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It’s not offensive, it’s just not that funny.
97% of Seinfeld’s entertainment value is the bass line.
But if you make an observation and draw it out for a long time, that automatically makes it funny, right?
BA DOUH BUH shikka shikka BAH-DA (et al)
That’s what’s offensive
Didn’t millennials watch it growing up? Someone’s not getting their generational terms right
Hell, I was even old enough when it was airing to think it was overrated then.
Seinfeld is one of the best sitcoms of all time.
See, that’s the real issue. I don’t have a problem with acknowledging it’s high concept, ocassionally funny and mostly easy watching.
But everybody insisting it’s endless comedic, best-sitcom-ever brilliance is overrating it. It’s overrated.
It’s not overrated. It set the standard. It’s easy to call it overrated when you live in world influenced by it. It’s like calling the Model T overrated as a car. There’s even a TVTrope for this concept. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SeinfeldIsUnfunny
Exactly. Seinfeld isn’t funny now because all the shows after it copied it. When Seinfeld came out, it was revolutionary. No one was doing that humor. They invented it. Now, everyone and their mother has copied them, so it’s played out. And since all these newer sitcoms had time and previous examples to improve on, they do it better, so Seinfeld looks lame by comparison. However, when I as a millennial was watching Seinfeld when it was being originally aired, I thought it was great.
Oh, hell, no. It’s not like Seinfeld invented sitcoms, or even modern sitcoms. It’s not the Model T, it’s the Ford Escort. Maybe.
And I’m not saying it’s unfunny, I’m saying it’s a solid 90s sitcom that for some reason people are out here saying is the Model T of sitcoms. I feel like the level of hyperbole puts the burden of proof elsewhere.
And it’s also not a case of it now being standard, because I assure you I’ve had this opinion since it was airing. I very much was of the batch of people who flip-flopped on Family Guy, but I was in the “Seinfeld was mid” camp before anybody ever called anything “mid”.
Agree to disagree then
Been agreeing to disagree on this one for like 35 years, I’m good with that.
Underrated comment
An extremely 90s take.
Real heads will know the genre peaked with Cheers.
Ok, maybe I just don’t like sitcoms.
I didn’t necessarily mind it, but Jerry’s awful standup shoved in there on the other hand…
Yeah that is funny. It’s like Dee doing her standup except Seinfeld is more subdued and not gagging.
Generational labels tend to divide by arbitrary boundaries more than actually give you insightful information about something exclusive to the group.
Sounds like someone’s born on a cusp. Or right in the middle.
To boomers and idiots, millennials just means “younger than me”
Same goes for younger generations. Everyone old is a boomer.
lol, yes
The years for Millennials go up to 94-96, Seinfeld finished in 98. I doubt many that young would have seen it. I was born in 86 and I barely watched Seinfeld re-runs.
Seinfeld was hugely syndicated. I was born in the 90s and watched tons of reruns of it. I think they played it after or before the Simpsons which my family always watched.
Yeah same I watched reruns of Seinfeld every weeknight growing up from '98-05 at least if not later
I was born in 84 and have seen every episode multiple times. Except the clip shows, because once you figure out that’s what’s happening you know better next time around and skip them.
The years for Millennials go up to 94-96
?? What do you think millennials were doing after 1996? Did they just phase out of existence?
I was born in 86 and I barely watched Seinfeld re-runs.
People had Seinfeld on in my college dorm during the mid-00s. It was one of the most syndicated shows of its era. If you remember 9/11, you remember Seinfeld.
I commented on someone who seemed to think that millennials wasn’t the correct generation because millennials must have grown up watching Seinfeld. Many did, but many didn’t. I know many people around my age that didn’t watch it so it’s fairly safe to assume that people who were 2-4 years old when the show ended might not have seen it, even re-runs. Remembering it and watching it enough to have an opinion on it are two different things.
I was born in 92 and have probably seen almost every episode. Idk if it’s generational or if it’s just person to person.
Of course it’s a person to person thing.
It’s not like every millennial watched it growing up. It’s not inconceivable that there are millennials who are seeing it now for only the first time and find it offensive.
I mean, it was genuinely hard to avoid for a while there.
Gen Z, maybe.
My partner is a millennial and she had never seen Seinfeld until we first watched it together a few years ago. It’s not that inconceivable to imagine not everyone grew up watching the same things as you.
No, it’s definitely fine and possible. A thriving industry of Youtube reaction channels hinges on that plausibility. It’s just the concept of the OP’s headline implying it’s a generational thing when it definitely isn’t.
Isn’t that the whole fucking point of the show though? The main characters are terrible selfish assholes?
It’s not really any different than the characters on It’s Always Sunny.
Ummmm, the whole point of the show was that the people were horrible.
The show ended with them jailed after they made fun of a guy who was getting mugged.
The gang on It’s Always Sunny is worse but they are obviously not people we’re supposed to empathise with. It’s quite a bit less obvious on Seinfeld.
Always Sunny was taking the idea of Seinfeld and dialing it up to 11.
I feel like the distinction is that on Sunny the gang is “punished” for their shitty behavior, and on Seinfeld they basically never were. (I don’t include the season finale because that was just a cop-out to give the show an ending.)
I feel like Seinfeld reveled in the naughty pleasure of schadenfreude
I might be overthinking it but feel like Seinfeld was more a show about normal people who sometimes do shitty things - just like real life. I can’t think of anything truly horrible any of them did on the show, just a bunch of “social” wrongdoing. Telling a secret, sleeping at work, the perfect comeback, etc. It’s famously a show about “nothing”
Then IASIP is about a bunch of assholes riling each other up to be horrible for their own benefit.
I think Seinfeld is the more “important” in the grand scheme of television for it’s groundbreaking approach but in a vacuum, IAS is the better show.
Jerry purposely drugging his girlfriend so he could play with her toys was pretty shitty AND horrible.
Yes, but that’s season 9, which is after Larry David left as writer. While Larry David was there thru season 7 the characters were quirky regular people who sometimes made bad choices like all humans do sometimes. After Larry David left and Jerry Seinfeld was writing the show by himself from season 8 forward, the characters became much more fucked up, and the show was also way less funny
That’s a fair point. Season 9 was certainly a vibe I can’t quite find the words for.
Good one, I hardly remember the last couple of seasons and forgot that
George and Elaine are pretty psychopathic in the show. Jerry occasionally gets to be the good guy, but isn’t much be better than them. It’s way beyond social faux paus.
The show is still a very 90s show with 90s sensibilities. There is a lot of media from that time that hasn’t aged well.
If 90s shows make you clutch your pearls god help you if you catch something from the 80s or 70s.
I think that 90s media may be a bit more problematic because it was more willing to have the kinds of discussions that 80s media would never had.
Yeah, the “discussions” in the 90s where about normal behavior in the 70s and 80s.
Hell the 80s religious and political scene in America is what inspired A Handmaids Tail.
Millennial here. I tried to watch Seinfeld back in the day, and I thought it was kind of meh. But there was one character I really hated on the show. He had a whiny pathetic voice, was always complaining about something or another, and was just an awful actor, unlike the rest of the cast. I thought, if they just removed that one guy, the show would be great and I’d enjoy it so much more.
I found out later, that guy was Seinfeld. So… I never really got into the show.
THANK YOU! I can’t stand that guy. His voice kills me and I never found him funny. Nothing against him personally, he might be a great person, but I can’t understand how people can stand the content he makes.
Goodnews! Seinfeld is a pedophile and supposedly kind of a sociopath. He’s also tried to hop on the anti-woke train a couple of times in the past few years.The man made a major contribution to western cultus as a whole, but man is he a bastard.
I’ve seen a few episodes of his show where he takes comedians to get a coffee in his fancy cars. He often comes across like an asshole. Sometimes I wonder if he’s in charge of the show why he would want to be portrayed that way? Presumably he could edit some stuff out?
I assume it’s supposed to be part of the comedy, that’s kind of the point of the show, they’re all terrible, so assuming he’s kinda playing the character that could make sense.
Not Seinfeld the show, I’m talking about an interview show Seinfeld the man does. I dont think it’s scripted. But yea he could just be playing up his persona, idk.
Right, I do mean even in the interview show I bet he’s playing the character to an extent
He was definitely the weakest actor of the 4, and had the poorest story lines.
He was supposed to be the outside observer making the jokes about his crazy friends. That’s why early episodes had him literally doing stand up in the intro and outro.
I thought all the episodes had that. I never really watched the show much though.
They phased it out after the first or second season.
According to other sources I have found, the show had them for the first seven seasons. They were removed when Larry David left the show.
My mistake.
Seinfeld is definitely the weakest character and the show is the most memorable from everyone else
That is about the best burn on Seinfeld I’ve ever read. Bravo!
Yeah also a millennial and it’s just… not that funny? I get that plenty of shows haven’t aged perfectly, so it’s not that. Friends has plenty of moments that haven’t aged well (lots of gay jokes about Chandler come to mind), but the comedy still holds up really well. Seinfeld… Not so much.
That right there is some clickbait. I’m millennial and I was watching the show when it was on and loved it.
Yeah, not sure how old they think millennials are or when they thought Seinfeld aired
#HEY IT’S THE ASSMAN!
I wasted many homework nights watching this until 2am, same goes for friends and frasier.
But tbh i’m easily amused as long as it isn’t short form brainrot.
Meh, Jerry Seinfeld has been pushing the “I’m too offensive for young people” and “I’ve been cancelled” nonsense for a while now. He’s just old and not funny anymore. Turns out telling the same jokes for 30 years doesn’t get a lot of laughs. What is the deal with millennials anyway!
he unequivocally walked that back recently. said he was wrong to think that and it isn’t a thing. he probably had a talk with his kid or something.
He probably had a long talk with his PR counselor and was advised that he stood to loose more then he would gain if he stuck to that.
I don’t care honestly. the message is more important than the motive.
Millennials are like 40 years old now. Does this article writer think Millennial just means “kid”?
Millennials are like 40 years old now.
PS. I’m not actually 40 but I’m getting there before I even realise it.
I just turned 40. It’s fine. Same joints ache as when I turned 30, less heartburn (because I’ve figured out my triggers).
It’s worded like we’re all still in our early 20s.
It’s just hot clickbait garbage for boomers
I’m a millennial and watched the Seinfeld finale live…
Not saying it’s not funny, but there is definitely stuff in the show that wouldn’t fly today. For example there is an episode where George didn’t know black people ate salad.
I don’t like Seinfeld, but isn’t George supposed to be an utter dunce?
Like, as a Zoomer, people not being able to tell the difference between portraying bigotry and endorsing it IS an actual problem I see.
I am reminded of Sokka’s character in the new version of the Avatar (show) compared to the original animated one. In the original animated one, he portrays sexism and very much feels the consequences of it, and grows as a character when overcoming it (through warranted humiliation). The new show never included any of this and so his character lacks all of this. It’s like the writers think they’re endorsing his sexism if they ever included such a thing.
I don’t think they are afraid of it, I think they just wanted to portray a more serious character overall. Live action lens itself to that serious tone, where It would be hard to replicate some of the slapstick gags in the anime and trying would fall flat.
He is and you’re right.
He is also based on Larry David himself, and many of the most outrageous stunts he does in Seinfeld, David has done in real life. For example, George quitting his job just to regret it immediately and going back the next day as if nothing had happened, is based on Larry David doing exactly that as a writer on SNL. He made a big scene and quit, and just went back after the weekend and pretended like he’d been joking. Larry David is an interesting man to say the least.
He made a big scene and quit, and just went back after the weekend and pretended like he’d been joking.
Sounds like the whole situation could’ve been avoided by him curbing his enthusiasm
I heard on a podcast today that Larry David based the George character on himself. (The podcast is called Good Bad Billionaire, where a couple of people judge various billionaires on their ethics etc. TIL Jerry Seinfeld is a billionaire.)
Not a Seinfeld fan but I did see enough episodes of both it and Curb Your Enthusiasm to be annoyed that I didn’t make this connection.
He takes it up a few notches on Curb.
For example there is an episode where George didn’t know black people ate salad.
We’re still getting asked questions like this and honestly, should be highlighted:
Pure facepalm Questions I’ve overheard or was involved in:
- Can black people use the same shampoo as white people
- If Muslim women wore the hijab in the shower
- Is the southeast asian vagina 90 degrees
I’m an Xer and I didn’t like Seinfeld, but that’s mostly because I don’t like embarrassment comedy. It’s the same reason I don’t like Will Ferrel and Ben Stiller, but to each their own. I don’t begrudge anyone else finding it funny, it’s just not my vibe.
I’m not saying you have to like Seinfeld or anything, but I wouldn’t consider it embarrassment comedy. It’s more about the gang being a bunch of sociopaths, like an early version of IASIP.
I agree on the embarrassment humor. Cringey stuff is worse than the most hellacious and gory horror to me most of the time.
Sienfeld never really hit me that way, though. It just seemed stupid and contrived in a very “look how edgy and relevant I am” sort of way.
Are we talking about “Seinfeld”, the slightly overrated comedy TV series, or “Seinfeld”, the horrible human being?
Yes
It’s weird that “this group of people don’t like that show that you like” is supposed to create some sort of negative reaction. My enjoyment of a thing does not depend on a certain number of other people liking it.
I must be numb to “outrage is the best way to engage people” that everyone uses these days.
To be fair, Outrage Marketing does work, but it usually isn’t this obvious.
Like when Disney announced that the Snow White remake would have Seven Multicolored Normal Sized Human People? And later it turned out the final movie will indeed have dwarves?
That was just done to get bigots talking about the flick. Wouldn’t be surprised to learn Aerial being black in the newer Mermaid movie was the same thing. I mean it worked, people were too busy defending Disney from criticism for this move that they didn’t notice the movie is, like most Live Action Remakes of Non-Live Action media, shit.
Hey Disney, bring back your 2D Animation, have them do another Lion King, then dub it over with the audio for the Mufasa film. I guarantee I’ll actually consider watching the damn thing if you do that. (These Live Action remakes have got to be a Money Laundering scheme or something)
Hey Disney, bring back your 2D Animation
Disney used to churn out plenty of entertaining live action shows without issue.
The problem isn’t with the medium, it’s with the company. They’ve fired too many writers, put too much stock in CGI, and devolved too much of the editing process to the marketing department.
But the idea that the folks who brought you Tron, The Mighty Ducks, and Pirates of the Caribbean can’t make good live action cinema is crazy.
Before The Little Mermaid Disney made live-action remakes of Pinnochio and Peter Pan. Neither of them had a substantial outrage associated with them and I didn’t hear about either of them until they’d already released and flopped.
Imagine making a live action Pinocchio and not putting Guillermo del Toro in charge
I fucking hate Gossip Girl.
I’m also a 40yo man… so… that tracks.
The original or the reboot?
For the first time? We grew up with this show.
Ya know how growing up, our parents called every system a “Nintendo”, even if it was clearly a Playstation or a Sega Genesis?
Yeah that’s what boomers do with age groups. Anyone younger than them is a “Millenial Zoomer on Youtube’s TikTok app”
Ya know how growing up, our parents called every system a “Nintendo”, even if it was clearly a Playstation or a Sega Genesis?
My parents called everything an Atari
This whole “young people find everything offensive” narrative is ridiculous, and always has been. It’s very beneficial to those who want to shift the Overton window, though.
If they(we) think Seinfeld is offensive, what do they think of IASIP?
Well, IASIP is also actually funny, which helps.
I do wonder if whatever is “After GenZ/Gen Alpha” in the 2050s will look at IASIP and see it as disgusting unfunny and terribly offensive, as now their humor is beyond the surreal absurdness of skibidi toilet.
