Seinfeld

Seinfeld is the funniest TV show in history. Built around the day-to-day life of a New York comedian, Seinfeld managed to spear every sacred cow in sight. The irreverence of the show's four main characters never let up over 9 glorious seasons. The "gang of four" were petty, childish, surly, selfish, compulsive, obsessive, and totally hilarious ... like 4 children in adults' bodies.

Jerry Seinfeld played himself and surrounded himself with an ex-girlfriend (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), a childhood friend (Jason Alexander), and a neighbor (Michael Richards). Four terrific actors with incredible chemistry among them, the four careened through 9 seasons of total mayhem. Sex, religion, politics, old age, political correctness, race, relationships, homosexuality, Los Angeles ... you name it, they harpooned it.

Great supporting cast over the years included Jerry Stiller, Estelle Harris, Barney Martin, Liz Sheridan, Wayne Knight, Patrick Warburton, John O'Hurley, Len Lesser, Heidi Swedberg, and others.

And so many brilliant actors who only showed up once or a few times: Steve Hytner as Bania, Mark Metcalf as the Maestro, Megan Cole as Peggy the germophobe, Sheree North as Babs Kramer, Charles Levin as the mohel, Elmarie Wendel as Helene the actress, Philip Baker Hall as the library detective, Judge Reinhold as the close talker, Bette Midler as herself, and so many others.

Seinfeld probably added more catch phrases to the English language than any other show in TV history. Brilliant writing that found humor in WORDS (such a concept) as well as SITUATION, Seinfeld owed much to the writing of Jerry Seinfeld, Larry David and others. So with great scripts, a perfect cast, and no respect for anything, Seinfeld marched along to his own drum and made us all captives of its brilliant wit.

One of the great things about Seinfeld was that you could see a little bit of yourself in each of the 4 zany characters. And you could ALWAYS recognize the dumb situations they found themselves in. Just brilliant!

And let's not forget that Jerry Seinfeld became the first Jewish Superman/Everyman on TV. He was everything from comic to sex symbol and everything in between.

I just can't stop binging this show. Like ever. Don't get me wrong FRIENDS is historic in its own place & I've binged that a lot too but Seinfeld just edges it for me.

Jason Alexander, you legend. George Costanza is the character that you see nowadays sitcoms are trying to pull off but they just can't. He's One of a kind. Just like Joey & Chandler. They are in a league of their own.

I review rarely and this is my first review & I'm sounding like i should be giving Seinfeld 10/10 but I've settled with 9. The reason for that is i base my rating simply on 3 factors: 1) Characters 2) Storyline 3) Screenplay i.e. length of how long a show is keeping me attached to the screen before i lose interest.

So for George, Kramer, Jerry i give it a perfect 10. But when it comes to Elaine, she's so lame. As a character, as a person i don't get her. Beauty of me binging Seinfeld is that I've chopped off her parts from all episodes. She's terrible, irritating and hardly makes me laugh. Writers haven't even attached background applause to her wise cracks. Downpoint of the show. 'Elame' Benes.

To shed a light on Jerry & Kramer, well they are the lifeblood of the show. Their chemistry makes you laugh. Kramer is very underrated. Also, Jerry & George's coffee shop chemistry. Those scenes are hilarious & refreshing. You'd never get bored watching their riddled lifestyles.

That's all, its a must watch. Even if sitcoms ain't your genre i think you must give this a try no matter what. It's just that good. And yes, first 2 seasons are a bit downer but important to watch for you to establish those characters. From season 3 you'd love the stories & start getting used to it. By season 5 & 6 you'd literally crack yourself up.

BEST SITCOM EVER MADE HANDS DOWN. Effortless entertainment. Once you watch it, mark my words you're gonna binge it. P.S: I've already crossed the 3-figures binge watching it and currently rewatching it for 183rd time. Love this show to bits. Never getting enough of this ever.

I cannot, through any stretch of my imagination, grasp how anyone can't find the humor in this series. Perhaps they have succumb to a similar problem I have in writing this review. I find that I cannot accurately describe just why exactly this sitcom should be held so far above the others. It's Kramer's awkward movements and border-line insanity; it's Jerry and Elaine's never-rekindled romance; it's George's terrible luck and inadequacy issues; it's all of those and so much more. I do find, however, that the show can be described with one word: irreplaceable.

"Friends"? Have you ever noticed that in "Friends" commercials, not even they, the reigning kings and queens of sitcoms, dare tread on the title of "funniest show ever"? Just watch the next commercial you see, and you'll find "the funniest (running) show on television!" I don't know if I would call that perfectly accurate, but it proves my point. Seinfeld was groundbreaking, and it went to places that few comedies (or dramas, for that matter) have since gone, and nothing before nor since has in quite the same way equaled it.

I notice a reoccurring complaint of negative reviews on this site: the opening and occasional ending of Jerry Seinfeld doing standup. I admit, it isn't the funniest thing that I've ever heard, though he is by far the best "have you ever noticed" comedian, but give me a break! That is your complaint? At least some other reviewers go on about characters, and the implausible plotlines (not that I agree in the least with them), but just that reason alone? You obviously don't have the intelligence to grasp the humor of the series, content only with the easy-to-understand slapstick of today's comedy; but nonetheless, in your blatant stupidity, you cannot grasp why it ISN'T funny, either -- so you pick the standup.

Nice.

In any case, despite the negative reviews or even the positive, Seinfeld stands the test of time, and is the greatest sitcom ever made. Even TV Guide's compiled list of the "greatest television series' of all time," not at all exclusive to comedy (20/20, I believe, made the list), put Seinfeld right where it belongs: NUMBER ONE.

The last and greatest juggernaut of comedy, I know I'll be watching the untiring reruns that never seem to get old when I'm old and gray and long since committed to a retirement home.

And do you know what?

The intelligent viewers of humanity's next generation will be doing the same thing.

Seinfeld is absolutely, without a doubt, one of the best comedies in the history of television. It's just as hilarious today as when it was on in the 90's. There aren't many shows that hold up over decades and get just as many laughs today as back then but Seinfeld is definitely one of those shows. Larry David is just a flat out genius. Between this and Curb Your Enthusiasm, he's created 2 of the best sitcoms of all-time. This show is so good that you can find it running on some channel almost anytime of the day so it's obviously still doing well otherwise it wouldn't be on so much. I've seen each episode countless times and still laugh each time. I'll continue to watch this the rest of life and never get sick of it.

I caught a few episodes of Seinfeld over it's final two seasons run on public channel, and made it a point to catch a lot more of Jerry and friends during it's reruns. I found it very amusing on first viewings, but as time wore on, I began to like it more and more, and to eagerly borrow taped episodes from friends, and to hunt for re-runs on syndicated channels.

Of the two comedy TV series in the history of television, I would choose both Seinfeld and Monty Python as the cultural landmarks of the medium. In Seinfeld, there is not a trace of sentimentality and glib moralizing that plagues the American sitcom genre. Characters do not hug each other on Christmas, fall in love, wax on and on about family and friends, there is no faux-cathartic season ender so favoured by the writers of, say, "Friends".

Instead, we have the narcissistic Jerry, constantly mining the minutiae of everyday detail for every bit of situational comedy; we have the hyper-aggressive Elaine, whose strings of breakups with boyfriends are as impressive as her petty neuroses leading up to the breakups themselves; the ultimate schlub-loser George, who lies to every single woman he dates, sells faulty equipment to the handicapped and muscles off women and children when fleeing an apartment fire; and the impossibly inventive physical comedy of the entrepreneur cum schmooze Kramer.

Over and over again, week in and week out, the quartet discuss trivialities with unbridled zeal, as the non-descript narrative pings from one mundane setting to another. Seldom has such wit been generated by such gargantually pointless human endeavours. That is where the brilliance of Seinfeld lies, in the ability to go to the most bizarre ends to fulfill the potential of a less than hopeful comedic premise; and the endless, pointlessly smug and nihilistic banter that almost invariably escalates into some of TV's classic lines, such as when George shouts triumphantly after winning an argument that "there is no bigger loser than me!".

Surely, we won't find something like this again, for many more years to come.