The Show About Everything

Now that the first few seasons of Seinfeld have been released on DVD, some fans may be wondering "is this the show I remember?"

Well, not exactly. For one thing, almost every sitcom takes a year or two to find its footing--discover who the characters really are and what works for them. Because of this phenomenon, the early seasons of a comedy often seem "soft"--though only in retrospect.

But Seinfeld is a special case. From the start, the critics loved it, and so did I. It was about the minutiae of everyday life, looked at with a distinctive take. The plots were about little things--going to parties, renting cars, doing laundry, visiting your parents, waiting in restaurants, meeting dates--that were amazingly close to life. This was the "show about nothing"--very realistic and honest, and quite funny.

Then, around season three, Seinfeld changed--almost did a 180. It still kept the discussion of small stuff, and still had the delightful characters, but once they realized they could throw in a bunch of plots and dovetail them, they never looked back. Suddenly all four leads had their own story pinging back and forth, interweaving with the other characters' stories. Plots that had been simple and recognizable were suddenly extravagant and outrageous. And rather than character determining the situation, the character could change on a dime to fit whatever the gag situation. This wasn't a show about nothing, it was a show that would do anything.

As an example, an early episode had Kramer unhappy with some fruit and thinking of returning it. Jerry makes a joke about how that's not how it works with fruit and that's that. In a later episode, Kramer actually returns his fruit, gets barred from the fruit store, has Jerry buy his fruit, so Jerry gets barred, and then George has to buy the fruit. Both approaches are funny, but the first is more realistic, the second willing to go further for the gag. It's the later Jerry we all remember and love, but the early Jerry is still pretty good.