20 years ago tonight, “Seinfeld” aired “The Finale.”

that first scene in the pilot where george and jerry are talking was written for them to be fellow comedians but it got changed

David and Seinfeld re-wrote the script several times before submitting it to the network, dropping and adding various elements. Originally George, who was called Bennett in early drafts, was a comedian as well, and the first scene of the episode focused on Jerry and George discussing their stand-up material.


as far as the series length. i think you have it backwards. at first the network wanted a 2 hour concept and instead larry and jerry wrote a tv pilot

yes the waitress was going to be the main lead lady but she was bagged for re-writing her part

 

I'll take your word for it as you clearly know more than I do about the beginnings....but I could compete with actual show trivia.

 

I did like those American Express(?) commercials with Jerry silently packing up in the apartment. That was closure nicely done.

 

Worst. episode. ever.

 

Did the Simpsons ever do a Seinfeld parody?

 

simpsons parody of seinfeld - Bing video

 

Absolutely the 2nd funniest God Damn sit-com ever, #1 belongs to "The Bob Newhart Show" w/ Emily & Howard

 

I always felt "THE OPPOSITE" was basically the end of Seinfeld at it's peak. It was still good, but it wasn't great week in and week out

 

In all my 51 years, there was never a sit com that people would sit for hours and discuss. I would go to gatherings and people would be talking about Seinfeld and the various funny quotes. Maybe back in the 50’s, I don’t think that happens much in my lifetime.

The only other show that got discussed to death was Lost. The people at work were always talking about Lost.

 

Except Breaking Bad’s finale was tremendous, while Seinfeld’s was a dud.

 

I think the Seinfeld peak was Seasons 3-7. The Opposite ended 5, and I would say 4 and 5 were the two best seasons, but 6 and 7 were both still great enough to be part of the peak.

Seasons 8 and 9 were both very good, and there are some classic episodes in there, but the humor got a bit cartoonish at times (see: The Blood), and it seemed like the dialogue became more about one-liners rather than the earlier years where you'd sometimes get scenes that last several minutes and were literally nothing but dialogue.

 

The finale was a big disappointment at the time, as I recall. Just felt sort of stiff and awkward.

 

I'd agree with all of that and I'd attribute it to gelling around Larry David's humor. Once Michaels and Costanza realized they were alter egos of Kramer, it all started to click. The more involved LD got, the better it got, and vice versa.

 

Yep, the more Larry David, the better. I don't think it's a coincidence that when he left after Season 7 that the show went from all-time funny to just very funny.

 

True, thanks. I meant once Michaels and Alexander knew their characters (Kramer and Costanza) were alter egos of LD...

 

I knew Costanza was basically LD, as Jason Alexander said he shifted his original take on the character from Woody Allen to LD after the realization. Never heard that Kramer was also an alias.

 

Kramer was based on a real LD neighbor

 

The guy that used to do the "Real Seinfeld" tours in NYC I think - does he still do those? I think they lampooned this a bit in the sit-com episodes.

 

That's true, as Matthew said above, but a lot of the physical humor and other Kramer traits are pure LD, which I didn't realize until I started watching CYE.

And as we all learned the hard way, Michaels shouldn't be doing stand up.

 

I agree with #2. But I'd put All In The Family at Numero Uno!

 

All that family shouting back & forth was always a little too much for my Buddhist faith...

For me "The Bob Newhart Show" was always where it was at during the era...

Oh darn I left out #3 "Hogans Heroes" which was a George Harrison favorite as well

 

Weird that the quintessential '90s show actually premiered in the '80s! Berlin Wall was still up at that point... Seems like a lifetime ago!

 

Bob was the bomb! Great sitcoms back then. I miss 'em. Hardly ever watch TV anymore, at least on a regular basis. Love me some Seinfeld though.

 

Why do you keep calling him Michaels? His name is Michael Richards.

 

Yeah, thanks. I was doing too many things at once. I even called Jason Alexander "Costanza" in the earlier post.