Seinfeld - General Discussion

[Aethera]

This topic replaces the old Seinfeld forum which has been vaulted at the location below:

http://forums.previously.tv/forum/455-seinfeld-v/

[annzeepark914]

What? How can that be? Oh, it be.

[annzeepark914]

Lloyd Braun is doing insurance commercials. So is the Broadway costume mgr (Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor whatever). 

[azshadowwalker]

A day for Frank Costanza episodes... 

[annzeepark914]

Good ol' Frank Costanza. The Washington Post has an interesting obit on Jerry Stiller, featuring quotes from old interviews. We hardly see any Seinfeld re-runs in our area now. But every year, when Festivus rolls around, we'll remember the man who created the wacky holiday, feats of strength and all. Serenity Now!!

[ottoDbusdriver]

1 hour ago, annzeepark914 said:

Good ol' Frank Costanza. The Washington Post has an interesting obit on Jerry Stiller, featuring quotes from old interviews. We hardly see any Seinfeld re-runs in our area now. But every year, when Festivus rolls around, we'll remember the man who created the wacky holiday, feats of strength and all. Serenity Now!!

Don't forget the airing of grievances.  :)

[Bastet]

15 minutes ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

Don't forget the airing of grievances.  🙂

"I got a lot of problems with you people!"

[VCRTracking]

 

 

 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Jason Alexander Discuss SEINFELD and More for Direct Relief Fundraising

 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Someone edited together the various behind the scenes segments about Jerry Stiller from the DVD extras in honor of his passing:

 

[VCRTracking]

Re: the episode where George tries to make a black friend to prove to his boss he's not racist. I wonder, did it come about because the writers noticed the actor who played the boss resembled Sugar Ray Leonard, or did they have the idea for the story and then went "Okay who does he look like?"

[annzeepark914]

Reni Santoni, who played "Poppie" (the restaurateur who didn't wash his hands) died recently. There's a brief article at Variety. I can still see him making the pizza dough with his "bathroom hands".

[VCRTracking]

 

 

 

[mmecorday]

Even though the pizza was probably put in a very hot oven that would have killed any germs in the dough, I still would have given it a hard pass like Jerry did.

[annzeepark914]

Geez...ol' Jer is in the hot seat right now. There's an article in the NY Post in which he's being criticized for comments he made about an article that said NYC is dead. The owner of a comedy club says Seinfeld is arrogant & unfriendly to fans who approach him, isn't supportive of comedy clubs that supported him during his early years.

[VCRTracking]

Why are people surprised Jerry isn't nice when that was what we saw for 8 years? The finale was about how they were awful.

 

 

Edited September 3, 2020 by VCRTracking

[annzeepark914]

I'm probably one of rhe few fans who loved the finale. Seeing all those unique characters watching the trial (in the courtroom or at home) was the best part for me. Unfortunately, in the reruns I think some of those folks' scenes were cut. I should buy the dvd of the finale to see if that's true. I wonder if Jerry was friendlier to fans before Seinfeld. Don't know if I'd like fans constantly approaching me.

[Ms Blue Jay]

Jerry does a lot for his fans though.  For example, he came to a very small town near me (in Canada) and we went to watch his stand up some time before COVID.  It was amazing.  It's basically the same standup they've uploaded to Netflix now.  It was a huge show.  I'm not sure what the capacity of the theatre was but it was pretty enormous.  And now he's releasing another book.

So, he hates people to approach him in the street.  I don't blame him.

Here's Jerry declining a hug from pop star Kesha.  He doesn't want to hob nob with celebrities let alone us common folk :).  Haha.

 

Edited September 8, 2020 by Ms Blue Jay

[Cobb Salad]

Re: Jerry’s turning down a hug, it’s the episode “The Kiss Hello” re-enacted in real life, 😆 

[Ms Blue Jay]

The show Seinfeld's whole thing was "No hugging, no learning", remember? 😉

It's pretty clear Kesha doesn't know anything about him besides he's famous.  Or maybe she's a big "Bee Movie" fan.  I don't know.

[annzeepark914]

I just ordered Jerry's book, "Is This Anything?" 

[Cobb Salad]

On 10/12/2020 at 1:03 PM, annzeepark914 said:

I just ordered Jerry's book, "Is This Anything?" 

I borrowed the audio version from the library recently and finished it.  It’s read by Jerry Seinfeld himself.  A lot of the jokes were ones that he did on the show but the further in you go he gets to more recent material.  I thought it was pretty funny.  
Anyway, I came here to wish everyone a Happy Festivus!

[annzeepark914]

5 minutes ago, Cobb Salad said:

I borrowed the audio version from the library recently and finished it.  It’s read by Jerry Seinfeld himself.  A lot of the jokes were ones that he did on the show but the further in you go he gets to more recent material.  I thought it was pretty funny.  
Anyway, I came here to wish everyone a Happy Festivus!

Yes! It's Festivus for the rest of us!!!

[dttruman]

On 7/25/2019 at 4:05 PM, annzeepark914 said:

Lloyd Braun is doing insurance commercials. So is the Broadway costume mgr (Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor whatever). 

The 2nd Lloyd Braun (Matthew McCoy).

[MagnusHex]

Finally checked out this series, season 1... yeah, not really living up to the immense reputation it has.

Then again, I read that the show doesn't hit its peak till season 4. Yeesh, three seasons of struggling before it gets good. Hope it's worth it.

[annzeepark914]

8 minutes ago, MagnusHex said:

Finally checked out this series, season 1... yeah, not really living up to the immense reputation it has.

Then again, I read that the show doesn't hit its peak till season 4. Yeesh, three seasons of struggling before it gets good. Hope it's worth it.

It depends on your sense of humor. If you were not impressed with season one, I doubt you'll enjoy any subsequent episodes. 

[MagnusHex]

3 minutes ago, annzeepark914 said:

It depends on your sense of humor. If you were not impressed with season one, I doubt you'll enjoy any subsequent episodes. 

I mean, there were amusing moments here and there in episode 1, but they're not really that clever (or fresh).

My sense of humor lies with more ironic and sardonic forms of comedies, I guess, such as Ricky Gervais' stuff, and Golden Age Simpsons.

Edited March 10, 2021 by MagnusHex

[annzeepark914]

19 minutes ago, MagnusHex said:

I mean, there were amusing moments here and there in episode 1, but they're not really that clever (or fresh).

My sense of humor lies with more ironic and sardonic forms of comedies, I guess, such as Ricky Gervais' stuff, and Golden Age Simpsons.

Yup. I disliked the Simpsons (not my type of humor). So spare yourself the rest of Seinfeld years.

Edited March 10, 2021 by annzeepark914

[Bastet]

I liked it from the beginning, but I find season one quite different than what it became, so I'd suggest at least starting on season two before deciding whether or not to continue.

[MagnusHex]

15 hours ago, Bastet said:

I liked it from the beginning, but I find season one quite different than what it became, so I'd suggest at least starting on season two before deciding whether or not to continue.

Yeah, think I'll do that. Comedy is so subjective that I don't think it's fair to say that if you don't like Brand X, you wouldn't like Brand Y. I liked Friends for example, even if I saw its flaws, but I don't really enjoy other '90s American sitcoms like it...

American sitcoms and I have a problematic relationship. British comedies are more compatible with me. Rowan Atkinson could crack me up more than American comedians like Steve Carrell any day, or whomever's trending right now in American comedies.

Don't get me started with the overrated Big Bang Theory.

Edited March 11, 2021 by MagnusHex

[annzeepark914]

5 hours ago, MagnusHex said:

Yeah, think I'll do that. Comedy is so subjective that I don't think it's fair to say that if you don't like Brand X, you wouldn't like Brand Y. I liked Friends for example, even if I saw its flaws, but I don't really enjoy other '90s American sitcoms like it...

American sitcoms and I have a problematic relationship. British comedies are more compatible with me. Rowan Atkinson could crack me up more than American comedians like Steve Carrell any day, or whomever's trending right now in American comedies.

Don't get me started with the overrated Big Bang Theory.

When we toured Warner Brothers back in 2014, one of the sets we visited was the Big Bang.  I never watched the show (other than looking at it for maybe a few minutes once in a while).  I found a script sitting on a podium so I started reading it.  Lots of one liners, each followed by notes to "stare". Yeah...that's Big Bang I think. The only British comedy I liked was Are You Being Served, probably due to the very gifted actors (and the fact that it's based on a real London dept store...much like Seinfeld stories are taken from writers' personal experiences in life).  I've heard that you either love Seinfeld or Friends, but not both.

[Cobb Salad]

42 minutes ago, annzeepark914 said:

 I've heard that you either love Seinfeld or Friends, but not both.

Count me as a Seinfeld fan.  Friends on the other hand ... watched it during the original run, I thought it was funny but I got tired of the Ross/Rachel relationship and stopped watching before the show ended.  I haven’t watched it in reruns and never plan to.  On the other hand, someone I knew when both shows were airing in prime time that was a big Friends fan but didn’t like Seinfeld because “it’s not funny”.  She also didn’t live in the NYC area so that might have added to the dislike.  Who knows.  
I have all the seasons on DVD even though I don’t like them all equally.   IMO it hit a low a few seasons in then picked up toward the end.  As big of a fan as I am of the show I think it ended at the right time.   Looking back on the finale which I hated at the time I think now it was probably the best way to end the show.  Most show endings have everyone going off to something bigger and better but given Seinfeld was about no hugging, no learning, the characters needed to be punished for their behavior -  who knows if they even learned from that experience.   

[annzeepark914]

I loved the finale & thought they did a great job. The best part of both episodes was seeing all the various, hilarious character actors resuming their roles from stories over the years, gleefully watching the "four" get punished at long last. Not all of them were in the courtroom (I seem to recall seeing people huddled in front of their TVs, chortling away) Too bad these scenes were never included in reruns over the years.  I read "Seinfeldia" and learned that so many of the crazy stories were based on the writers' real life experiences (or their friends or relatives). Festivus was dreamed up by someone's cranky FIL years ago.

 

 

[Cobb Salad]

43 minutes ago, annzeepark914 said:

I loved the finale & thought they did a great job. The best part of both episodes was seeing all the various, hilarious character actors resuming their roles from stories over the years, gleefully watching the "four" get punished at long last. Not all of them were in the courtroom (I seem to recall seeing people huddled in front of their TVs, chortling away) Too bad these scenes were never included in reruns over the years.  I read "Seinfeldia" and learned that so many of the crazy stories were based on the writers' real life experiences (or their friends or relatives). Festivus was dreamed up by someone's cranky FIL years ago.

 

 

That was the best part of the finale - I enjoyed “The Visa” when it was first shown and the final scene where Babu is back in Pakistan telling a friend how he got deported and vowed revenge.  I was hoping for a follow up and was happy they actually had one.  

[annzeepark914]

"Babuuuuuuuu", entering the courtroom, duckfeet style. Loved his finger wagging, telling Jerry he was, "very, very bad". You just don't forget characters & writing this excellent. Esp in a sitcom!

[Magnumfangirl]

7 hours ago, annzeepark914 said:

I've heard that you either love Seinfeld or Friends, but not both.

Not true, I love both.  😀

[Cobb Salad]

1 hour ago, annzeepark914 said:

"Babuuuuuuuu", entering the courtroom, duckfeet style. Loved his finger wagging, telling Jerry he was, "very, very bad". You just don't forget characters & writing this excellent. Esp in a sitcom!

I’ve seen the actor who played Babu on a couple of other shows.  I always see him as Babu.  

[Ms Blue Jay]

On 3/11/2021 at 12:17 PM, annzeepark914 said:

  I've heard that you either love Seinfeld or Friends, but not both.

These are my two favourite shows and I know many people who feel the same.  So many of us were raised watching these every Thursday night one after the other so this dichotomy is definitely not true for everyone.

Edited March 13, 2021 by Ms Blue Jay

[annzeepark914]

I just read an article at looper.com about some of the memorable character actors who have since died. Remember Ricky, the odd duck sitting next to Elaine on the subway? He was the one who made a tree out of theTV Guide she left on the train while trying to get away from him. According to the article, he was Christopher Lloyd's nephew. 

[Ms Blue Jay]

Sam Lloyd, he's pretty well known for being a character on "Scrubs".  I had no idea he was related to Christopher.

[Ms Blue Jay]

In the Frasier topic we were talking about lines from the show that we use in real life.

One from Seinfeld that runs through my head constantly is this woman imitating 'a Rich American man wearing cashmere' telling her "Get away from me."

LOL.  It's such a funny line and I say it all the time.  Mostly to inanimate objects.

She says the exact line at 1:05, but it's best to watch the full clip for context (Link below.)

I'm sure there's a million more that I could think of, but that one just occurred to me because I said it to a piece of fluff that was coming towards me.  

With the way that my brother and I talk to each other, I'm sure that this show has re-routed my brain.  When we're with my parents, my brother and I will have full conversations in Seinfeld speak, and our parents will just stare at us.  We're so weird.  

Another one that I always think of after seeing a movie that's just okay, is Marlene the waitress talking about Jerry's act: "It just didn't make it for me."  And then Jerry freaking out and saying "You're breaking up with me because you didn't like my ACT?!"   Every time someone overreacts to something I think of it.  

The writing was of course very good, but the actors' delivery is what makes it stick to the brain, I think.  

 

Edited May 1, 2021 by Ms Blue Jay

[annzeepark914]

Tonight's a great Seinfeld night: we meet Izzy Mandelbaum, & in the second episode we meet Elaine's father, two of my favorite episodes.

[annzeepark914]

A few years ago I read that Jason said he once remarked at a table read(??) that whatever was going to happen to George in that episode wasn't possible or credible. And Larry David said, "It happened to me". Does anyone know what this was about? 

[Ms Blue Jay]

It's happened about a few things.

On Saturday Night Live, Larry quit SNL and then came back the next day as if nothing happened.

On Curb Your Enthusiasm, Jason and Larry get into an argument because Jason talks about what a horrible person George is and who would ever start a masturbation contest?  And Larry says he did do that.  There's a few episodes where Jason puts down George as a character and Larry gets offended because Larry based George's storylines on himself.

If you ever read a book about Seinfeld you'll see that most of the storylines on the show came from the writers' real lives.  Festivus for example was based on one of the writers' real life fathers and his weird customs.

Edited May 26, 2021 by Ms Blue Jay

[annzeepark914]

1 hour ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

It's happened about a few things.

On Saturday Night Live, Larry quit SNL and then came back the next day as if nothing happened.

On Curb Your Enthusiasm, Jason and Larry get into an argument because Jason talks about what a horrible person George is and who would ever start a masturbation contest?  And Larry says he did do that.  There's a few episodes where Jason puts down George as a character and Larry gets offended because Larry based George's storylines on himself.

If you ever read a book about Seinfeld you'll see that most of the storylines on the show came from the writers' real lives.  Festivus for example was based on one of the writers' real life fathers and his weird customs.

Thanks. Yes, I read the book, "Seinfeldia", & loved it. I bet quitting a job, then returning the next day as if nothing happened, was the episode Jason felt wasn't credible. Larry David is a piece of work.

[trudysmom]

I don't even know what the product is but I LOVE the commercial with Jason Alexander's face on the shirt has "Believe it or Not" playing.  I don't know the product because all I can think about is George and his answering machine song.  "The Susie" is one of my favorite episodes.  

[Cobb Salad]

27 minutes ago, trudysmom said:

I don't even know what the product is but I LOVE the commercial with Jason Alexander's face on the shirt has "Believe it or Not" playing.  I don't know the product because all I can think about is George and his answering machine song.  "The Susie" is one of my favorite episodes.  

It’s a Tide commercial.  I like “The Susie” too.

 

[BetterButter]

‘Seinfeld’ Soundtrack to Be Released… Finally

[annzeepark914]

6 hours ago, BetterButter said:

‘Seinfeld’ Soundtrack to Be Released… Finally

As soon as I read "Kramer's Pimpwalk", I could see him strutting down the sidewalk in his gaudy coat...but barely recall the music (altho' it was perfect for that scene).

[annzeepark914]

https://lithub.com/why-is-jerry-seinfeld-one-of-the-most-successful-stand-up-comedians-of-all-time/

I enjoyed reading this article - two of my favorite comedians but, of course, mostly about Jerry Seinfeld.