Jeff Naftzinger
ENC 1145
2 February 2015
Seinfeld and Me
I actually wasn’t raised watching Seinfeld. My parents never watched the show; as a matter of fact, my father hated it. It was through word of mouth that I heard of Seinfeld and one day it was on Crackle so I watched a few episodes. I wouldn’t say that I was “hooked,” but I do like the show and, nix my dad, so does the rest of America. There are two kinds of anything in this world: pioneers and settlers. Seinfeld is a pioneer. Since its premiere in 1989 Seinfeld has changed the way sitcoms are written. Gone are the days of learning life lessons in thirty minutes every week. Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld destroyed that and implemented a system in which characters are acceptingly flawed and do nothing to change. It’s a system that’s worked for over 25 years and it wouldn’t have been so successful if people didn’t relate to it or if came at a bad time.
“Show me your friends and I’ll show you who you are as a person.” I relate to Seinfeld because I have friends. Close friends have an influence on us. Often times we act like them. To take it a step further, our closest friends are manifestations of our multiple personalities. They represent who we are or who we could be. I’m sure there were moments where Jerry reacted to a situation in a Kramer, George or Elaine fashion. That’s why Jerry, George, Kramer and Elaine get along so well, they’re the same person. George is Jerry’s neurotic side, Kramer is his wild side, and Elaine is his keen and extroverted side. Heck, look at Newman. He’s familiar Jerry and his group, but he has the best relationship with Kramer. That’s because they’re the same degree of crazy.
We all can relate to Seinfeld because we all go through the mundane motions of everyday life. We’ve all had to wait an absurd amount of time for a table at least once. We’ve all lied in an attempt to impress someone. Even if we’ve never worn a puffy shirt on a live TV or dealt with a recently converted Jewish dentist, we’ve all experienced something of that nature. Seinfeld is relatable because it makes light of those trivial gripes of life. It’s the characters making big deals of things that we normally grumble about that makes it funny. It’s like we secretly want to react the way Jerry, George, Kramer and Elaine would.
Seinfeld couldn’t have come at a better time. Since Seinfeld’s debut, there’s been a dearth of sitcoms that aim to teach life lessons every week. Coming of age sitcoms are a thing of the past. Nobody learns anything anymore. The only thing they learn is that they’re terrible people and they seem to be okay with that. They accept the fact that they’re flawed. The success of Snow White showed that movies based on popular kid’s books were a profitable market. This allowed MGM to take a chance on The Wizard of Oz. Seinfeld is the Snow White of the modern American sitcom. Half of the sitcoms on air right now wouldn’t have made it past the sales pitch if we were still tuning into shows like Family Ties.
If you look at Chuck Lorre comedies such as The Big Bang Theory, which is undoubtedly the biggest sitcom on air right now and Two and a Half Men, which will finally kick the bucket this year, you see unapologetic jerks that expect the world to deal with their flaws rather than work on them. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is another show that comes to mind. The main characters literally do the dumbest things to entertain themselves and by the end of the day, no matter how much trouble they get into, they never learn anything. In “Charlie Wants an Abortion” Dennis and Mac go to an abortion rally to pick up women while Charlie deals with a kid who he suspects is his own. At the end of the episode the kid isn’t Charlie’s so he’s never seen again and Mac and Dennis learn nothing about abortion.
“It’s my world and you’re just living in it.” Seinfeld made this term a popular theme in sitcoms. The title tells you all that you need to know. Out with the co-stars, in with the marquee name. Before Seinfeld, there were shows like Cheers where the stars of the show were the group of friends. There was always a main character, but one couldn’t tell who it was if he or she were to watch a random episode. Back then, and with a few exceptions, the only shows to have the star’s name in the title were variety shows. Seinfeld led the way for Martin, Malcolm and Eddie, Becker, Frazier, Dharma and Greg, George Lopez, and Mulaney.
Thanks to Seinfeld comedians can easily bring their material to sitcoms. They used to have to play a role like everybody else. Take Robin Williams in Mork and Mindy for example. Or look at Redd Foxx in Sanford and Son. Because of the success of Seinfeld, comedians can have their own shows based on their acts. The Bernie Mac Show is based on a bit Bernie Mac did on The Original Kings of Comedy Tour. Ray Romano and Everybody Loves Raymond, Chris Rock and Everybody hates Chris.
While Seinfeld did set the tone for a generation of sitcoms, it’s not the first of its kind. Ecclesiastes 1:9 “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” The Everything’s a Remix video also supports this notion. Nothing is created out of thin air without inspiration. There was definitely a show, movie or play like Seinfeld but the mass majority probably never heard of it. Maybe it flopped; maybe it’s not foreign. Regardless, Seinfeld has been done before. Larry David has been on the record saying that Woody Allen is a big influence on him. You can see that in the show: the constant analysis of everything, the neurotic characters, the Jewish influence and New York City setting. These are all trademarks of Woody’s work. There’s definitely more that went into the maturation of Seinfeld, but as for now, that’s the only source I can trace.
Once a body of work has been created and forms its own identity, it goes from being the copier to the copied. A lot of sitcoms today get their character inspiration from Seinfeld. Seinfeld can be credited for the 20-something-year-old-single-and-living-in-a-big-city character starter pack. This package includes: the leader, a kind-hearted but easily swayed straight man; the best friend who sometimes gives good advice but for the most part is a buffoon; the primitive friend who’s the loosest cannon of the bunch; and the compassionate, but self-centered friend who has a romantic history with the leader. New Girl is a current show that purchased that package and put a twist on it. Jess is the leader, Winston is the buffoon best friend… sort of. Nick is the self-centered one and Schmidt is the primitive loose cannon. Cece and Coach complicate this example, but the blueprint is there.
The best example of a show that follows closely in Seinfeld’s footsteps is Mulaney. Mulaney imitates Seinfeld almost to a fault. John Mulaney plays a rising comedian who lives in New York City and has misadventures with his friends. His three best friends are another comedian but a fool, a primitive neighbor, and a female character who may or may not share a romantic history with Mulaney. The title of the show itself doesn’t fall too far from the tree it came from.
Love it or hate it, Seinfeld revolutionized television. Since its debut, sitcoms have become more about nothing. There’s no more hugging and music played at the end. Comedians can use sitcoms as an avenue to get their material more exposure. Every year, we see a dozen copycat pilots aired and we know where they got their ideas. Although, we don’t know for sure from whom or what Seinfeld stole from, Seinfeld is its own brand. Yada, yada, yada, Larry David’s a genius.
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