Seinfeld

Today I am going to write something about Seinfeld. What is Seinfeld? It is a last name, a person, and the name of a television series. The show aired in the US from 1989 to 1998. Here in Argentina, it could be watched on a cable channel. Currently, as of 2015, reruns continue to air, and it has its own audience. How did I come across it? Although I knew about it from channel surfing, I never stopped to watch an episode. But a few years ago, also while channel surfing, on a show whose name I don't remember, while talking about comedies, an Argentine comedian named Anita Martínez was interviewed, and one of the questions was, "What is the best comedy series you've ever seen?" And she answered directly: Seinfeld. A few days later, while channel surfing, I saw that an episode of this series was playing, and I remembered Martínez's answer in her interview, and I gave it a chance. I watched the episode, and I found it so funny and interesting that since that day I have watched the entire series more than once; every time I watch an episode, not only do I enjoy myself, but I take away something interesting. I believe it has already earned its place in television history, that it will endure as a cult series, or even that it may end up as a classic.

The series takes its name from the main character, Jerry Seinfeld—they call him Jerry because his name is Jerome, and his last name is Seinfeld. There is the reason for the show's name, and it is consistent with the series itself: it is a sitcom, a situation comedy, about common places—and what is more common than the main character's name? In one episode, they define the comedy as being "about nothing," and with nothing they intended to look at or focus on everyday matters of daily life. And although that is how it goes, it is far from being vulgar, repetitive, or devoid of content; quite the contrary, through humor and daily life, they convey a lot, it is full of content and messages, and you can tell it is very well thought out and crafted.

To get an idea of the history of the series, you can visit this link: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seinfeld

General Aspects:

• The series consists of around 172 to 180 episodes (or chapters).
• It aired for 9 seasons (from 1989 to 1998).
• Each episode is about 22 minutes long.
• The story revolves around four friends with peculiar characteristics—normal people with certain personality traits (an obsessive, an eccentric, a neurotic, etc.) who experience normal, everyday situations and sometimes not-so-common ones.
• The interesting part is that they do it with humor and exaggerate it; they handle irony and sarcasm very well. The writers (one of them Seinfeld himself) were very observant, not only of the reality of their time, but also of the context and even past history, creating a circle that closes perfectly.
• Secondary characters also intervene, each with their own particularities.
• Although the main actors worked on other series or in film, Seinfeld comes from stand-up (comedy monologues) and Richards and Alexander come from the theater—actors who later also continued their careers in the theater. Louis-Dreyfus is the one who most continued in television.
• Richards' characteristic—making himself look basically like a clown every time he plays his character—comes from his training in physical comedy.

In this situation comedy, the first instance occurs where segments of Seinfeld's stand-up are interwoven into the same television episode. Stand-up is a type of live comedy in which a comedian delivers a monologue on stage directly to the audience.

Awards:

• Seinfeld (Series)
• Won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in 1993 and was nominated year after year from 1992 to 1998 (third to ninth seasons).
• Won the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy in 1994.
• Won the Peabody Award in 1993.
• Won the Television Critics Association Award in 1992 and 1993.
• Won the Screen Actors Guild Award in 1995, 1997, and 1998.
• Won the People's Choice Award for Favorite Television Comedy Series from 1997 to 1999.
• Jerry Seinfeld
• Won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy in 1994.
• Michael Richards
• Won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 1993, 1994, and 1997.
• Julia Louis-Dreyfus
• Won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1994.
• Won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 1996.
• Won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series in 1997 and 1998.
• Jason Alexander
• Won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series in 1995.

Some Trivia That Makes It Interesting:

• In 2002, TV Guide released a list of the fifty greatest television shows of all time, where Seinfeld was ranked first. Link accessed 2015
• In 2004, the television network E! placed Seinfeld in first place on the list 101 Reasons the 90s Ruled. Link accessed 2015
• On the film database IMDb, it holds a rating of 9 stars. Link accessed 2015
• On the website Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 93% positive approval rating (a website highly critical of series and films). Link accessed 2015
• Jerry Seinfeld holds the record for "most money turned down," according to the Guinness Book of Records, for rejecting an offer from NBC to continue the show in exchange for a salary of $5,000,000 per episode. Link accessed 2015
• According to data published by the US newspaper New York Post, Seinfeld is the most profitable series in television history, having generated some $2.7 billion since its finale in 1998. Link accessed 2015
• The magazine Forbes also published that the star of the show, Jerry Seinfeld, continued lining his pockets with royalties from the show. The actor, director, and producer continues to earn between $65 million and $80 million every year thanks to the show's sales. Link accessed 2015
• In 1997, the episodes "The Boyfriend" and "The Parking Garage" were ranked 4th and 33rd respectively in TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time. (Special Collector's Edition: 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time. TV Guide, June 28–July 4, 1997).
• In 2013, the Writers Guild of America named Seinfeld the 2nd Best Written TV Series of All Time. Link accessed 2015
• In 2009, the episode "The Contest" was ranked #1 on TV.com's list of the Top 100 Episodes of All Time. (TV's Top 100 Episodes of All Time, TV Guide; June 15, 2009; Pages 34–49).
• In 2009, Entertainment Weekly named it No. 3 on the list of the Best TV Series of All Time. Link accessed 2015
• A 2006 survey conducted by Britain's Channel 4 named it the third-greatest sitcom in history.

The Seinfeld Series in Books and Studies:

To conclude this brief commentary on this fantastic television series—of which I will later analyze those episodes that I find interesting—I must say that books have been written about the series, studies have been conducted, and it has been mentioned many more times in books on various subjects, in quite a few cases books referring to film and television.

Some examples:

I am going to begin with something I wrote in January of this year, 2015, regarding episode 119, which belongs to Season 7 (the ninth episode of that season), titled "The Sponge" (Date: December 7, 1995). In this regard, a Ph.D. economist named Avinash Dixit wrote an economic article taking this episode of the series as a reference.

• Dixit, Avinash (2012). "An option value problem from Seinfeld". Economic Inquiry. Volume 50, Issue 2, pages 563–565, April 2012. The topic is "Option value (cost-benefit analysis)". Link accessed 2015

Elizabeth Magnotta and Alexandra Strohl analyze Seinfeld's success using the Humor Incongruity Theory: "Incongruity theory states that humor is created from a violation of an expectation. For humor to result in this unexpected outcome, the event must have an adequate emotional climate, composed of the setting, characters, previous discourse, character relationships, and subject matter." Specifically, Magnotta and Strohl focus on "The Marine Biologist," in which George gets tangled up in another lie, and "The Red Dot," in which George tries to save a few dollars at Elaine's expense by giving her a cashmere sweater with a red dot marked on the bottom.

• Magnotta, Elizabeth and Alexandra Strohl. "A linguistic analysis of humor: A look at Seinfeld". August 2, 2012.

Nod Miller, of the University of East London, has discussed the self-referential qualities of the series: "Seinfeld is impregnated with postmodern themes. To begin with, the boundary between reality and fiction is frequently blurred: this is illustrated in the central device of having Jerry Seinfeld play the character of Jerry Seinfeld. In the fourth season of the series, several episodes revolved around the narrative of Jerry and George (whose character is the alter ego of co-creator Larry David) pitching a show about 'a show about nothing' based on the daily life of an NBC stand-up comedian. The reaction of the fictional NBC executives, by all accounts, mirrors the initial responses of those who eventually commissioned Seinfeld. The fourth season ends with the episode 'The Pilot,' an episode centered on the casting, recording, and screening of the show-within-the-show, Jerry. This episode also perfectly illustrates the self-referential quality that is one of the hallmarks of Seinfeld. The series finale is so packed with references to previous shows as to make it largely incomprehensible to those not already well-versed in the characters and concerns of the Seinfeld universe."

• Miller, Nod. "Applying Insights from Cultural Studies to Adult Education: What Seinfeld Says About the AERC". Adult Education Research Conference. August 1, 2012.

William Irwin has edited an anthology of academic essays on philosophy in the book titled Seinfeld and Philosophy: A Book about Everything and Nothing. Some entries include "The Jerry Problem and the Socratic Problem", "George the Failure: Cheer for Happiness—An Aristotelian Analysis", "The Moral Character of Elaine", "Kramer the 'Seducer'", "Making Something Out of Nothing: Seinfeld, Sophists, and the Tao", "Seinfeld, Subjectivity, and Sartre", "Mr. Peterman, the Wicked Witch of the West, and I", and "Minimally Decent Samaritans and Infrequent Laws".

• Irwin, William (2000). Seinfeld and Philosophy: A Book about Everything and Nothing. Open Court 2000. August 1, 2012.

"Fictional television storytelling has experienced one of its most splendid moments in recent years. At the end of the nineties, classic narrative strategies and the formats in which they were embodied reached their peak (both in audience and critical success). In comedy, 'sitcoms' achieved a perfection in their humor-construction formulas thanks to the work of series like Friends (NBC, 1994–2004), Frasier (NBC, 1993–2001), or in their more creative aspects, Seinfeld (NBC, 1989–1998). Standardized episodes, with a circular structure, and based on the 'gag' as the primary humorous tool. Furthermore, they offered an appropriate combination of verbal humor (usually misunderstandings) and physical humor (repetition of physical actions representing character traits, such as Kramer in the series Seinfeld). The viewer received their dose of humor in less than 30 minutes and identified with the characters in their work and romantic plots fundamentally." (Page 51) — María Verónica de Haro de San Mateo, María del Mar Grandío Pérez, José Manuel Hernández Pérez. Historias en red: impacto de las redes sociales en los procesos de comunicación. EDITUM, 2013.

"The success of the sitcom genre between 1950 and 2000 has been unquestionable. The 90s were an especially golden decade for this television genre, with titles as popular as Seinfeld (NBC, 1989) or Friends (NBC, 1994), whose final episodes were authentic social events and have been considered a television milestone of contemporary spectacle culture (Morreale, 2000). It is convenient in this section to look at the most relevant characteristics of this classic sitcom model represented by all the mentioned series in order to observe, subsequently, the variations that emerge in 21st-century comedies. A direct heritage of radio and theater, the situation comedy is one of the most artificial television genres in formal terms. One of its most significant particularities is that the production model, narrative structure, and thematic content did not change substantially until the late 90s—a model that was broken with the arrival of Seinfeld (NBC, 1989) and the rest of the new comedies starting in 2000. (…) In the classic sitcom, it was central that characters learn a moral lesson at the end of each chapter. Hence they can be described as a 'hug-and-learn' format. The first to popularize this definition of the format in journalistic contexts were precisely the creators of Seinfeld, Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, stating that Seinfeld broke with its predecessors because it adopted a perspective of 'no hugging, no learning.' In this sense, we consider that Seinfeld in the 90s is the antecedent of the new comedies of the 21st century with the creation of 'a show about nothing'." (Pages 34–37) — Piedad Fernández Toledo. Rompiendo moldes: discurso, géneros e hibridación en el siglo XXI. Comunicación Social, Oct 1, 2009.

"Conceived from the long tradition of stand-up, Seinfeld was the comedy that broke all the barriers that had given prestige and solidity to the format. Why not think of a comedy from a reinterpretation of the very heart of the genre? Seinfeld pushed the historical everydayness of comedy narratives to paroxysm, nothingness itself (which is how it became known as 'the show about nothing') masterfully drawn in millimetric scripts. A narrative sustained on the walls of the comedy format which its protagonists destroyed episode by episode to build something new. (…) If the genre had privileged friendship, integration, and good family sentiments throughout its history, in Jerry Seinfeld and his friends George, Elaine, and the exotic Cosmo Kramer the main driving force is selfishness. Limitless pragmatism to have a good time: they could hate children and refuse to commit to caring for the elderly, just as they could organize an 'onanistic abstinence' contest or accelerate the breakup of a struggling friendly couple. Seinfeld and his partner Larry David, creators and executive producers of the cycle, understood how to close the 20th century through comedy and its possibilities within a cynical and critical view of reality. A sitcom not of friends, but of thirty-somethings pretending to prolong their lives without responsibilities." — Pablo Manzotti. Seriemanía: La guía para elegir tu próxima serie favorita. Section 2. Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial Argentina.

"If you continue to remain skeptical, ask Jerry. If you still harbor doubts about the power of Personal Fundamentals, and their immense role in winning wealth, simply ask Jerry Seinfeld. Many are those who know the worldwide success of his television series, Seinfeld, which made Jerry an international star and a multi-millionaire. But what most people ignore is that Jerry was considered by his peers as a mediocrity. He had been performing in dinner theaters for over ten years and his career was going nowhere. His attempt to stand out from the crowd by turning to NBC to make a pilot series was met with indifference. After much insistence on his part, they agreed, partly due to a shortage of series, and financed the smallest pilot series in history, allowing him to produce only four shows. The test verdicts, likewise, pointed out that the shows were weak and the cast of low quality. His credit began to dwindle in the corresponding department. But the opportunity of the occasion tilted the public in favor of the series. Ratings skyrocketed, and Seinfeld ultimately became a cult product among a wide range of viewers. Seinfeld keeps framed in his splendid mansion the unfavorable report from NBC to remind him how fine the line is between success and failure and his surprising triumph against the feelings, opinions, and negative judgments of other individuals." (Page 108) — Brian Sher. Lo que los ricos saben y nunca explican a nadie. Editorial AMAT, Oct 31, 2008.

"Do it now, and keep the exercise streak going. When software developer Brad Isaac asked Jerry Seinfeld—who in those days was still a touring comedian—what his secret was, Seinfeld told Isaac to buy a wall calendar that has the whole year on a single page. For Seinfeld, becoming a better comedian meant writing every day; consequently, for every day Jerry worked on his material, he put a big red X on that day. Soon he created a long chain of red Xs, and not breaking the chain became his motivation. (…) What I love about the idea of the Seinfeld calendar is that it allows you to deflect the stubbornness of 'I don't feel like it' and redirect it toward not wanting to ruin a good winning streak." — Daniel G. Amen. Usa tu cerebro para rejuvenecer: Cómo verte, sentirte y pensar mejor cada día. Editorial Océano, Jun 15, 2014.

"Jerry Seinfeld was born in New York in 1955. A most prestigious comedian, he vaulted to international fame starting with the series Seinfeld, which aired in the United States from 1989 to 1998, reaching an audience of 30 million people. Some phrases and paragraphs authored by him:

·         'It must be very frustrating to work in a bookstore; you see a guy walk in, spend some time there, maybe hours, and leave without buying anything. You'd want to explode, maybe grab the customer by the lapel and tell him: What's wrong with you, know-it-all?! Is there nothing you need here?! There must be something you're ignorant of among all these books! And if not... why did you come? We didn't need you!'" — Rudy-Eliahu Toker. ¡Gogl Mogl!: El gran libro del humor judío. Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial Argentina.

"Writing in a diary implies the possibility of being wrong every day, and giving importance to matters that, with a bit more perspective, do not have it. As humorist Jerry Seinfeld caricatures in one of his monologues: 'The world is just interesting enough to hold a New York Times—not a line more, not a line less.' And this, translated from Seinfeld's reduction to the absurd, explains why journalists sometimes transform ourselves into cretins by dedicating pages and pages to reporting and analyzing supposed big news that, a few months later, it is obvious did not deserve even two lines." — Antoni Gutiérrez-Rubí. Tecnopolítica: El uso y la concepción de las nuevas herramientas tecnológicas para la comunicación, la organización y la acción política colectivas. Bebookness, Nov 25, 2014.

"Comedy. Writing comedy. 4. Drawbacks: Comedy characters are almost always doing the wrong things. Thus, when they want to do good, things turn out badly for them. They tell other characters' secrets, lie, cheat, commit all the sins of mortals. They commit all kinds of wrongdoings. Comedy has to provoke, it has to rub salt in the wound. Seinfeld is like that. 5. Interest: Comedy must always have a novelty, an unusual event, a major scandal, a dangerous secret. All of this must happen in the shortest time possible. Being surprising and unpredictable is an optimal resource to keep interest running high. Jerry Seinfeld is a stand-up comedy; he tells of a horse race... from the horse's point of view. This is the surprise that shifts logic to always maintain interest." — Doc Comparato. De la creación al guión: Arte y técnica de escribir para cine y televisión. Revolução eBook, Nov 10, 2014.

"The first time he took the stage, he was booed by the crowd with mocking distance. Jerry Seinfeld eventually became a famous comedian with one of the most beloved sitcoms in history, bearing his own name: Seinfeld." (Page 21) — Gustavo Arias. Fallar para triunfar. Lulu.com, May 23, 2015.

"On his show, Jerry Seinfeld constantly named brands, fully integrated into the fiction (to the point that some products were the basis of the episode) without charging a cent. Why did he do it? Realism. Seinfeld's writers preferred real products because 'in comedy, the more specific, the funnier.' The phenomenon reached such a point that many brands preferred to be mocked rather than ignored by the sitcom's four characters." (Page 76) — Diego Rottman. 10 años de Periodismo.com: 1997–2007. Director of 10 años de Periodismo.com.

Quotes:

• "The existence of books and bookstores is one of the few pieces of evidence that people still think." (Jerry Seinfeld)
• "The comedian's goal is to be himself. The closer he gets to his goal, the funnier he will be." (Jerry Seinfeld)
• "Why is good bad? What kind of a sick society are we living in where good is bad?" (George Costanza)

Other Books:

• Seinfeld Reference: The Complete Encyclopedia with Biographies, Character Profiles & Episode Summaries. Dennis Bjorklund, 2012.

Before finishing, I must add that there are many websites related to the series, mostly in English. One of them compiles information on "the objects in Kramer's apartment" link.

The same website also has four sections, each containing a list of the characters' girlfriends and boyfriends. These are actors who appeared as guest stars in those episodes, sometimes more than once. For many of them, it was their first television appearance; others saw their careers revived:

• Jerry's Girlfriends
• Kramer's Girlfriends
• George's Girlfriends
• Elaine's Boyfriends

Links to database profiles:

• IMDb Profile
• FilmAffinity Profile
• Seinfeld on Sony