First of all, yeah, come at me. “Seinfeld” is only kinda-sorta funny, at best. Seinfeld himself is really not funny at all. His act is perpetually stuck between the oldschool, early 1950s-style, cigar-waving “hyuk-hyuk, get a load of all my jokes about women drivers” comedians and the post-Lenny Bruce era, where everything just boils down to telling boring “slice of life” stories with mildly clever exaggerations.
Seinfeld manages to pick and choose all the worst elements of both those eras and smush them together into a tremendously boring, un-funny standup act.
Annnnd that’s what gets translated to the show. Boring, egotistical, overly-New-York-focused, pretentious nonsense.
Like I said, come at me about that. I know people disagree. I truly do not care what you want to say to me, about it. You’re simply wrong. If you like his comedy or his show, you just have bad taste. I can’t fix that. I can’t change your mind. You can’t change mine, either. But I’m objectively correct that he and his comedy material both suck.
But the whole “show about nothing” thing is what really boils my ass. You can argue that the show wasn’t “about nothing,” in the first place. And that’s, like, whatever. There are valid arguments, there. In fact, I’d like to accept those arguments, then proceed under the assumption that the “show about nothing” concept really is a “show about nothing, and therefore about everything.”
This is the important point: the thing I disagree with is this wretched and insulting notion that “Seinfeld” was somehow a PIONEERING television show, in this context of being about nothing and/or everything.
That’s my problem. The claim that “Seinfeld” did any of that shit first. The implication is that all prior television, especially all prior comedies, were somehow locked into a “this is a show about a particular topic” mentality. And, like, “nobody had the GENIUS and the GUTS to make a freewheeling show about just, like, whatever topics came to the minds of the genius writers, and their groundbreaking stream-of-consciousness comedy process.”
That’s fucking horseshit. Horseshit of the highest fucking caliber.
I suppose these turd-brained fucksticks believe that “I Love Lucy” was about a Cuban guy who had a job as a bandleader and his wife, who sometimes tried to get into showbusiness. And “The Honeymooners” would be about a guy who has a job as a bus driver. And “Taxi” was a show about cab drivers, driving their cabs.
Of course, that’s not what those shows were ACTUALLY ABOUT. They were basically shows about nothing, just as much as “Seinfeld” was. They were often about relatable problems in domestic life, they were sometimes about people trying zany get-rich-quick schemes, they were sometimes about the fears and perils and hopes that surround pregnancy and childbirth, they were often about the uncertainty and passion and sacrifice that people put themselves through, for their budding careers, or their workaday jobs. And they were about a million other things that all fit the “show about nothing” mold BETTER than “Seinfeld” ever did.
I say they did it better, because they weren’t exclusively about sad, angry, borderline-psychopathic reprobates, who seem to have no goals or aspirations, beyond smirking and talking shit about people behind their backs, swilling coffee, and occasionally trying to get laid. They were shitty people, with shitty attitudes. I know that’s part of the joke…but it wears thin very quickly, and my point is that other shows did a similar “it’s a show about nothing…but really everything” theme, but their casts of characters WEREN’T entirely populated by malignant, fundamentally worthless narcissists.
Basically, I implore people to stop worshipping that fucking show, as if it was some kind of groundbreaking, high art. There were way better classic comedy shows than that piece of shit, from its own era and the TV eras before it.
Oh, and before you point out that I accused Seinfeld of being overly New York focused, but also used three other shows set in New York as counterexamples, I realized that just now.
And I don’t give a shit. I can keep going. “Green Acres” wasn’t really about farming. “The Bob Newhart Show” wasn’t really about psychiatry, “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” wasn’t really about TV production, and “WKRP in Cincinnati” wasn’t really about radio production.
The shows about nothing and everything are THE MAJORITY of all the shows. Certainly, all the good ones. It’s harder for me to think of reversed examples, where the show is just what it was supposed to be “about.”
Like, yeah, “Flipper” really was about a fucking dolphin, and “The Flying Nun” really was about a flying fucking nun. And those shows fucking sucked.
I think I can consider my point thoroughly made.
Now, all you assholes can start typing abuse at me, for daring to dislike your idol. I won’t be reading that shit. Not sorry.
While I agree that Seinfeld is generally unfunny and definitely overrated, Op is such a gaping asshole about it, I kinda want to rethink my opinion because of them.
OP’s username must be sarcastic lol
I’ve seen a handful of Seinfeld episodes. I thought they were okay, but there was one character that really annoyed me, with his whiny, nasally voice and his absolutely awful attempt at delivering jokes. Comedy just died every time this guy opened his mouth; he was so cringey. I thought, if they got rid of that one character, the show would drastically improve. I actually stopped watching because I hated seeing him on screen in every episode.
I found out later, that character was Jerry Seinfeld himself.
“What’s the deaaaal with overrated hacks? Oh, wait.” - Jerry Seinfeld, probably but not really
ummm, like, tons of people really loved that show, dude. and still do, making the streaming rights continually the most expensive and sought after intellectual property in existence. i’m sure i share the greater hive minds feelings in saying we’re all terribly sorry you don’t enjoy it. you should ask for your money back.
Tons of people, you say? A greater hive mind of people, who all outnumber me, you say?
HMMMMMMMMMMM. IT’S ALMOST AS IF THAT WOULD MAKE MY OPINION…UHHHH…UNPOPULAR.
If that were the case, it would be FUCKING FORTUITOUS that I posted it in the subverse SPECIFICALLY FOR UNPOPULAR OPINIONS.
Honestly, what do you think people are supposed to post, here? I’m really asking you. Please tell me what you think people are supposed to post, in this place.
love you op!!!
Just as a point of clarification, a critic of the show called it a “show about nothing”. Jerry took that and used it as the plot of the show within a show that he and George wrote the pilot to, Jerry! Then people started referring to Seinfeld that way, but it never was about nothing, in fact it usually had 2-3 storylines per episode that they found a way to converge at the end.
I get that you don’t like the show, but at least get your facts straight.
Exactly, Jerry and Larry David said something like “No learning no feelings” but I don’t believe they ever said it was a show about nothing.
“The pitch for the show, the real pitch, when Larry and I went to NBC in 1988, was we want to show how a comedian gets his material. The show about nothing was just a joke in an episode many years later.”
-Jerry Seinfeld
The “show about nothing” is a joke meme taken from an episode. So there’s no point in ranting about something that never existed.
You’re just objectively wrong throughout. Not liking it, sure. You do you boo.
It was never a show about nothing. It was a 90s sitcom. It had an A plot and a B plot. Had arching character stories that ran season to season that were directly related to how shows didn’t drop all at once but once a week for a period of time then NOTHING as a cliff hanger for a year. So a drastic change or a big season finale actually meant something because there was most of the year someone would talk about it.
As to you just not liking it, I can see that. Especially if you’re younger. When I was younger I hated it. Absolutely not funny. When you are their age, all that crap that happens to them, happens to you. Obviously they are the worst versions of people possible which is the point. And yes that too is pioneering, because you were always supposed to support the characters. Give it a decade, and rewatch. You may chuckle. Or not. Doesn’t matter.
Seinfeld himself I don’t find funny. And he’s a terrible actor (self described). Jason Alexander is a god. Dreyfus is intolerable. I can’t stand anything she’s in, except Seinfeld where I hate her but watch her. But even with that, it’s a good standard 90s comedic sitcom. Formulaic and somewhat unpredictable the first time. Obscenely quotable today.
You really invested time into this Seinfeld thing. I just started watching it for my first time this year. It’s amusing. That’s all.
I lived in San Francisco in the 90s. I was in my 20s. I didn’t own a TV. Often, on Thursday nights, I’d go over to a friend’s house and watch TV to see Seinfeld. It was the only comedy show that I can recall worth watching. We always laughed at it. Maybe because we could relate to the characters and situations, I don’t know; I don’t want to analyze it. Never saw the standup comic himself even though I was going to standup comedy back then. Never bothered with the meta stuff about the show like criticism and shit; ain’t got time for that. If anyone brings up the show now then I will recall it fondly. That is all.
What an absolute bullshit thing to post here- you’re not displaying an unpopular opinion, you’re just ranting like an asshole about something you don’t like by insulting people who like it.
And saying “come at me…” seriously dude?
This shit should be removed by mods for trolling.
I came to read the comments and I’m glad I chose not to read another subjective rant about something someone hates. Who TF cares if I really hate something other people really like. And me getting on a soap box about it only makes me an asshole. Some people put a whole lot of value on their opinion and don’t understand how others can also have strong opinions that may differ and yet have as much value as theirs.
Yeah, I’m not reading that wall of text but I agree. It’s an unpopular opinion but I’ve never laughed once at anything on Seinfeld. I’ve seen episodes here and there because I definitely tried watching it. Just… meh.
Opinions are like assholes. Everyone’s got one, even the stupid people.
Doesn’t Dennis Leary have a bit about this phrase? “Assholes” being plural & “one” being singular? The phrase bothered him for some reason
removed by mod
The jerk store called…
What in the actual fuck it’s “Seinfeld”?
Yeah, it’s not “Berenstain.”
Nevermind it’s a TV show, I feel the same as you but with “The Big Bang Theory”. And with comedy shit in general and TV. These should be called “funny shit to forget your shitty life” shows.
Totally agreed. And yeah, I hate “The Big Bang Theory” so much that it actually made my skin itch, like I was about to break out in hives, when I got trapped somewhere where it was on, and there was no polite way for me to shut it off or leave the room.
One of the creepiest things on the internet is that series of clips, where someone removed the laugh track from parts of the show. It’s FUCKING EERIE, DUDE. Without that shit in there, pointing out where the “jokes” are supposed to be, it’s just full-on surrealist shit.
Sad people are the ones who find these shitty ass shows funny tbh.