re: A question about Seinfeld

Hey the last season brought us the meeting of Art Vandelay, Kel Varnsen, and H.E. Pennypacker.

Loved Seinfeld from the start, funny it and the HBO Series Dream On always reminded me of each other for some reason? Not even sure which came first?

This may sound odd, but it's also a way to bond with people both in the workplace and social circles.

I've bonded with more coworkers and cracked up more bosses just by uttering the phrase "it's just like that Seinfeld episode where George...." Everything is a Seinfeld episode one way or another, especially in the workplace.

Not at first, it took a few seasons to find its groove.

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This may sound odd, but it's also a way to bond with people both in the workplace and social circles.

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Well - that was part of Seinfeld's uniqueness - it was the first significant situational comedy that focused on neither a family (or families), nor a specific workplace - and in hindsight, you can see that Friends very specifically tried to capture that kind of vibe - a circle of friends.

That allowed for all of the usual comedic circumstances - George and Elaine, particularly had all sorts of crazy workplace issues - you also had George and Jerry's strange family relations - but not every episode - without having to focus on just one. Jerry's apartment was the only real constant.

Now, the writing was genius - but the casting was A+ and it is extremely difficult to imagine the show without 1 of the 4 principals. Most shows have a larger core cast and most shows can survive the loss of almost any cast member except the main one - heck, with Seinfeld, out of the 4, Jerry, ostensibly the "star" is probably the least valuable, at least on screen - certainly the least funny of the 4 when he's supposed to have the joke, and, while a good straight man, Jason and JLD are excellent straight men when necessary. Even Richards could do a faux straight man when pressed.

Jerry wasn't even that good of an actor, and he was playing himself - always at the edge of cracking up, over the top with some of his overreactions - he was best when he was a straight man - ironic.

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That episode is the only one not allowed to air on reruns - due to the scene with the Puerto Rican flag burning. Its a shame because its a classic, and also a shame personally for me because the real estate agent is a client of mine.

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It was on TBS not too long ago.

I like your analysis except that I felt like the things you cite about Jerry's style were a part of the style of the show overall, e.g., kinda slapstick and light hearted.

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No, I mentioned the bisque.

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Yes! As a kid, I was so confused what the bisque meant.

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I like your analysis except that I felt like the things you cite about Jerry's style were a part of the style of the show overall, e.g., kinda slapstick and light hearted.

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Don't get me wrong - it obviously worked, but Jerry is a comic, not an actor. That showed, particularly early. He was shrewd enough to surround himself with a cast who could handle anything thrown at them and he was serviceable enough (I mean, he was playing a fictionalized version of himself - how hard can that be?) - to get through the rough spots.

And being a comic, you'd expect him to be better with the joke, but part of that was the other three were just flat out better with the joke than Jerry was - especially after they all found their comfort zones with the characters. And this is not saying anything bad about Jerry, necessarily, but something good about Michael, Jason and Julia.