Let me be the first and for all I know, the only one in America who isn’t the least bit sorry to see “The Show About Nothing” go off the air this May.
Correction. I am one of two people in America who isn’t in mourning. The other person is a friend of mine from New York who sent me an email saying, “I stopped watching “Seinfeld” after the first couple episodes. Once I figured out the show was about nothing, I saw no reason to watch it anymore.”
The truth is after nine seasons, NBC’s number one show has lost its clever, comedic touch of originality the series once had when co-creator Larry David was writing the episodes.
“It’s all about timing,” said comedian Jerry Seinfeld in an issue of Time. And it was that reason he said why this would be the show’s last year. Better to go out being remembered as the most watched program in America even if TV critics (like me) are saying the series isn’t as good as it once was.
And yet after all the complaints, the fans still don’t want it to end.
The fact is Seinfeld was wanting to call it quits for a while now. I was prepared for this statement to come a couple years ago when Entertainment Weekly did a feature story discussing why the show’s co-stars Jason Alexander, Michael Richards and Julia Louis-Dreyfus weren’t ready to quit “except one.”
“It’s about nothing,” George explained, “In every TV show, people are always doing something, we’ll do nothing.”
“I think you may have something there,” Jerry said.
Perhaps the person on the other end of the phone will tell me their company doesn’t do that much like Jerry told a caller in one episode.
“You mean you don’t like it when people call you at home,” he said.
I hope the next person I tell that to will say no so I can quote the stand-up comedian saying before hanging up, “Good, then you know how I feel.”
I haven’t seen anything on “Seinfeld” this season that was as memorable as in year’s past.
Whenever I have the show on, it is always while I am doing something else (like writing this column).
To date, I haven’t sat and watched an episode in a long time and probably won’t until the series finale.
But there is something “Seinfeld” leaves Americans with when it arrives in syndication heaven. Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer leave us with a few sayings we can use in our everyday lives like Homer Simpson’s “D’oh.”
Like when certain employees I know at work whose egos are larger than the cubicles they sit in get on my case because I show up at the Friday meetings when I should be at the Thursday meetings instead.
It’s absolutely none of their business and the matter is only between me and management. So I just tune these egomaniacs out like I normally do and say, “Yada, yada, yada” every time they speak.
Or when I am trying to get to work or school and the entire world has got nothing better to do on Interstate 635 but slow down and watch a car wreck causing me to be ten minutes late, I just turn up the volume on the radio and say the phrase, “Serenity Now,” a few times to keep my blood pressure from rising above normal.
Society’s morbid curiosity with car accidents is never going to stop.
As Jerry Seinfeld might say, “Not that there is anything wrong with that.”
©2/25/98
Correction. I am one of two people in America who isn’t in mourning. The other person is a friend of mine from New York who sent me an email saying, “I stopped watching “Seinfeld” after the first couple episodes. Once I figured out the show was about nothing, I saw no reason to watch it anymore.”
The truth is after nine seasons, NBC’s number one show has lost its clever, comedic touch of originality the series once had when co-creator Larry David was writing the episodes.
“It’s all about timing,” said comedian Jerry Seinfeld in an issue of Time. And it was that reason he said why this would be the show’s last year. Better to go out being remembered as the most watched program in America even if TV critics (like me) are saying the series isn’t as good as it once was.
And yet after all the complaints, the fans still don’t want it to end.
The fact is Seinfeld was wanting to call it quits for a while now. I was prepared for this statement to come a couple years ago when Entertainment Weekly did a feature story discussing why the show’s co-stars Jason Alexander, Michael Richards and Julia Louis-Dreyfus weren’t ready to quit “except one.”
“Seinfeld” was at its best when it mocked movies like “JFK” (1991) (the infamous spitting incident involving Kramer and Newman), “Nixon” (1995), and “Schindler’s List” (1993) and newsworthy events from the O.J. Simpson bronco chase to the Nancy Kerrigan/Tonya Harding scandal (the episode where George, Jerry and his girlfriend trip Bette Midler during a softball game).The show at one point even made fun of itself as when Jerry and George went before NBC executives to discuss a TV pilot about themselves.
“It’s about nothing,” George explained, “In every TV show, people are always doing something, we’ll do nothing.”
“I think you may have something there,” Jerry said.
But “Seinfeld” also played upon our personal feelings about society as when Jerry talks on his car phone to Elaine editorializing how rude drivers are on the road, issues on sex, and how much we hate getting calls at home from people wanting us to take surveys.Up until recently, whenever someone called asking me to take a survey, I would usually slam the phone down or rudely say no. But someone told me the next time this happens, I should just ask the person on the phone if I can take down their number and call them at home.
Perhaps the person on the other end of the phone will tell me their company doesn’t do that much like Jerry told a caller in one episode.
“You mean you don’t like it when people call you at home,” he said.
I hope the next person I tell that to will say no so I can quote the stand-up comedian saying before hanging up, “Good, then you know how I feel.”
I haven’t seen anything on “Seinfeld” this season that was as memorable as in year’s past.
The only reason I turn the show on now is to find out what crazy schemes Kramer would be up to and the many stories and lies George would tell.Such ideas though were only good for a couple laughs in the first ten minutes whether it was Kramer being called back to work at the bagel shop he was on strike from for 14 years or George making people at his new job treat him like he was handicapped.
Whenever I have the show on, it is always while I am doing something else (like writing this column).
To date, I haven’t sat and watched an episode in a long time and probably won’t until the series finale.
But there is something “Seinfeld” leaves Americans with when it arrives in syndication heaven. Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer leave us with a few sayings we can use in our everyday lives like Homer Simpson’s “D’oh.”
Like when certain employees I know at work whose egos are larger than the cubicles they sit in get on my case because I show up at the Friday meetings when I should be at the Thursday meetings instead.
It’s absolutely none of their business and the matter is only between me and management. So I just tune these egomaniacs out like I normally do and say, “Yada, yada, yada” every time they speak.
Or when I am trying to get to work or school and the entire world has got nothing better to do on Interstate 635 but slow down and watch a car wreck causing me to be ten minutes late, I just turn up the volume on the radio and say the phrase, “Serenity Now,” a few times to keep my blood pressure from rising above normal.
Society’s morbid curiosity with car accidents is never going to stop.
As Jerry Seinfeld might say, “Not that there is anything wrong with that.”
©2/25/98
