I hated Seinfeld when it aired but I’ve mostly come around to it. It basically pioneered the genre of shallow insecure narcissists clashing with each other and their surroundings, at least on a big mainstream level. At the time I think it was kind of an anomaly when many sitcoms weren’t like that at all. It’s basically, what if instead of having one occasionally neurotic character, all of them were neurotic all of the time?
It has inspirated truckloads of later shows. Some of them took the concept much further and made the characters far more passive-aggressive or even outright hostile to each other (Strangers with Candy, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia). And I would mostly say they are funnier for it.
Jerry Seinfeld himself is a piece of shit genocide promoter though, so I wouldn’t advocate watching his show unless it’s free.
I think what we know now that we didn’t in the 90s was the real talent was Larry David all along. The dude is a brilliant writer, mastered the art of situational comedy.
It basically pioneered the genre of shallow insecure narcissists clashing with each other and their surroundings
IMHO the real pioneer of this genre was the earlier show Buffalo Bill starring Dabney Coleman. It also happens to be the vehicle that introduced Geena Davis to the world.
It only ran for two seasons and never rated very high. It did get a ton of Emmy nominations, though. Probably just a bit too early for its time – people weren’t ready in 1984 for a thoroughly reprehensible lead character. My favorite scene was one where he hangs a dude out the window of a skyscraper by his feet, but I can’t find a clip of it. Like all '80s sitcoms, the laugh track was atrocious.
I hated Seinfeld when it aired but I’ve mostly come around to it. It basically pioneered the genre of shallow insecure narcissists clashing with each other and their surroundings, at least on a big mainstream level. At the time I think it was kind of an anomaly when many sitcoms weren’t like that at all. It’s basically, what if instead of having one occasionally neurotic character, all of them were neurotic all of the time?
It has inspirated truckloads of later shows. Some of them took the concept much further and made the characters far more passive-aggressive or even outright hostile to each other (Strangers with Candy, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia). And I would mostly say they are funnier for it.
Jerry Seinfeld himself is a piece of shit genocide promoter though, so I wouldn’t advocate watching his show unless it’s free.
Seinfeld is better when you recognize Larry David as the mastermind.
Then I just want to watch Curb instead.
I think what we know now that we didn’t in the 90s was the real talent was Larry David all along. The dude is a brilliant writer, mastered the art of situational comedy.
IMHO the real pioneer of this genre was the earlier show Buffalo Bill starring Dabney Coleman. It also happens to be the vehicle that introduced Geena Davis to the world.
I’ve never even heard of that one so I’ll guess it’s not super mainstream. But that’s interesting nonetheless.
It only ran for two seasons and never rated very high. It did get a ton of Emmy nominations, though. Probably just a bit too early for its time – people weren’t ready in 1984 for a thoroughly reprehensible lead character. My favorite scene was one where he hangs a dude out the window of a skyscraper by his feet, but I can’t find a clip of it. Like all '80s sitcoms, the laugh track was atrocious.