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21s lists | 21 favorite TV shows
Seinfeld (02)
01, 02
 Popular catchphrases
- * "I'm out!" - Kramer, from "The Contest" (Season 4)
- "My boys can swim!!" - George/Kramer, from "The Fix-Up" (Season 3)
- "There's not a square to spare."- Jane/Erica, from "The Stall" (Season 5)
- "Elaine, he's a male bimbo. He's a 'mimbo'."-Jerry, from "The Stall" (Season 5)
- "These pretzels are making me thirsty." - Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer; "The Alternate Side" (Season 3)
- "Not that there's anything wrong with that!" - Jerry, George, Kramer, and Mrs. Seinfeld; "The Outing" (Season 4)
- "Hello, Newman." - Jerry, Mrs. Seinfeld; from several episodes, starting with "The Suicide" (Season 3)
- "Yada, yada, yada." - Jerry, George, Elaine, from "The Yada Yada" (Season 8)
- "No soup for you!" - The Soup Nazi, Elaine, from "The Soup Nazi" (Season 7)
- "King of the County/Queen of the Castle/Lord of the Manor" - George, Elaine and Jerry, respectively; from "The Contest" (Season 4)
- "He's a re-gifter!" - Elaine, from "The Label Maker" (Seaon 6)
- "Low talker" - from "The Puffy Shirt" (Season 5)
- "High Talker" - from "The Pledge Drive" (Season 6)
- "Close talker" - from "The Raincoats" (Season 5)
- "Master of your domain" - from "The Contest" (Season 4)
- "They're real, and they're spectacular!" - Sidra, Jackie Chiles; from "The Implant" and "The Finale, Part 2" (Season 4 and Season 9)
- "But I don't want to be a pirate!" - Jerry, from "The Puffy Shirt" (Season 5)
- "I don't want to be a cowboy" -Jerry, from "The Mom and Pop Store" (Season 6)
- "Significant shrinkage!" - George, from "The Hamptons" (Season 5)
- "It's chocolate. It's peppermint. It's very refreshing!" - Kramer, from "The Junior Mint" (Season 4)
- "It's like putting your whole mouth in the dip!"- Timmy, from "The Implant" (Season 4)
- "She had man hands!" - Jerry, from "The Bizarro Jerry" (Season 8)
- "Maybe the dingo ate your baby!" - Elaine, from "The Stranded" (Season 2)
- "Stella! Stella!" - Elaine, from "The Pen" (Season 3)
- "You know we're living in a SOCIETY!" - George, from "The Chinese Restaurant" (Season 2)
- "Giddy Up" - Kramer, from many episodes
- "The sea was angry that day my friends. Like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli." - George; from "The Marine Biologist" (Season 5)
- "My Little Jerry!" - Kramer, from 'The Little Jerry" (Season 8)
- "I find tinsel distracting" - Frank Costanza, from "The Strike" (Season 9)
- "A Festivus for the rest of us!" - Frank Costanza, from "The Strike" (Season 9)
- "Serenity Now!" - Frank Costanza, George, Kramer, from "The Strike" (Season 9)
- "He's a bubble boy!" - Jerry; from "The Bubble Boy" (Season 4)
- "Did you just Double-dip that chip?"-Timmy, from "The Implant" (Season 4)
- "Can you spare a square?" - Elaine, from "The Stall" (Season 5)
- "Here's to feeling good all the time" - Kramer, from "The Sniffing Accountant" (Season 5)
- "Are you a Communist?"- Elaine, from "The Race" (Season 6)
- "Then we'll go watch them slice this fat bastard up" Jerry, from "The Junior Mint" (Season 4)
- "No champagne" - Jerry, from "The Engagement" (Season 7)
- "Sex, to save the friendship?" - Jerry, from "Unknown"
Running gags
- "But I don't wanna be a pirate"- as well as in the season five episode "The Puffy Shirt", this phrase was reused later in that season in, although they differed from the original, they were still an obvious reference to the episode. These included: "But, I don't wanna be a cowboy" (Jerry), "I wanna be a pirate" (Kramer), and "I don't want to be Switzerland." (Jerry)
- "Shower?", "No, hair cut"- originally used in the season five episode "The Barber", it was also rephrased in several other episodes. These include: "Hair cut?", "No, shower" and "Did you get a hair cut?", "No, nostrils".
- Every episode has superman in it, such as a superman toy or reference to superman.
Criticism and popularity
Television critics championed the series from its low-rated roots in the early 1990s, up to its first season at number one in the Nielsen ratings. For its first five seasons on the air, Seinfeld was seen as steadily improving in its wit and storytelling. Seasons four and five in particular are considered the show's "prime", as it became one of television's top-rated comedies and managed to impress critics at magazines such as TV Guide, Entertainment Weekly and even The New Yorker. These seasons produced a string of high-profile episodes (e.g. "The Outing", "The Puffy Shirt") but chief among them was "The Contest", from an Emmy-winning script by co-creator Larry David, whose subject matter - masturbation - was considered both risky for producers and risqué by audiences.
Season six found the show changing directors (Andy Ackerman replacing Tom Cherones) and slightly altering its pace, to the displeasure of some. Jerry Seinfeld later told TV Guide that he and his writers were "crawling" creatively at this point, running low on premises and creative resolutions. Even so, the series remained well-regarded and produced some of its most infamous shows ("The Fusilli Jerry", "The Jimmy").
The series bounced back from this dry spell - according to the cast, crew and many critics - at the beginning of season seven. A younger and almost all-new writing staff poked fun at the underdeveloped lives of its four lead characters, who were now becoming neurotic, single forty-somethings. A story arc was introduced in which George Costanza became engaged to former girlfriend Susan Ross, whose life was derailed by him a few seasons back. Raking in its highest ratings ever, Seinfeld produced some of its most well-regarded episodes in the first half of this season - namely "The Soup Nazi", "The Sponge" and "The Rye". As the season advanced, however, it took on an increasingly darker tone, culminating in perhaps the most polarizing episode ever: "The Invitations". Boasting a surprise ending in which Susan is killed by the toxic glue on George's cheap choice of wedding invitation, many felt the show had taken its misanthropic streak too far. Others found the twist to be edgy and original.
The show divided even more of its audience in its final two seasons. Executive producer and alleged driving-force behind Seinfeld, writer/comedian Larry David, left the series except to continue a recurring voice-over as George's boss, George Steinbrenner. Without his - as Jerry Seinfeld put it - "obsessive" attention, the show became more of a fast-paced, absurdist farce, with more slapstick humor and plotlines occasionally delving into pure fantasy.
Some of these earlier off-beat entries were greeted as fun diversions, such as "The Bizarro Jerry" (which featured Elaine befriending polar opposites of Jerry, George and Kramer). As the eighth and ninth seasons progressed, however, most critics felt the show had gotten too cartoonish for its own good. The New York Post went so far as to conduct a poll early in the ninth season, asking readers whether or not the series was as strong as it used to be. More than half of those polled said that it was not up to its previous standards. Jerry Seinfeld responded with a letter to the Post thanking them for considering his show to be so important.
Most fans argue that even as Seinfeld changed its comedic approach in later years, it remained funny and watchable.[3] A few of the show's most popular plots and catch-phrases (Festivus, "Serenity Now") come from its final year, and it never faced a decline in the Nielsen ratings. It finished with its critical and fan reputation wholly intact.
Ratings
Season 1: Not in the top 30
Season 2: Not in the top 30
Season 3: Not in the top 30
Season 4: #25
Season 5: #3
Season 6: #1
Season 7: #2
Season 8: #2
Season 9: #1
Ending
Hype
On December 26, 1997, Jerry Seinfeld announced that the series would end production the following spring. The announcement made the front page of all the major New York newspapers, including the New York Times. Jerry Seinfeld was even featured on the cover of Time Magazine's first issue of 1998[5].
The series ended with a 75-minute episode (cut down to 60 minutes in syndication, in two parts) written by returning co-creator and former executive producer Larry David. It also was the first episode since the seventh season to feature opening and closing stand-up acts by Jerry Seinfeld. The finale was filmed in front of an audience of NBC executives and additional friends of the show. The press and the public were shut out of the filming for the sake of keeping its plot secret, and all who attended the finale signed written "vows of silence" [6].
The secrecy only seemed to increase speculation on how the series would end. Some suggested Jerry and Elaine would get married, and more cynical fans favored Julia Louis-Dreyfus's suggestion that the foursome die in a car accident after all their wishes come true. The producers of the show tweaked the media about the hype, spreading a false rumor about Newman ending up in the hospital and Jerry and Elaine sitting in a chapel, presumably to get married[7].
The actual finale poked fun at the many rumors that were circulating, seeming to move into several supposed plots before settling on its true storyline - a lengthy trial in which Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer are prosecuted for lack of humanity.
The Finale
After finally striking a deal with NBC over their sitcom pilot, Jerry, Jerry and George are faced with having to leave New York City for California. Before doing so, they decide to take NBC's private jet to Paris with Elaine and Kramer, for one "last hurrah". Unfortunately, Kramer causes engine troubles by hopping up and down on the plane while trying to get water out of his ears, nearly killing the four friends in a crash. Upon what looks to be their final moments of life, George reveals he cheated in The Contest, and Elaine tells Jerry "There's something I have to tell you. I...love...u-nited airlines" only to have the pilot regain control at the last second and in mid-sentence. They make an emergency landing in the fictional small town of Lathem, Massachusetts.
While killing time in Lathem, waiting for the plane to be repaired, they witness an overweight man getting robbed at gunpoint. Instead of helping him, they crack jokes about his size while Kramer films it all on his camcorder, then they proceed to walk away. The victim notices this, and tells the reporting officer. The four main characters are then arrested for violating a fictional Good Samaritan law that requires bystanders to help out in such a situation.
A lengthy trial ensues, bringing back many characters from past shows as character witnesses testifying against the group for their "selfish" acts from throughout the series. The Virgin, the low talker, the Bubble Boy, Babu Bhatt, the Soup Nazi, Susan Ross' doctor from the night she died, and several others are called to the witness stand, among many more enemies and acquaintances. Right before the verdict is read, Jerry receives a phone call, telling him that the plane's been repaired. The four are found guilty, and sentenced to a year in prison, with Judge Arthur Vandelay proclaiming: "I can think of nothing more fitting than for the four of you to spend a year removed from society so that you can contemplate the manner in which you have conducted yourselves."
In the final scene before the credits, the four main characters sit in a jail cell - strangely unfazed by what has just happened to them, still concerned mostly with the minutiae that preoccupied them beforehand. Jerry begins a conversation about George's shirt buttons, using lines from the very first episode of the series ("The second button is the key button. It literally makes or breaks the shirt."). Many believing to be a metaphor showing that throughout the series they have yet to do anything with their lives. George then wonders if they have had that conversation before, and they both examine that possibility. The camera then pans away from the group in their small holding cell, presumedly representing their self-centered isolation from society - implied throughout the show's later years, now shown quite literally.
In a last bit of comedy during the credits, Jerry is seen wearing an orange jumpsuit, performing a stand-up routine of prison-related jokes. "So what is the deal with the yard? I mean when I was a kid my mother wanted me to play in the yard. But of course she didn't have to worry about my next door neighbor Tommy sticking a shiv in my thigh." He is eventually threatened by a heckler/fellow prisoner (voiced by Larry David). The final line of the series is Jerry, being yanked off stage, saying "Hey, you've been great, I'll see you in the cafeteria!"
Reaction and ratings
The final Seinfeld was criticized by many for being vindictive towards the characters - who are shown to be amoral, selfish misanthropes - and, by extension, towards the audience who tuned in to watch them every week. Entertainment Weekly's Ken Tucker seemed to echo the majority sentiment in declaring the episode "off-key and bloated...Ultimately, Seinfeld and David's kiss-off to their fans was a loud, hearty, 'So long, suckers!'" [8] Others valued it for the perceived in-joke of the four characters being convicted and imprisoned on the charge that they did nothing, a play on the "show about nothing" mantra.
The Clip Show (the 45-minute clip show preceding the final episode) and "The Finale" garnered a 41.3 rating and a 58 share in the Nielsen Ratings, or about 76 million people. Seinfeld finished as the #1 most watched show of its final season. The only other shows to do so were I Love Lucy (in 1957), and The Andy Griffith Show (in 1968). It also set a new world record in 30-second Ad Cost on TV, $2 million for 30-second advertisement back in 1998.
Cast careers after Seinfeld
Since the end of the program, Alexander has acted in film, theater and television, including guest appearances on Larry David's HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm. Louis-Dreyfus also appeared on Enthusiasm and has received on-screen and voice credits in television (such as Arrested Development) and animated film. Richards continues to appear in new film and television work as well. Louis-Dreyfus is starring in the CBS sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine, which debuted in March 2006 and premiered with strong ratings, and has been consistent ever since, causing many to claim that the "Seinfeld curse" has been broken.
Alexander, Louis-Dreyfus and Richards have all attempted unsuccessfully to launch new sitcoms as title-role characters. Despite decent acclaim and even some respectable ratings each show was cancelled quickly, usually within the first season. This has given rise to the term "Seinfeld Curse" to describe sitcom failure by an actor following massive success on an ensemble show, a phrase oft-used in reference to Matt LeBlanc's Friends spin-off Joey.
"It's so completely idiotic.... It's very hard to have a successful sitcom," Larry David once said of the curse. [9] Most new sitcoms do not enjoy the success of hits like Seinfeld, though David's Curb Your Enthusiasm went on to win Emmy awards; the series relied on his signature humor, embodied in the Seinfeld character of George.
The relevant shows were Jason Alexander's Bob Patterson and Listen Up!, Michael Richards' The Michael Richards Show, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus' Watching Ellie. Listen Up!'s 22 episodes make it the longest running show starring a Seinfeld alum since Seinfeld ended.
Patrick Warburton, who played David Puddy, was also hit by the curse when his superhero-themed show, The Tick, was cancelled after just one season. However, he has found success in voice acting. His repertoire includes the voice of Joe Swanson in Family Guy, the title character of Buzz Lightyear of Star Command , Brock Samson in The Venture Bros, and Kronk in The Emperor's New Groove, Kronk's New Groove, and the The Emperor's New School. Lately he can be seen on ABC's show Less Than Perfect as Jeb Denton.
Alexander was also the voice of Duckman, which had a certain amount of success (although this series ran from 1994 until 1997, which coincided with the run of Seinfeld). Wayne Knight has since had some roles with more or less the same importance of Newman, like the one in the not so successful The Edge, and one as a police officer in 3rd Rock from the Sun. He also had a voice cameo as a minor demon from hell in Justice League Unlimited animated series, and achieved some success as the voice of the human villain Al in Toy Story 2 in 1999, a year after Seinfeld's finale. However, the actor who really broke the curse, at least for recurring guest stars, was Jerry Stiller who was cast successfully as Doug Heffernan's annoying father-in-law Arthur, in The King of Queens. In the summer of 2005, John O'Hurley, who played J. Peterman in a recurring role on the final seasons of Seinfeld, received extensive publicity when he finished as the runner-up on the highly rated American ABC reality series Dancing with the Stars to Kelly Monaco (but won the subsequent "rematch"). John O'Hurley has gone on to make cameo appearances in many other programs, including SpongeBob SquarePants and Drake & Josh. O'Hurley has also done numerous amounts of television commercials for GCI, an Alaskan phone and internet communications company.
Meanwhile, Seinfeld went on tour, in 1998, and recorded a comedy special entitled I'm Telling You for the Last Time. An album of the same name was also released that year, and it featured samples of his stand-up performance.
An episode of Saturday Night Live hosted by Jerry Seinfeld featured an "episode" of Oz (using the actual set and actors) where Jerry, who was sent to prison during the final episode of Seinfeld, is transferred to Em City; the short film combines and parodies memorable moments in both series.
After his sitcom went off the air, Seinfeld returned to stand-up comedy. The process of developing and performing new material at clubs around the world was chronicled in a 2002 documentary, Comedian, directed by Christian Charles. His stand-up routine is highly acclaimed and Jerry was ranked #12 in Comedy Central's list of the 100 greatest standups of all time. Jerry Seinfeld has written a few books, mostly archives of past routines.
Seinfeld also appeared in two commercial 'webisodes' promoting American Express Credit Cards in which he appeared together with an animated rendering of Superman, voiced by Patrick Warburton (who had portrayed David Puddy on Seinfeld). The webisodes were aired in 2004 and directed by Barry Levinson.
Product placement
A recurring feature of Seinfeld was its use of specific products as plot points, especially various candy products. These products might be a central feature of a plot narrative (e.g. Junior Mints, Twix, Jujyfruits, and Pez), or associating the candy with a guest character (e.g. Oh Henry! bars), or simply discussing the merits of the candy in a conversational aside (e.g. Chuckles). Examples of non-candy products featured in Seinfeld are Rold Gold pretzels (whose advertisements at the time featured Jason Alexander), Kenny Rogers Roasters (a chicken restaurant chain), Drake's Coffee Cakes, Pepsi, Bosco, Snapple, Cadillac, Specialized Bicycles, Ovaltine, Arby's, TV Guide, the board games Risk, Scrabble, and Battleship, Entenmann's and the J. Peterman clothing catalog (which actually went bankrupt whilst the show was still active). The computers in Jerry's apartment are always Apple Macintosh brand computers; the featured model changed every few seasons to reflect Apple's latest offerings.
The show's creators claim that they themselves were not engaging in a product placement strategy for commercial gain. One of the motivations for the use of real-world products, which is quite unrelated to commercial considerations, is the comedy value of funny-sounding phrases and words. "I knew I wanted Kramer to think of watching the operation like going to see a movie," explained Seinfeld writer/producer Andy Robin in an interview published in the Hollywood Reporter. "At first, I thought maybe a piece of popcorn falls into the patient. I ran that by my brother, and he said, 'No, Junior Mints are just funnier.'"
Nevertheless, Seinfeld is widely credited by marketers and advertisers with affecting a change in attitude toward product placement in US primetime TV shows. In general, product placement became much more frequent in TV shows after Seinfeld demonstrated that a successful show could work specific products into its plots and dialogue.
For details of a study on the effectiveness of product placement (without respect to whether it was paid for or intended to promote products), see "Television Programs and Advertising: Measuring the Effectiveness of Product Placement Within Seinfeld." by Dana T. Weaver of Penn State University.
Two types of advertising, neither of which were actual product placement, also capitalized on the Seinfeld show. One is described as a "Webisode," a reverse form of product placement. In this form, instead of inserting its product into an episode, American Express "inserted" Jerry Seinfeld and an animated Superman (voiced by Patrick Warburton, who also acted on the show, playing the role of David Puddy) into its commercial. The second type is the use of the show's actors, such as Jason Alexander in a Chrysler commercial. In this type, which ran after the series ended, Alexander behaves much like his character George, and his relationship with Lee Iacocca is said to play on his relationship with George Steinbrenner in the show.
Although not necessarily seen as a product placement, but to show the and character's lead actor interest as he is publicly known for; in several episodes of his sitcom, a Porsche themed painting (depicting a 904 GTS race car competing in the 1964 Targa Florio race in Italy, which it won) is visible on a wall in his apartment, an issue of Excellence magazine, a Porsche-centered publication, is featured prominently on an outdoor magazine rack.
Source: Wikipedia
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