Seinfeld (Series, The) (DVD)

Connect to Facebook/Twitter, recommend via email and much more.

---

One of the things that made Seinfeld such a water-cooler topic of conversation the day after a show aired was that the stand-up comic and his three friends--zany neighbor Cosmo Kramer (Michael Richards), hapless George Costanza (Jason Alexander), and irrepressible Elaine Benes (Julia Louis-Dreyfus)--was that they didn't just find comedy in all the "nothing" situations that the average person encounters every day. They gave them names, like the "low talkers," the "close talkers," the "double dippers," the "masters of their domain," or the guys who were or were not "sponge worthy." And in the process, they outed everyone right there on national television: all the people who pee in showers, who fake orgasms, who misplace condoms, who habitually masturbate, who secretly pick their noses in public, or who tell little white lies or change themselves to accommodate the people they're dating. As viewers recognized behaviors in the Seinfeld crowd that mirrored their own most private moments, it made those things seem more normal . . . or else made them think that maybe everyone's just a little bit crazy.

SERENITY NOW!

Forget what you've heard. "Seinfeld" was never a show about nothing. The more you watch these episodes, the clearer it becomes that every script was a complicated weave of petty annoyances and small situations that, tied together near the end, had the same cumulative substance as any narrative. While the episodes were similar to modern sitcoms that offered a three-strand plot weave, they may have seemed slighter because the scenes were so short that they felt like snippets, and they were augmented by equally short jazz-riff segues. Like the spotlight Seinfeld monologues that framed each one, the episodes had the feel of stand-up routines . . . but illustrated.

"Seinfeld" was named the number one TV show of all time by TV Guide, and the much-lauded brainchild of comedian Jerry Seinfeld and writer Larry David now goes into TV history, where a pedestal has been waiting. While "Seinfeld" didn't dominate its decade the way "I Love Lucy" did the Fifties or "The Dick Van Dyke Show" did the Sixties, the show still finished first or second in the Nielsen's from 1994 through 1998.

Like "Frasier," the biggest challenger for sitcom dominance in the Nineties, "Seinfeld" started strong, finished strong, and managed to be consistently funny every year in-between. Except for a two-part "clip" show (I hate those) and a two-part finale that went just a little too off the deep end for some fans, the final season of "Seinfeld" is a brilliant send-off for the beloved series.

George has some of his funniest moments this season, including a scam where he pretends to be handicapped so he can get a job, and then struggles to hang on after the boss catches him running down the street while carrying a 200-pound wheelchair. Eventually George finds work at a place so full of incompetents that, like water, he finally seems to have sought his own level. Elaine, meanwhile, has some testy (and funny) moments with her on-again/off-again boyfriend, David Puddy (Patrick Warburton), and Kramer is as eccentric as ever, even going so far as to dumpster-dive for Merv Griffin cast-offs. The glue that holds this mess together is Seinfeld, who continues to glean his "comic stylings" from his eccentric friends and their daily escapades.

Except for those four clip and finale episodes, the rest fall squarely in the 8-out-of-10 range. Here's a rundown:

1) "The Butter Shave"--Kramer virtually bastes himself with butter thinking it's giving him softer skin, while George fakes being handicapped to land a job. Gordon Jump guest stars.

2) "The Voice"-Jerry imagines his girlfriend's belly button can talk and he likes imitating the voice. Play Now tries to get rid of faker George, who refuses to quit. Gordon Jump guest stars.

3) "The Serenity Now"-George's father shouts "SERENITY NOW" to control his blood pressure, while Elaine becomes the bell of the bar mitzvah and gets invited to a bunch more, all because the young man of the hour planted a big one on her.

4) "The Blood"-Kramer stores his blood in Jerry's freezer, Jerry's parents hire a trainer to get him in shape, Elaine has to babysit a friend's kid, and George discovers the power of combining food and sex. Lloyd Bridges guest stars.

5) "The Junk Mail"-Kramer offers to swap Anthony Quinn's t-shirt for a van, and Elaine meets the man of her dreams but keeps Puddy on reserve. Meanwhile, Kramer gets so fed up with junk mail that he cancels all his mail.

6) "The Merv Griffin Show"-Kramer finds the set of Merv's talk show in a dumpster and sets the set up in his apartment. Jerry dates a woman who collects toys, and George's girlfriend forces him to take care of a squirrel he hit with his car.

7) "The Slicer"-Elaine's neighbor leaves the country . . . and his alarm clock on. Meanwhile Kramer discovers new uses for his meat slicer, and George goes to work for Kruger Industrial Smoothing.

8) "The Betrayal." This is the "backwards" episode where Elaine goes to an Indian wedding with Jerry and George, where those two learn how to pry secrets out of Elaine using schnapps, and Kramer and his friend wish each other to drop dead.

9) "The Apology"-While George is after an apology from Jason Hanke, Jerry learns the difference between good and bad naked, Kramer installs a disposal in his shower, Elaine deals with a germophobic co-worker, and James Spader guest stars.