbelief of carrying $300 is just about fear of being mugged, you're wrong there as well. While there are lots of people who are afraid of everything in the big city, most of those people don't choose to live here. I was raised in a town of 4000 people, never left Maine until I was 17, but I've ridden the subway at 4am and anything else I wanted to do in this city without any major problem. I also dress inconspicuously, the only jewelry I wear is a $25 Timex, and I know Uptown from Downtown. And so do most of the other millions of people that negotiate this or any other city on a daily basis without any fear.

I DON'T believe you have to live here to appreciate Seinfeld, but you're wrong about the $300 in the wallet. Sorry about that.

Robert

More on the $300 argument:

     Sheesh!  Rob, buddy, don't cop a hernia on me!  Did it never occur to you
that we're on a net and you message may have been delayed so that I didn't read
it until posting a second message???
     Okay already, so it's not inconcievable that a New Yorker would carry $300
in cash...

BTW: Seinfield's humor is universal, and living in New York certainly does not mean you appreciate the show any more that out-of-staters. Ok, now enough arguing. Can't we all just get along (emotional sniff)?

In article Steve Mitchell, [email] writes:

[conclusion to $300 discussion munched]

certainly

now

Seinfeld's humor is universal. Many jokes, though, in the show, are definately geared for New Yorkers. It's not that non-New Yorkers can't understand the joke, it's just that it is _much_ funnier when you have been through it yourself. Example: Kramer and the subway stranger going for the paper like an Old-West showdown.

I live in LA. The movie _LA Story_ by Steve Martin had a lot of jokes which were only funny to Los Angeleans. Not to say that you have to be from here to get the joke, it is just a lot funnier when you are from here and have had the same experience. Example: the weather report... "Monday 70 & mild, Tuesday 70 & mild, Wednesday 70 & mild, Thursday 70 & mild, and it looks like 70 & mild for the weekend."

An allusion to Rodney King?

"Shouldn't you be out on a ledge somewhere?"

-Biff