I Think I Want The 7th Season of Seinfeld As A Christmas Present**
I haven't said anything about the whole Michael Richards debacle because, frankly, who cares? I always thought Kramer was an arsetard and hated it whenever he'd burst into Jerry's apartment, twitching like a meth-head with his penis in an electrical outlet. Toward the end of the show's run, the audience would have to wait looonger and looooonger for the Kramerplause to die down upon his goofy entrance.
To that end, Richards has always struck me as two things: basically without inherent talent and a huge laugh whore. So when he went on a racist tirade (and it was racist, dude) I just chalked it up to another point it the loser column. Make no mistake. He knows he's a loser. In fact, it was having that fact pointed out to him in no uncertain terms that sent him into further racist spewage.
But here's where I break with the latest salvos in this ongoing puppet show. As with all things in the news, my best bet is to play "follow the money." Apparently the latest Seinfeld Boxed Set has just come out. Richards' rant may have been the worst level of racist badinage, but there was no dead girl and no live boy. People are talking about Seinfeld again. The show is on the public's consciousness just in time for the DVD to be on sale. But now Jesse "I don't pay my taxes" Jackson tells us all to refrain from purchasing the DVDs. I'm all for the hit-em-where-they-live approach. Don't buy Dixie Chicks records. Don't buy Seinfeld DVDs. Don't pay money for a Tom Cruise flick. Whatever tickles your fancy. Speak with your wallet.
But here's where I break with the whole thing. If we aren't buying the Seinfeld DVDs because some talentless washed up costar of the show is a racist nutbag, why isn't Jackson also telling us to not buy Family Guy DVDs, Chris Rock DVDs, Boondocks DVDs and any of the countless other products on the entertainment shelf that promote racial discord? Why is it just this instance of bigotry that has us in tether? Because, frankly, racism isn't going to go away if we keep laughing at it. If Michael Richards' stint as Kramer has taught us anything it's that the louder you laugh at something ugly, the longer it stays in the spotlight.
**Family members who are buying me a gift need to realise that this post title is a joke. I can't stand Seinfelds later seasons.
posted by Kat Coble @ 8:39 AM
8 comments
8 Comments:
The studio audience applause for Kramer entrances was done in seasons four and a bit of season five. But mid-season five, it stopped and really wasn't done that much in the later seasons. I seem to recall EW and many other critical outlets not being happy with the show for doing that.
That said, I love every season of Seinfeld and find them all genius, even the early ones as they were finding their voice. I will gladly own them all on DVD so I can watch them over and over again...yes, I have no life.
And I do agree with your point on how if we're banning the purchase of Seinfeld on DVD, there are a lot of other things on the list as well....
twitching like a meth-head with his penis in an electrical outlet.
I never watched Seinfeld, so I wasn't going to comment, but this just might be the coolest simile I've ever seen.
Is it just me or have shows like Seinfeld not aged very well? I was never a big Seinfeld fan in first-run, but could at least understand some of its appeal. However, whenever I catch a few minutes in syndication it strikes me as being extremely dated. Same with other "classics" like Cheers and MASH. I'm not arguing that these shows weren't legitimately great, but I'm wondering whether a certain amount of their greatness wasn't tied up in the fact that they were very much a product of their times. Viewed outside of the context of that particular zeitgeist, they lose a bit of their luster.
Regardless, I can honestly say that the appeal of the Kramer/Michael Richards shtick has always eluded me. Apparently, I'm not as alone in that as I once thought. Good to know.
The 7th season I believe was the last one where Larry David was writing, unlike the 8th and 9th. I don't remember how good the 7th season was, but I do think there is a distinct qualitative difference after the 7th one. Except the 8th or 9th season had the one where Elaine steal's Putty's Jesus Fish. That one was great.
Odd man out here, but, Kramer was one of the few really good characters on a sitcom in recent years.
Yes, the seventh season is the last one with Larry David's involvement. It's got the on-going storyline of Geroge's engagement to Susan if that helps with the recall of it.
I think it's aged pretty well. It's still a riot to me no matter when I watch it. And it did generate a lot of pop-culture lexicon. It was, in my mind, the last great popular sitcom. Don't get me wrong--there have been some great sitcoms since, but they've not latched into the cultural consienceness the way Seinfeld did. I wish Arrested Development had, but alas it did not.
And shows like AD and those that came after it owe a huge debt to Seinfeld. The show had a lot of characters who did horribly unlikable things, but yet they still mangaged to make us laugh. Without Seinfeld, you don't have the absurdity that is Scrubs or AD. At least not in my mind.
Seinfeld is genius...I love it.
Shut In!
lol
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Like Howard Cowsell used to say, there's no such thing as bad publicity.
Why is it that so often something "bad" happens right before a star generated product like a movie or tv show hits the market?
Talk, free publicity, blog buzz, etc. Are Tom Cruise movies suffering any?
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