re: Finally finished Seinfeld - My thoughts on the show

quote:

---

What was Cheers about?



Friendship and life in the bar

---

Seinfeld was about friendship and evolving life in the big city. They even dealt with fraught topics like having your girlfriend move in so close to you in your building.

quote:

---

All these shows either have some sort of soul or underlying plot that the entire story is built to solve. The characters evolve and learn lessons to become better people that you want to root for. Almost every single show is designed this way.

---

I see what you're saying and it's a good analysis. I still think it misreads Seinfeld a little bit. Particularly on Season 4 (my favorite) you very much want to root for the success of the pilot.

quote:

---

Seinfeld gives its characters no redeeming qualities and they never learn their lesson.

---

I don't agree they had no redeeming qualities. Jerry appears to be a good person. Kramer is a good person too, just amazingly outside the norms of society. I think Elaine and George are worse people, with Elaine probably being the worst. It's mostly true that they never learn their lesson, although Jerry appears to stay dedicated to being kind to his parents.

quote:

---

There is no overarching theme like “Jerry needs to get Elaine” or “Jerry needs to make it big as a comedian”. It is about nothing.

---

This is true, but I still don't see what the overarching theme was in Cheers. Who learned their lesson? Carla's life remained trashy and in disarray. Norm is still a daily drunk. Cliff is the same. Even Sam's addiction to women continued in a negative light (including the penultimate episode where he was hitting on women at the sex addiction group!).

quote:

---

Seinfeld was about friendship

---

No it wasn’t. What did you ever see that these people were really that close of friends? Every single one of them would’ve thrown the others under the bus if it benefited them in the slightest

quote:

---

I don't agree they had no redeeming qualities. Jerry appears to be a good person. Kramer is a good person too, just amazingly outside the norms of society. I think Elaine and George are worse people, with Elaine probably being the worst. It's mostly true that they never learn their lesson, although Jerry appears to stay dedicated to being kind to his parents.

---

You only view them that way because we see it through their POV. Almost every episode you can see them being the villain in the scenario if you look at it from the perspective of the other people in the plot. Difference is we aren’t invested in those characters so we don’t care that they are hurt or inconvenienced

quote:

---

This is true, but I still don't see what the overarching theme was in Cheers. Who learned their lesson? Carla's life remained trashy and in disarray. Norm is still a daily drunk. Cliff is the same. Even Sam's addiction to women continued in a negative light (including the penultimate episode where he was hitting on women at the sex addiction group!).

---

I don’t know enough about cheers to tell you tbh.

Hi Denise 6:30 time for your sponge bath

quote:

---

This also wasn't jerry's fault. I can't remember specifically but it was something to do with mail; either the deport notice was put in a wrong mailbox by mistake, or someone was checking jerry's mail and forgot to give it to him. Can't remember specifically but I do remember that jerry didn't even get the notice until much too late.

---

Babu's visa renewal form was delivered to Jerry's mailbox by mistake. Elaine was picking up Jerry's mail while he was out of town, and Jerry didn't get it until a week after he returned home. Babu got arrested by immigration. The group enlisted Ping's attorney-sister, who was dating George, to help, but she turned on them when she found out Jerry was pretending to be "dark and disturbed" to make George look better and she never followed through.

It was Babu's own fault for not checking on his missing visa renewal, which he said he had been expecting. Babu was kind of an a-hole. Also, Ping's sister failed her ethical obligation to follow through with her promise to help. Instead, she revived Ping's lawsuit against Elaine for causing his bicycle wreck when she jaywalked across the street to apologize to Marla the virgin.

I'm one of the few that didn't care much for the last two seasons. Just a bunch of nonsense for the most part.

The first 6 seasons were about nothing; you think the laundromat owner steals your money out of your clothes, that could happen. Then it became Kramer on the back of a firetruck, using butter for a moisturizer, just stupid stuff.

quote:

---

not sure I hate the finale or love it

---

I always took the finale as paying homage to what made the show great....the characters.

It really was just a trip down memory lane for all the whacky people they crossed paths with.

Thanks for the refresher on Babu - its clear I didn’t follow the show that closely

I think calling them “terrible people” is wrong. And I think we’ve all had friends who fit the mold of George (ne’er do well who is his own worst enemy, but you enjoy hanging out with him) and Kramer (weird social outcast who is a blast having around because his different outlook on things is so entertaining), and perhaps even Elaine (self-centered manipulative member of the opposite sex who is cute enough to overlook their obvious flaws).