Seinfeld - overrated.

[Kevin]

The show was more popular than it really deserved. Not that it totally without merit. But it was like Friends. A decent enough sitcom that achieved a level of popularity well beyond the merits of the writing or acting.

[tucco]

May be a tad overrated,Seinfeld; I still rate All in the Family above it as number one.
Love Seinfeld but don't know if I'd rank it as number two though.....It was special though.
Still better than Friends by a mile or 7.

[HGervais]

That you compare Friends & Seinfeld as being anything alike just tells me Seinfeld went straight over your head. It isn't overrated, it just wasn't for you.

[Dan Mancini]

Seinfeld is totally overrated. It didn't completely change the rhythm and texture of American sitcoms while also broaching all manner of taboo subjects with a maximum of style and grace. Nope, not at all. It's not much different than Everybody Loves Raymond, really.

(Also, over its 9 seasons there wasn't even a single "very special episode" of Seinfeld. That just sucks.)

[tucco]

Seinfeld is totally overrated. It didn't completely change the rhythm and texture of American sitcoms while also broaching all manner of taboo subjects with a maximum of style and grace. Nope, not at all. It's not much different than Everybody Loves Raymond, really.

(Also, over its 9 seasons there wasn't even a single "very special episode" of Seinfeld. That just sucks.)

It's funny, you could be describing both All in the Family and Seinfeld barring "very special episodes"...

[MaxQz]

Nah, not overrated, but still deserved the recognition imo, but personaly for me it's way better than any other sitcoms I would sit and watch, thus it being the only sitcom series I will have in my collection, I just connect to it. I couldn't give two stuffs about Friends, hate it, hate it...yuck! (my friend and I will always argue on this, he loves Friends...hehe). When I watch Seinfeld I'm totally on their wave length, especially the character George...I enjoy the show, to me that's all that matters.

[Chinese Jet Pilot]

Overrated? Nah. Best show on at the time? Hard to say. I was grokking a lot of good tv at the time: Babylon 5, Simpsons in its prime, and Seinfeld certainly ranks as quality tv.

[cdouglas]

Seinfeld is terrific. I only wish that it could have been made after it became acceptable to make a sitcom without a laugh track. Have I mentioned how much I hate laugh tracks?

[the5thghostbuster]

I can't argue the quality of it, but I do admit that it is overrated. Mind you, I hate the sitcom format in general, so (shrugges).

[Dan Mancini]

Seinfeld is terrific. I only wish that it could have been made after it became acceptable to make a sitcom without a laugh track. Have I mentioned how much I hate laugh tracks?

They only laugh tracked the exterior stuff. And at least they had the good sense to show the sequences to an actual studio audience and record their laughter rather than using the canned guffaws you hear on M*A*S*H.

[Chris_Sax]

George is gettin upset!

[jcankerhuxley]

Overrated. Really??? Wow.

Even through I think Jerry Seinfeld is one of the most annoying standup comedians ever, I would say the show is not overrated compared to the show every critic has a woody about, All in the Family.

1.) All in the Family generated much of its humor from recent social political events and garnered attention from breaking several taboos for the times. However, it is a product of its time and a prisoner of it also. Could you reset AITF in 1985? 1995? 2005?

2.) This show, at its core, really belonged to two of the four main actors, Carol O'Connor and Jean Stapleton. Although O'Connor and Stapleton are phenominal in their roles, Rob Reiner and Sally Struthers are fairly annoying. Reiner either really flat or extremely loud. Struthers is just shrill (which is probably why Reiner went to directing and Struthers went to infomercails). Here is a thought, what would have this show been like with just Stapelton and O'Connor reacting to the world around them?

3.) Outside of its controversial nature, AITF had the standard three act sitcom structure.

4.) AITF was preachy comedy. Although it was undoubtably the best of the preachy comedies, it was still %^&$# preachy.

5.) Limited physical comedy. Although some of O'Connor's reactions were priceless, they are few and far between.


Whereas Seinfeld:

1.) The humor is generated from everyday life and exists outside a certain time period. Instead of trying to shock its audience, the show found great humor in the mundane. Seriously think how many episodes of Seinfeld could have been done in 1985, 1995 or 2005. IMHO humor outside its time or generated by pop culture references is much more difficult to pull off. Seinfled did this on a consistant basis for eight years (and a doubled life in syndication).

2.) Probably the only (somewhat) weak link in the Seinfeld chain was Seinfeld himself. However, that was intentional so he would be the axis on which the other characters would work. Are there ANY other main or supporting characters that were not at the top of their game in Seinfeld?

3.) Seinfeld did NOT change television? Huh? Managing three or four storylines in a single 19 minute episode with the storylines usually joining at the end? Not innovative? Hellllloooooo? If that isn't innovation then I should probably not mention the Backward episode . . .

4.) Seinfeld was not preachy and rather invested itself for more humor. Wow, what a concept for comedy.

5.) Phyiscal humor by Michael Richards and Jason Alexander. Does it get any better?

[Dan Mancini]

Serenity now!

[tucco]

Well, both AITF and Seinfeld innovated in their own ways and I guess it comes down to taste....
The one thing that is indisputable is that they are at the very top of the heap of their respective times.
Putting Friends in the same league as Seinfeld is unfathomable to me I will agree.

Seinfeld did get a little self-conscious and cutesy with the banter towards the end though, and come reasonable close to self-parody with clipped dialogue exchanges that sometimes seemed like they were funny simply because they were "supposed to be" funny.

AITF without Struthers and Reiner is unthinkable to me, though we DID get to see that happen eventually with very mixed results. It happened when the show was past it's prime though.
AITF out of the gate with no Reiner or Stuthers in the first 5 classic seasons is hard to imagine.

Love both shows though.

[Stubblecat]

I vote for 'not overrated'. However, the show has been a bit overplayed with constant re-runs 24 hours a day.

If you watch the show with a critical eye, you'll see that it was the first network sitcom to break the tired old sitcom format as well as allow the characters to be shallow and selfish without any 'life lessons'.

Without Seinfeld, there would be a lot more 3 And A Half Mens on the air and a lot less How I met Your Mothers, Scrubs', The Offices, 30 Rocks and Arrested Developments. And yes, I'm aware that one of these fine shows is no longer with us...

[HGervais]

I don't know, All in the Family was and is, pretty funny and for its time, truly groundbreaking. Preachy? Maybe but then again when something is preaching the right things it can be a little easier to forgive.

[Dan Mancini]

All in the Family was great for about 2 or 3 seasons. Then, like M*A*S*H after it, it bought into its own hype and became insufferably unfunny and self-important. What's great about Seinfeld is the writers were singularly focused on being funny. Period. They never intended you to walk away with anything more than some laughs. Too many successful sitcoms lose sight of the basics. As far as I'm concerned, you can preach all the right things and still be agonizingly inartful and lame. That's All in the Family through most of its run. Those first couple seasons are about as good at TV sitcoms get, though.

[tucco]

All in the Family was great for about 2 or 3 seasons. Then, like M*A*S*H after it, it bought into its own hype and became insufferably unfunny and self-important. What's great about Seinfeld is the writers were singularly focused on being funny. Period. They never intended you to walk away with anything more than some laughs. Too many successful sitcoms lose sight of the basics. As far as I'm concerned, you can preach all the right things and still be agonizingly inartful and lame. That's All in the Family through most of its run. Those first couple seasons are about as good at TV sitcoms get, though.

Yeah, the later it wore on AITF had some stinker episodes that's for sure and was a bit cutesy with itself....and self-important as you mentioned.
And the first few seasons were an altogether different animal than what came after, sure.
Still, in the later seasons there were some worthy episodes to be had.
When I REALLY want to see some All in the Family I always go back to the first three seasons.
After season 5 was a huge plummet as far as I'm concerned and season 6 in particular was terrible....too many episodes took place at Mike and Gloria's next door without enough Archie. It really suffered the show something awful I think.
Edith became a friggin' saint and the show pandered this to the audience something fierce.
Mike was a bigger grump than Archie too. Damn self-righteous hippies! Sometimes I really wish Archie would just haul off and slug Mike, as his attitude seemed more insufferable than Archie's alot of the time.
That pilot episode has to be the quintessential episode I think....The whole thing distilled to an essence brilliantly.

[Steve T Power]

I used to love Sienfeld, now it's pure pain and suffering to sit through a single episode. Their voices just drive me completely insane.

And Friends, that was a show i used to hate with every fibre of my being, and now i quite enjoy it.

I don't understand me either.

[Dan Mancini]

I used to love Sienfeld, now it's pure pain and suffering to sit through a single episode. Their voices just drive me completely insane.

And Friends, that was a show i used to hate with every fibre of my being, and now i quite enjoy it.

I don't understand me either.

I understand you. You're turning into a lame old fart. It's only a matter of time before you discover the hidden charms of Matlock and Murder, She Wrote.

Friends makes my eyes bleed.

[Steve T Power]

I used to love Sienfeld, now it's pure pain and suffering to sit through a single episode. Their voices just drive me completely insane.

And Friends, that was a show i used to hate with every fibre of my being, and now i quite enjoy it.

I don't understand me either.

I understand you. You're turning into a lame old fart. It's only a matter of time before you discover the hidden charms of Matlock and Murder, She Wrote.

Friends makes my eyes bleed.

You're living in denial Dan! There's nothing more pathetic than an aging hipster.
Murder She Wrote is goddamn awesome.

[tucco]

Hey wait, I ALWAYS liked Matlock! He was more intrusive than Columbo! (I found it amusing)

R.E.M. have made a post prime career out of being aging hipsters.......

[barnaclelapse]

I'll admit it was a little overrated, but it was still one of the best things on network TV in its time, and it's still funnier than a good chunk of the garbage that's passing for comedy on any of the networks.

[Neal Masri]

MATLOCK!!!

[MovieAddict]

When I'm flicking through the channels and hit Seinfeld, I always stop and start watching, and it doesnt even matter if Ive seen it 3 times before, I'm still laughing. Nothing else on TV ever did that, except perhaps the first 3 seasons of MASH.

[Shmoooooo]

When I'm flicking through the channels and hit Seinfeld, I always stop and start watching, and it doesnt even matter if Ive seen it 3 times before, I'm still laughing. Nothing else on TV ever did that, except perhaps the first 3 seasons of MASH.

Cheers and the Simpsons did that for me as well.

[Lazario]

Without Seinfeld, there would be a lot more 3 And A Half Mens on the air and a lot less How I Met Your Mothers, Scrubs', The Offices, 30 Rocks and Arrested Developments. And yes, I'm aware that one of these fine shows is no longer with us...

I don't watch any of those shows (expect Scrubs). I also don't feel as though I'm missing much.



I am the single most discriminating television viewer I know. And I don't find Seinfeld to be the least bit overrated.

For me, Friends is an occasional guilty pleasure. The Simpsons is always brilliant.

All in the Family? Now, that's overrated! I was watching a clip of that the other day, the episode where Archie and Maude had their big fight about Franklin D. Roosevelt. Everyone watching knows how much of a jerk Archie is, how little he thinks about the issues, and how often he just believes what he wants to. In that scene, Maude was about as right as anyone arguing against him could be- and the show let Archie win the argument and get his chair. Just because Edith gets sick and Maude has to stay around... that's not her winning the argument! What kind of victory is that?! It isn't. It's like giving her the prize on a technicality. Why should the one who's right, the one who cares more, and the one who struggled more to prove themselves get the "Booby Prize"?

As for M.A.S.H., I can't even watch it. I despise it more than words can express. To say the least, I don't find it at all funny and it bores me to tears. Is there anyone less funny than Alan Alda? Even Adam Sandler is funnier than Alan Alda! Cheers is less ghastly for me, but I've never once laughed watching that show. I consider its' reputation and huge fanbase when I start an episode. Then when it's over, I go... "that was it?"

You're living in denial Dan! There's nothing more pathetic than an aging hipster.
Murder She Wrote is goddamn awesome.

Agreed on both accounts.

[Andrew Forbes]

I am the single most discriminating television viewer I know.

The Simpsons is always brilliant.

Murder She Wrote is goddamn awesome.

Agreed

Trying. To find. Consistency. In. Statements.

Logical. Paradox.

System. Failing.

[Lazario]

When life fails to be consistent itself, I just give up trying to be consistent as well.

[Dan Mancini]

Without Seinfeld, there would be a lot more 3 And A Half Mens on the air and a lot less How I Met Your Mothers, Scrubs', The Offices, 30 Rocks and Arrested Developments. And yes, I'm aware that one of these fine shows is no longer with us...

I don't watch any of those shows (expect Scrubs). I also don't feel as though I'm missing much.

It's official: You are the Moriarity to my Holmes, the Luthor to my Superman, the Blofeld to my Bond, the Newman to my Seinfeld. Go ahead, build a volcano lair and try your hand at world domination. I'll be right here where destiny has placed me, standing between you and the good people of planet Earth.

[chetlime]

One thing that SEINFELD did not ever do and most sitcoms do is have a "special" or poignant episode, where one or more characters delt with something serious in a dramatic manner (All In The Family, Friends). Everything was played for laughs. Also they never had episodes where one character is in love with another character and it takes several seasons for the character to tell the other that thay love them (Friends,The Office, Cheers).
Compared to many other sitcoms, Seinfeld was unique, a true comedy without all the drama.

[MilanJett]

May be a tad overrated,Seinfeld; I still rate All in the Family above it as number one.

1 - All in the Family
2 - M*A*S*H

Seinfeld just has not held up as well over time. Good while it was on, but I can't get myself to watch the re-runs now.

[chetlime]

Actually, i feel the opposite. Although I did enjoy "All in The Family" and the first 3 seasons of "M*A*S*H", I can't seem to want to watch any of their re runs. I still laugh at the antics of Jerry, George, Kramer and Elaine. and see it as true comedy, whereas I often don't feel like watching an old comedy program that deals with rape, or bigotry, or soldiers getting dear john letters or dying in the operating table.
Too many sitcoms add a bit, or a lot of drama to their programs which is o.k., but sometimes I prefer all-comedy, and that is sadly lacking today.
Aside from "Curb your Enthusiasm", I can not think of any comedy show today that does not add some drama to their comedy.