Seinfeld
Seinfeld is an American sitcom television series created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld. It aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, over nine seasons and 180 episodes. The series was produced by West-Shapiro Productions and Castle Rock Entertainment, and distributed by Columbia Pictures Television. The show stars Seinfeld as a fictionalized version of himself who is the main protagonist and focuses on his personal life with three of his friends.
As of September 2021, Comedy Central airs reruns of the series.
Plot
The continuing misadventures of neurotic New York City stand-up comedian Jerry Seinfeld and his equally neurotic New York City friends. ... His best friend is George Costanza (Jason Alexander), a bald, whiny loser who craves the kind of success Jerry has, but is never willing to do what it takes to get it.
Why It Rocks
- It has more complex plotting than other shows, as it's focused on pretty much nothing unlike most shows.
- The idea of a show about nothing is very good and executed well, and it tries to entertain the viewer in the most unexpected ways.
- The show is so masterfully written that you can't help but laugh out loud at almost every segment.
- The relationships are good, for example, Jerry and Elaine have a pretty good chemistry with each other.
- So many funny moments a lot, like the scene in The Implant where Timmy argues about double dipping after George double dips a chip.
- Kramer, played by Michael Richards, often steals the show, and is considered to be the show's amazing comic relief.
- Tons of good characters that makes the show extremely fun to watch.
- A lot of the supporting cast members are loosely based off of Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David's real life friends which just makes everything that much funnier.
- Plenty of amazing episodes, The Opposite, The Contest, The Soup Nazi and more.
- It has many celebrity sightings, in a good way and instead of just using them due to their popularity and in an attempt to increase viewership.
- It had such a great and otherwise funny theme song that became the most iconic of all.
Bad Qualities
- The episode "The Puerto Rican Day" sparked a controversy surrounding the scene where Kramer accidentally sets fire to the Puerto Rican flag and the scene where angry mobs surround the car and Kramer yells "It's like every day in Puerto Rico!". The episode drew several complaints, angry letters and protests from many Puerto Rican residents and activists who blamed the episode for the negative potrayal of their country. Shortly thereafter, NBC apologized and banned the episode from rebroadcast. The scenes were censored and the episode was not aired again until August 2002 on syndication.
- Michael Richards, the actor of Kramer, called a heckler a "n*gger", which hits really hard on him since he is not black.
- Some moments in some episodes can be creepy, although they're otherwise funny.
- The two-part series finale, "The Finale" was not a good way to end the series, as it's practically the "Truth or Square" of the show, since it's a clip show of the show's dark humor, and even has them arrested, which is quite harsh. It had a polarised reception by critics, audience and the fans of the show.
- In fact, even co-creator Larry David, whom which also served as the writer for said episode(s), was ashamed of it.
Reception
Seinfeld is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential sitcoms of all time. It has been ranked among the best television shows of all time in publications such as Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, and TV Guide. The series has an IMDb rating of a 8.8/10 on IMDb; an 88% on Rotten Tomatoes; and also received a 9.1/10 on the now defunct TV.com.