No way! Seinfeld is one of the funniest guys who's ever been in the funny world! The way the episodes wrap up at the end? Terrific writing. This poll must have been taken by a handful of teenagers.
Friends is… I am happy a generation of kids will not know a world where things became immensely popular almost entirely because there were only like 5 options. To all the kids not alive for Friends- when you see those black and white photos of a kid chasing a hoop with a stick or some 1800’s kid carrying around a doll that looks like a demonic potato and you go: “Why the hell would anyone…” Friends is that for the 90’s-2000’s. It is our hoop and stick. It was what we had- and this shows you- if you wanted to watch Tv and you wanted to “water cooler talk” and such- you basically were watching one of these shows, because it was basically two shows to watch or watch public access or foreign language news.
As horrible as friends was though, it had its moments, and Seinfeld… I hated that show. It was an early example of shows about horrible people doing horrible things and being the “heroes” while never learning anything. Friends weren’t great people, they were self absorbed and by…
.. modern standards problematic, but I can say that show at least.. The Friends were usually having fun and generally in some way relatable without being a sociopath. Exaggerated and self absorbed, but they rarely rolled in their own filth as the Seinfeld crew did and the Seinfeld characters usually aimed at best to be bored or cynical, never happy. Seinfeld also had very little continuity. Recurring characters and a call back or such here and there, but no character development. No plot development. Relationships among named cast rarely changed, there was never any real attempts at romance or drama, heart felt moments or any emotion other than snark or greed. Now- I live always sunny and that’s a show about horrible people with little development- but it’s funny. Seinfeld existed in an era where it’s always sunny wouldn’t be likely to see cable let alone network Tv. Seinfeld was “messed up comedy” for the time- but it was vanilla to me even then. Laughing because…
.. this week the gang debates if it is ok to date a cripple, and then debates using the word cripple as offensive or some such nonsense. Formulaic- which a lot of that dark age network stuff was, friends too- but Seinfeld was down to the episode just repeating the same concepts. It was never particularly zany or irreverent. I saw it as boring humor for boring people who though that brand of boring was interesting or relatable in comparison to their boring lives. To be clear- not insulting fans. I said I thought that when it was in decades ago. Unlike the characters of that show I’ve grown and changed. Seinfeld has its moments, and the older I get the less unwatchable it has become, and I will say that the older I get the more unwatchable friends has become. I wouldn’t be inclined to watch either show today but if I had to watch one when they were on air I’d choose friends. Be happy there is so much content now kids. Be happy you don’t have to choose either of these shows.
Not sure if you got Seinfeld's concept at all. Yes, it was a show about awful people doing awful things but these people were 100% like us, the viewers. Plus the 4 were never, ever portrayed as heroes in any way, not sure where you got this from. Also, without Seinfeld, there would never have been a show like friends or IASIP in the first place, Seinfeld was the basic blueprint of all of those shows. There's a reason why there's still so many Seinfeld memes around even when the the show ended long before there were memes at all.
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As for the vanilla: look at popular shows and movies of that aera. The standards have changed a LOT.
@general_failure- I said right at the open that in general the network bar was low back in the day, and I did say friends was not very good at all in my opinion; so I do not disagree with you that vanilla was common for the time, but between the two shows, Seinfeld to me was particularly bland. As for the characters being like the viewer- that perhaps is part of the missed appeal for me? I did not see myself in the characters at all. I get the premise of exaggerating “everyday events” to a sort of “what if?” For humor or relatability- but seldom if ever have I seen or heard the characters speak or act in a way that reflects my thoughts or feelings or actions on most matters. I found them quite petty and small, and like the friends they were self involved and superficial, but unlike the friends they hardly seemed to ever care for each other let alone anyone or thing besides themselves, both shows often had characters being vindictive or malicious or slimy, but I guess….
Seinfeld was just too “realistic” for me. Exaggerated and implausible often, but Friends was fake beyond the emotions or broad strokes. Completely un realistic in almost every aspect- things happened to drive plot or set up “jokes” but relation to life was superficial- “I was fat/knew a fat person in high school too!” Or being able to relate to unrequited crushes on friends or the disappointment of not getting a job, the joy of getting married etc. Seinfeld was like watching all the people you can’t stand in real life go about their normal days but narrating it.
I don’t like being around those people when I have to, so watching them didn’t seem appealing. As for always Sunny- there ARE people if not “that bad” then pretty darn close in the world, but at least for me they aren’t a regular occurrence. So it maintains an enjoyment of fiction.
To be concise- I would not find it enjoyable to watch small animals being beaten and blown up and tortured-
But Looney Toons is funny because it is so obviously fake it is “safe,” insulated from reality and even the underlying concepts that if we consider too deeply, would be repugnant.
To me, always Sunny is like the looney tunes of horrible people- a bit slap stick and darkly funny because it is so far out, and Seinfeld is like watching a realistic CGI series of 30 minute shorts of animals being tortured, or looney tunes with long stretches of set up and 1-2 flat jokes bookending their short.
To be clear- If people like Seinfeld more power to them. I wouldn’t take that away from them and my feelings on Seinfeld don’t reflect on them. It is entirely possible and ok that I just don’t “get it” on the level of others and if I did, I would see it as genius. So I may just lack the proper pallet to appreciate it, like a kid growing up on boxed Mac rejecting a world class chefs meal.
As for innovations- I wouldn’t deny that there were surely innovations and influence from the show and I’m not saying it should have never existed or anything of the sort. Iterative process, to be where we are we needed to build to here. That said, I don’t watch movies simply because they used some innovative camera angle or new CGI technology or whatever other technical achievements. I can appreciate the effort and skill involved in a creative process but it doesn’t generally impact my enjoyment. I don’t care if they trained 1,000 real donkeys to dance on cue or used CGI if it looks good, and if every aspect outside of that achievement doesn’t wow me, I’m not leaving rave reviews. Innovation is also…. “Back then they didn’t have..” but the further back we go- the easier it is to innovate usually. Fundamentals that make for famous names in history are often things kids think up at some point in life without knowing there is already an answer.
Ellen kissed a woman on TV. She deserves some note for that, but had she not done it- someone would have. I am not a time lord so maybe the entire “LGBTQ+” movement and all the inclusion we’ve had since then would never have happened or taken 50-100 years more to get to this point had she not pecked a lady on network Tv, I doubt it. In point of fact many firsts of this nature are inevitable. The writing is on the wall and someone is going to do it and it is a calculated game or game of chance for someone to decide they’ll be the first through the door.
Girls kiss girls in children’s shows for some time now. I don’t think Ellen gets the credit for that, I think the pendulum was swinging and she may have helped it along a little earlier or maybe not, but I think we were getting here one way or another because a whole group of people weren’t going to live in the dark forever and were reaching a breaking point somewhat collectively on society.
So I give some credit for innovations Seinfeld or any other show brought but usually those innovations aren’t particularly ground breaking or even new ideas, often times the conditions or personalities happen to be right to bring an idea to the forefront that others have wanted to try but lacked the pull or whatever else to be able to actually execute.
That isn’t me diminishing anything- it’s just me saying that we tend to put a lot of emphasis on “firsts” and such but… meh. 50/50. So no shade to Seinfeld fans. Enjoy the show.
I personally think most TV of that era was pretty crappy. Some was good for the time and others were just what we had and most people didn’t think much of them beyond killing time or white noise. They are all part of a pop culture tapestry though and without their contributions and impacts we wouldn’t have the pop culture we have today- which largely i think is an overall improvement with some exceptions to taste. There is certainly far more choice today.
As horrible as friends was though, it had its moments, and Seinfeld… I hated that show. It was an early example of shows about horrible people doing horrible things and being the “heroes” while never learning anything. Friends weren’t great people, they were self absorbed and by…
.
As for the vanilla: look at popular shows and movies of that aera. The standards have changed a LOT.
I don’t like being around those people when I have to, so watching them didn’t seem appealing. As for always Sunny- there ARE people if not “that bad” then pretty darn close in the world, but at least for me they aren’t a regular occurrence. So it maintains an enjoyment of fiction.
But Looney Toons is funny because it is so obviously fake it is “safe,” insulated from reality and even the underlying concepts that if we consider too deeply, would be repugnant.
To me, always Sunny is like the looney tunes of horrible people- a bit slap stick and darkly funny because it is so far out, and Seinfeld is like watching a realistic CGI series of 30 minute shorts of animals being tortured, or looney tunes with long stretches of set up and 1-2 flat jokes bookending their short.
To be clear- If people like Seinfeld more power to them. I wouldn’t take that away from them and my feelings on Seinfeld don’t reflect on them. It is entirely possible and ok that I just don’t “get it” on the level of others and if I did, I would see it as genius. So I may just lack the proper pallet to appreciate it, like a kid growing up on boxed Mac rejecting a world class chefs meal.
Girls kiss girls in children’s shows for some time now. I don’t think Ellen gets the credit for that, I think the pendulum was swinging and she may have helped it along a little earlier or maybe not, but I think we were getting here one way or another because a whole group of people weren’t going to live in the dark forever and were reaching a breaking point somewhat collectively on society.
That isn’t me diminishing anything- it’s just me saying that we tend to put a lot of emphasis on “firsts” and such but… meh. 50/50. So no shade to Seinfeld fans. Enjoy the show.
I personally think most TV of that era was pretty crappy. Some was good for the time and others were just what we had and most people didn’t think much of them beyond killing time or white noise. They are all part of a pop culture tapestry though and without their contributions and impacts we wouldn’t have the pop culture we have today- which largely i think is an overall improvement with some exceptions to taste. There is certainly far more choice today.