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

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by AKA, May 14, 2018.

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  1. bartels76

    bartels76 Forum Hall Of Fame

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    CT
    The Merv Griffin show is one of the best of the series!
     
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  2. AirJordanFan93

    AirJordanFan93 Forum Resident

    That one is pretty damn great. Krammer with the set in his apartment and the sub-plot of Jerry drugging his girlfriend so he can play with her toy collection.
     
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  3. Monosterio

    Monosterio Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Florida
    That’s a different episode than the jerk store, right? Yeah, that one didn’t do a whole lot for me.

    I’m not sure I liked any Seinfeld episode from the last two years other than the jerk store and the yada-yada—and the latter lost some of its lustre when I learned one of the best jokes was lifted from an early Seinfeld episode.
     
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  4. Sure it was funny, but it also demonstrates the sort of forced, unrealistic humour the show wouldn't have gone near in the first five or six seasons.
     
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  5. fr in sc

    fr in sc Forum Resident

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    Hanahan, SC
    You're not alone, believe me!!
     
  6. Splungeworthy

    Splungeworthy Forum Rezidentura

    That ER finale tho....made Clooney's career.
     
  7. NUNZI

    NUNZI Forum Resident

    I'm with you with this, Kramer standing/clapping when George enters his apt/set is my favorite scene period! For many years, I also considered the last two seasons lacking but now find them darker and very entertaining. Like I said earlier, I love the final episode. It made me realize that these four characters that I invited into my living room for nine seasons were pretty horrible people. Maybe that's why a lot of you didn't like it.
     
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  8. hex lumphries

    hex lumphries Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brooklyn
    Here's to feeling good all the time.

    [​IMG]
     
  9. Bobby Buckshot

    Bobby Buckshot Heavy on the grease please

    Location:
    Southeastern US
    Hard for me to pin down a favorite episode or joke from this series, but my god this one when Kramer runs the sting on the cocaine/mohair accountant in the bar has me crying everytime.
     
  10. Jerryb

    Jerryb Senior Member

    Location:
    New Jersey
    The finale is my least watched episode. When I watch the reruns on tv I skip the finale if it's on. I can't believe it was 20 years ago though!
     
  11. AirJordanFan93

    AirJordanFan93 Forum Resident

    True. I have always felt Seasons 3-6 were the show at its best in terms of quality. Season 7 was the first season that had a slight decline in quality but its still very good. Things just took a whole new direction when LD left and Jerry was running the ship on his own.
     
  12. Dream On

    Dream On Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    Agreed. Seinfeld is much better than BBT. It's not even a contest really. It's better than 99% of sitcoms, if not 100%, so the fact that people still quote it and talk about it is fine by me. It may not be everyone's cup of tea but it's pretty hard to not give it a healthy amount of credit if you try to view it objectively.

    Agreed! I totally disagree with the idea that they acted out of character and would have done something. Did people even watch the show? How many good deeds did these characters ever do? And, didn't the robber have a gun (or act like he did)? So, do we really believe that these characters would risk their lives to save a stranger, especially when it appeared as if he wouldn't be hurt if he just gave up his car? Which he was doing by the way.

    People can point to their compassion and caring (lol, way to strong are these words for these four) but I think you'll find that even when they had compassion for someone it was rooted in something else. These were very selfish and neurotic characters and the idea that they'd risk their lives for someone else is what is out of character. The question to me is, are they truly awful people or are they more like us than we'd like to admit? Also, the fact that they went to jail for this crime is definitely a fitting end to the show but also what is fitting is that they didn't actually learn anything from it. They were incredulous as to why they were thrown in jail...perfectly in keeping with how they acted throughout the series, never really learning any lessons or growing as people.

    I agree the finale wasn't very funny and this is definitely a criticism of it, but I think with this one we have to dig a little deeper to see it's value.

    I'd also have to disagree that the show is about nothing. To quote Jerry, "yeah, but even nothing is something".
     
  13. AirJordanFan93

    AirJordanFan93 Forum Resident

    I personally never got the appeal of TBBT. From the little I have seen of it over the years I get the impression the characters are all way too annoying and the humor isn't very good either.
     
  14. Mosep

    Mosep Senior Member

    Location:
    St.Louis, MO
    The show got sillier and occasionally surrealistic in the last two seasons. I kind of liked the direction they were taking, even if they did not met the quality of the top LD era episodes.
     
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  15. kreen

    kreen Forum Resident

    But that's the problem: they weren't. They were written that way in the Finale, but the actual characters weren't so insensitive and cruel throughout the length of the show. LD basically took the characters at their worst, made a caricature of them, and gave us that version in the Finale.
     
  16. fitzysbuna

    fitzysbuna Senior Member

    Location:
    Australia
    I loved the final episode ! they finally got some Karma !
     
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  17. tommy-thewho

    tommy-thewho Senior Member

    Location:
    detroit, mi
    Can't believe it's been 20 years now.
     
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  18. BadJack

    BadJack doorman who always high-fives children of divorce

    Location:
    Boston, MA
    Yeah, and I liked it a lot.

    I'm pretty burned out on the early classics, such as "The Contest" and "The Outing", but watching Stanky Hankey tear into George's huge neck still makes me crack up.
     
  19. Scope J

    Scope J Senior Member

    Location:
    Michigan
  20. kreen

    kreen Forum Resident

    But they always did get karma -- at the end of every episode where they behaved badly. Watch all of those episodes again. For stealing an old lady's loaf of bread, Jerry ruins his father's reelection campaign. George loses all of his fiancee's money when she dies, and ends up regretting his insensitivity. Elaine gets an earful of high-pitched noise right in her eardrum for having made fun of her deaf coworker. It's always like that.

    You know about the process nerds call "Flanderization", when TV characters who started up as complex and complete are progressively reduced to just one aspect of their personality? That's what LD did with the Finale: he'd read all of those know-nothing, simplistic columns on how Seinfeld was "cold-hearted -- and fans love it!" and got carried away with that point of view.

    But it's not the Flanderization that ruins the Finale: it still could have been good, but the jokes were lame, there was a bunch of reused clips, a lot of the humour was of the "call back" kind (getting old characters back to redo their catchphrases one more time), etc. He just dropped the ball.
     
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  21. Bobby Buckshot

    Bobby Buckshot Heavy on the grease please

    Location:
    Southeastern US
    Great point. Regrettably happened to Homer Simpson as well. :shake:
     
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  22. Sure, they wouldn't have done anything, but if the characters had remained consistent the situation would've been more like: Elaine would insist they do something, Jerry and George would neurotically argue about what to do and dismissing all options, while Kramer wandered off and found a cop.
     
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  23. swandown

    swandown Under Assistant West Coast Forum Resident

    Location:
    Portland, OR
    Very good point.

    One of the things that was so disappointing about the finale was that it revealed what Larry David (and Jerry Seinfeld) really thought of the characters that they created -- that they thought the characters were all selfish, morally bankrupt, borderline evil, and deserving of being in jail. It was just so shocking to see how Larry & Jerry viewed their own creations, as if they couldn't even see the depths and nuances that had developed over the years.

    The characters deserved better than that.
     
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  24. hex lumphries

    hex lumphries Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brooklyn
    Brings down the house every time. Insanely funny.

    “I’m hip...to the bathroom scene.”
     
  25. hex lumphries

    hex lumphries Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brooklyn
    I guess my argment is that Seinfeld isn’t a show that’s about characters. The best written episodes are ones where the characters are vehicles for the neurotic noticings of the writers - LD, Larry Charles, and company. The fate of Jerry and his friends isn’t the point, in my mind, when I watch the finale.
     
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