The "Worst" Seinfeld Seasons Are GREAT
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- Опубліковано 19 жов 2024
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Season 8 and season 9 of Seinfeld are often seen as the clearly inferior ones, having been made after Larry David left. In this video I argue that they're both stone cold classics!
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Special thanks to Andrew Elliott (Stalli111: / stalli111 ) for editing this video.
What's your favorite episode of Seinfeld?
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no
We live in a society
Too many to name, but Bizarro Jerry, and Man Hands are easily in the top.
The Checks easily. Something about the conversion rate misunderstanding makes me laugh every time and that final chest of drawers scene is sheer perfection in tying plotlines together
The Jimmy
S8 has the George Isn't At Home answering machine song. That's enough for me.
Believe it or not, it's just George.
YES!!!
iconic 🩷
Belive it or not, George
isn't at home
please leave a
message
Ha I was singing this at work the other day
What’s the deal with video essays
White guys write video essays like this.
But black guys? They write video essays like __this!__
What?😕😕
What’s the deal with @halfdroidtwobots
@@Postman09for real bro, what’s that guys deal?
@@CircusFreaks666nah that's Don draper
"The Soup Nazi" is from season 7, not seasons 8-9. Other than that, I completely agree. Great video!
NO HEART FOR YOU!
Borderline. Larry David was still around but 7 is in the latter third.
@@Treblaine But he clearly says "final two seasons."
@@Treblaine okay? he was still around lol
@@Treblaineand?
Season 9 got a lot of flack, as I recall, but that featured Kruger Industrial Smoothing, the Festivus episode, and the one where George tries to have himself airbrushed out of Kruger's old beach photo, which I couldn't live without.
Yeah season 9 got flack because oif the finale ( which sucked) Remember it's not how you start but how you finish. Definitely one of the laziest finale's too a massive show ever
@@alexandru5369 I don't think the finale was lazy... it was just a too-fanciful concept for the show it was on. Most of the basic set-ups from week to week were relatable, if absurdly overblown -- would most people go as far as George does to avoid having their new boss see an embarrassing photo? Of course not, but the show starts with a (sort of) down to Earth premise and then eases us into the absurdity somewhat.
But having your main characters get put on trial for, essentially, being assholes? Really? It's the kind of thing that almost begs to be revealed as some kind of weird dream sequence at the end.
I also think the mainstream American TV audience was just not ready to be hit in the face so hard with the fact that they'd been watching a bunch of unlikable, unredeemable douchebags for 9 years. Unlike today, when it's nearly impossible to think of another way that a show like It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia COULD end.
I don’t really hate the late seasons of Seinfeld. Sure, Kramer changed from a simpleton to an evil genius in those seasons. And the finale? It wasn’t the worst I’ve ever seen, just an odd and contrived place to end the show.
Never understood this, season 9 was great.
Kruger was such a great character - apathy has never been more hilarious.
Season 8 has so many legendary episodes, quotes, and rememberable characters.
"The jerk store called, and they're all out of you!"
You’re their best seller!
@@SceneWins "Oh...oh yeah? Well...I had sex with your wife!"
they running out of you*
"BAD CHICKEN! MESS YOU UP!"
“George, his wife’s in a coma.”
Season 8 is a classic, Elaine dances, George's answering machine, bizarre jerry, Anti dentite etc.
Yes, The Little Kicks is an underated episode.
@@tigerwarsaw99 The scene with George wearing the lettermans jacket always has me in tears.
its just a laundry list of classic memes
It annoys me when people say that the show wasn't goofy before Larry left. Like we didn't have the bubble boy who sounds like Danny DeVito in season 4 or the cartoonish holistic healer who turns George purple in season 2.
George hooking a marble rye that Jerry stole from an old lady on a fishing pole through a window because Susan's parents were returning early from a handsome cab ride due to the horse's terrible flatulence on account of Kramer feeding this herbivore Beef-a-reeno as an attempt to get rid of the burdensome supply he got as an impulse buy at a discount warehouse supermarket.
That's true but there's something about the goofiness in the earlier seasons that felt more grounded, like their reactions felt a little more down to earth and the slower pacing while in later seasons it felt more straight slapstick, which I think may be what most people are referring to. Love both tho and it's true that there were wacky ideas since the beginning
It did have wacky elements just not as consistently over the top as the last 2 seasons
Hell Id say George being turned purple was the goofiest the show ever got
It's all the best TV and only the finale is in question end of story
The later seasons are absolutely loaded with lots of the shows most memorable moments.
I have only seen Seinfeld once. I watched it for the first time last year, thoroughly unaware of the prevailing opinions about it.
My takeaway on it was that it started off very slow and rather plain, but slowly developed into absurd hilarity that consistently had me laughing my head off in the later seasons. I adored the finale, it was cool to see so many characters return and the outcome was so unexpected and hilarious that it truly sold me on the show.
Seasons 1- 4 are the most nostalgic for me but I agree, the other seasons are great and the finale is a masterpiece!
S8 and S9 are my favorite, not just because of absurdism but also because the actors are so confident in the characters they are able to pull off some of the funniest exasperation and self-loathing and that is amazing to me
season 9 has one of the highest number of memorable episodes in the entire show
I'm just finding out that so called conventional wisdom doesn't view these 2 seasons as the best. I always just assumed they were because to me at least, they are the most memorable
I completely agree with you and have always felt it was unfair to characterize the latest seasons the way people tend to.
People cant accept that any show that stays on for almost 10 years has to change somewhat, especially comedies. Seinfeld changed but at least it remained funny
I honestly had zero idea people felt that way about the later seasons, or that Larry David left the show. The only criticisms I ever heard were about the Finale.
I honestly would LOVE a remake of the show where they show ordinary people dealing with modern day problems. A lot of the problems in the OG show are solved by modern technology. I still love, but it doesn't connect. Jerry taking a cab across the city to tell Elaine and George he can't make a movie? Um... yeah, would NEVER happen today.
I'm 22, so I was never alive when Seinfeld was actually airing. Despite that fact, my dad showed me Seinfeld at a very young age and it has always been my favorite show. One take that has always kind of baffled me is Jerry being a bad actor. Everyone knows he's a real life comedian playing in a "himself" character. I think him being a bad actor surrounded by good actors made it so charming. He almost has a fourth wall breaking aspect when he is laughing at the show that he helped write.
Absolutely! He just played himself and that worked perfectly. Look at comedians in cars, that is Jerry from the show.
Yes. I would say, we're Jerry. He represents us, and he's watching it all with us.
I forgot about the Frogger episode. That 3 second clip of George trying to get across the street is enough to make me watch the entire series again.
THANK YOU! Been waiting for someone to say this for YEARS
This is wild, because I had never known about this reputation until watching a video essay about it TODAY and thinking, "really? I feel like all of my top five episodes are from those last two seasons!"
Some of the most quoted episodes are from seasons 7,8, and 9
The Chicken Roasters episode alone elevates the last two seasons. Everybody wanted Kramer and Jerry to swap worlds at some point.
Never has a UA-camr been more in tune with my opinions
we wouldn't be celebrating Festivus every year if Seinfeld had stopped after season 7.
I absolutely love seasons 8 and 9. Kramer and Newman making sausages while dancing to Mañana is a Seinfeld moment I can’t live without 😂
The scene where the whole dealership is talking about what’s in candy bars gets me
FREE CANDY
One of my friends had this absolute hatred for Seinfeld and I said you haven’t given it a chance . He said no it sucks. I said I want you to watch one episode blind called The Limo don’t read anything about it just watch it . He came back and said I take it back that was hilarious .
great pick!!! one of my favourties too.
That's so funny. I have been trying to explain to my girlfriend that she would like this show, but she's adamantly against it. I paused the video midway through and started thinking about what the best episode to introduce her would be, and I realized it would be The Limo. Then I finished the video, and I just saw your comment. You've given me hope
@@blootooth00report back!
@@blootooth00you need to get rid of that girlfriend; she is a regifter and I heard she double dips.
@mimimalignant nah, she's cool. Shes just only ever heard bad stuff about it
You nailed the “clip show” description of the courtroom scene. It also had some fun jokes from episodes past like “They are real…and spectacular!”
What a great video! I pretty much agree with everything you say here. The tone and style of Seinfeld was constantly evolving, and really from the 4th or 5th season it became increasingly more absurdist/cartoonish. What I thought the show did remarkably well though, was that as it evolved its style, it didn't abandon earlier styles, but rather incorporated them into a broader palette. As the show progressed it could put out very different types of episodes - some totally absurdist, some more grounded - but without this feeling jarring to the audience. I think this takes real skill to pull off.
Absolutely agree! I grew up with the series and love it all. I didn't even realize realize the "cartooniness" of the last 2 seasons when I was younger because to me it was all just Seinfeld. Once I got older it was more noticeable but didn't understand the discourse around it. Hell, my all time favorite episode is the Bizarro Jerry and I often forget its from season 8!
I always thought Seinfeld got better and better as it went on, and I assumed that was the commonly held view. Even in my favorite TV show, Community, Abed says that Seinfeld peaked in its later seasons.
Your take is correct. And so is conventional wisdom! In audio commentary on The Dealership, Jason Alexander says as he watches himself - paraphrasing but very close - “Wow if we’d done a Season 10 it would have taken place on Mars, that’s how crazy it’s gotten by this point.”
8 & 9 cartoonish and I much prefer 3-7 BUT I’ll still take 8 & 9 over just about anything ever. The show ended at PRECISELY the right moment. If only the show that gave us FLANDERIZATION had done the same.
I would argue that seasons 8 and 9 have the highest concentration of classic episodes and bits: Bizarro Jerry, Elaine's dancing, Kenny Rogers roasters, jerk store, George's answering machine, Yada Yada, muffin tops (Rebecca DeMornay), Serenity Now!, Merv Griffin set, The Wiz, Frogger... it goes on and on.
Thank you so much for standing up for the later seasons of Seinfeld. Definitely when we get some of the very best stories like that Baseball game episode or that one episode with Kramer in the hospital and Elaine hitting on one of the doctors which made me laugh so hard. Also plus in the last season we got a small running storyline with Jerry trying to start the show he wanted to make which although it never worked out gave him a goal to strive for and made me appreciate his dedication to the goal!
First of hopefully many Seinfeld videos
The Betrayal episode was a masterpiece.
I love all Seinfeld seasons.
I've NEVER before heard anyone say Season 8 was part of any "decline" - in fact, I thought the show reached its peak during that season. Not only that, but I rate the Kenny Rodgers episode as THE single funniest episode of _ANY_ show that I've ever seen on TV - it was non-stop hilarity.
I agree that Season 9 saw a noticeable drop-off in quality, but that's partly a testament to how incredible the preceding seasons were.
Kenny? Kenny.
Seinfeld isn't cartoonish, it's highly stylised, which I always thought was a strength. You have wholly believable characters like George coping in unbelievable situations that exist solely as litmus tests to reveal just how ruined a human being he is. There's actually a forty-page essay by J.R.R. Tolkien, 'On Fairy-stories,' which is wholly applicable to this.
I always thought Hank Hill was the American Basil Fawlty. The Universe just conspires to confront him with the things that make him most uncomfortable.
I think the Puerto Rican Day episode is an all time classic. It was kept out of syndication for a while but its back in the rotation. It needs more love.
One of my fondest memories is after school going to this Internet cafe with my best friend and playing against eachother in Counter Strike and roaming through a dark corridor in fear of getting ambushed and when I enter I see on one of the walls plastered on like a poster a jpeg image of Bob Patterson pointing at me with the words above and below him “THE JERK STORE CALLED. THEY’RE RUNNING OUT OF YOU.” And I cried laughing, almost blacked out from laughter and couldn’t pay attention as my friend sniped me, and I laughed harder.
Whatever season George did that bit is the best season as far as I’m concerned.
Seinfeld never declined. It bowed out gracefully.
There was a decline. Not a crazy sharp decline but it declined a bit. Season 9 is probably my least favorite even though it can still be enjoyable
Exactly
You nailed it. Season 8 in particular has some absolutely hilarious episodes, like the Chicken Roaster, and so many classic bits and scenes. Kramer destroying his face with smoking, and dominating the children's dojo come to mind immediately.
I've watched this show all the way multiple times and have never thought or noticed there was a drop in quality at any point.
This is awesome Captain I literally have been home I have pinpointed every time Jerry says end " but I don't want to be a " cowboy etc. overall Seinfeld is in my top three comedies I love how Jerry is a terrible actor through all nine seasons
the gas tank gag from the dealership episode is literally what I think of when I think of this show, or when my gas tank hits empty. it's iconic.
I think it really is just the last few episodes and the finale that made people sour on the more absurdist last seasons
Seasons 8 & 9 are phenomenal and have some of the best rewatch ability. Far better than the first few seasons.
I’ve always felt this way. The last 2 seasons are different, but still great.
show peaked when Jerry said "Hi, I'm Jerry. I might not look like it, but I can run really really fast."
"Alright everybody, I've decided to end the show with this season."
"Your killing Independent George!"
*You’re
I recently rewatched the Bizarro Jerry, which I believe is from season 8. It not only had the Bizarro Jerry subplot which was hilarious in its own right, but also man hands, the forbidden city, and Kramer with a job. Four classic storylines all in a single banger of an episode. Some people are hard on the later seasons but I think they're great.
The perfect 3s. I love how Jacky Chiles gives his precise descriptions in 3s lol
My favorite scene in all of Seinfeld was in season 9 when Kramer meets Wilfred Brimley as the postmaster general. It replays in my head all the time.
Michael Richards and Wayne Knight were a comedic force.
I love the Kenny Rodgers chicken episode and The Frogger is comedy gold. Last season ep I think. George gets really angry though in the later seasons. George is getting upset!
IMO, the Kenny Rodgers episode is THE funniest episode of ANY show I've ever seen on TV.
„You mean THE OUTLET?!“ 😂
@@frankiepentangeli7100 "Oh, the holes."
@@CraftySouthpaw where are all the pizza ovens?
Newman you wouldn't eat broccoli if it was deep fried in chocolate sauce!.. I love broccoli.. it's good for you!!.... Vile weed!!
The same progression toward “ungrounded” plots happened with CYE in my opinion. So it suggests that Larry would have done the same with Seinfeld if we continued to write for the later seasons.
Glad someone finally said it. I appreciate both earlier and later seasons for different reasons. I laugh and still quote both styles consistently.
I also don't mind the finale, so maybe I'm just a weirdo.
The backwards episode where it's told in reverse starting from the end and working its way back to the beginning was Momento two years before Momento. It's genius.
"Look away! I'm hideous."
Seasons 7-9 were the ones that I had on DVD growing up in high school, and there was definitely a reason I was drawn to them more than the earlier seasons. The Dealership is the episode that got me into the show in the first place and The Betrayal, The Pothole, The Chicken Roaster, and The Serenity Now were some of my favorites.
Season 8 has "The English Patient", who gave us the best Elaine scene in the whole series:
"Quit telling your stupid story about the stupid desert and just die already! DIE!"
"Elaine, I take it you don't like this movie?"
"I HATE IT!"
"Shhhhh!"
"OH GO TO HELL!"
_“Enjoy Sack Lunch.”_ (Delivered with withering contempt.)
I don’t know who that guy was, I’m sure he was the tall-dark-and-handsome for some soap opera or something, but Seinfeld was probably the only opportunity he’d ever been given to truly _act._
I couldn't agree more, its great to hear someone sticking up for the later seasons
Kramerica Industries always gets me. „…which may or may not contain a chicken“ 😂
Seinfeld is the ultimate comfort show. It’s always hilarious, and never lets you down. Plus it’s never corny or sentimental to the point you feel silly for watching it.
unlike all those family sitcoms before the Simpsons where theres a lesson every show😀😀😀
i've always said that the more you understand the main characters and their particular neurosis, the funnier the show gets because you can understand why all these fairly normal situations escalate how they do, there are pretty much always hidden layers of meaning that come from watching the scene from the POV of our protagonists compared to the POV of the other characters, and this is heightened in later seasons.
I agree wholeheartedly. I had no idea that's how people viewed these later seasons.
As someone who watched through Seinfeld pretty recently and didn't really look into popular discourse about it, I'm honestly surprised to hear that those final seasons get any flak at all. I do understand the criticism about the finale, but I completely agree that those final seasons hold their own right alongside the rest of the show.
Less than two minutes in and I couldn't agree more. Instant subscribe and can't wait to enjoy more of your videos.
Captain Midnight,i usually like your videos but
I love this one. Great commentary. I look forward to the end of the run during every rewatch
This makes me want to watch the whole thing again. Like a dedicated watch, instead of all the clips on UA-cam
I recently watched Seinfeld for the first time, I still don't get how a show that started that bad ends up being so great (I would have stopped at S1 if a friend doesn't tell em that it gets really good after S2). Yes the style changes after the other writer left but... its still solid, a bit more nonsesical but it still was a comedy first,
Referring to Larry David as "the other writer" lmfao
I love all the seasons but 7,8,and 9 are my favorite. I love the fact that seinfeld feels so different if you go from watching a season 3 episode to a season 8 episode but if you watch them all in a row it feels natural just like he says
i grew watching this as a kid & maybe some reruns in my early 20’s & its funny cause i enjoy the show & probably never would of known that the restaurant episode or the car dealership episode were so far from each other in seasons.
KRAMER'S funniest moment is the laundromat and the bag of concrete
Back in the mid-90s, we'd have daily reruns of Married with Children. So I'd watch it pretty much back-to-back every few months and then it'd start over, and whenever that happened my reaction would always be the same: what the hell, is this even the same show? In the first episode, Al tells Peg he loves her, and when she asks him if he wants to go upstairs, he says yes. Anyone who is familiar with the show would understand just how wild that is.
But the thing is, this show was considered controversial from the get-go. The first episode, at the time, was very different in its depiction of the American family compared to other sitcoms at the time. Much like The Simpsons, where in the early seasons Mr. Burns is concered about his workers having family values and Homer is a relatively responsible adult (except for when he occasionally chokes Bart), Married with Children's descent into madness was gradual and almost unnoticeable, and only when you rewind it can you grasp just how the show and characters have changed - while staying loyal to the original premise.
I think Seinfeld took a similar route, like you've explained here. It's something that was pretty standard for shows at the time: if you stay on the air long enough, you gotta go somewhere, and the solution was usual to more extremities.
100% agree. Love season 8 and 9. Including the finale.
But, having just finished Friends, I don’t agree at all that the character lose heart near the end. Season 9 and 10 have awesome plot lines!
I'm really glad you made a video abt this. I feel the exact same way in fact, whenever I want to rewatch an episode, I usually pick something from s8 or 9.
the fact that curb did basically the same finale but executed it so well just shows how Larry david can boost the quality in anything
Thank you for this. I rewatched them all recently and was like.. how did this become popular opinion? The later seasons are great
I just rewatched Seinfeld this spring and was blown away when I realized everything I remember best is in the last 20 or so episodes
The Bizarro Jerry is my favorite episode, I totally agree with you. I almost always skip the finale when I rewatch.
You are doing the lords work my friend. I do not understand the later season hate at all.
I agree. Watching the show in syndication I was not sure which episodes were from what season except for a few like the first and final episodes. But having them on streaming now I can see that probably my favorite episodes are actually in the later seasons, though I love it all including the finale.
Great points! One small thing, Soup Nazi is season 7 when Larry was still there
Thank you for this video. I always bring up "The Keys" when the later seasons are completely dismissed by those who feverishly worship at the jock of Larry David.
Great video. I have often thought about this, and I'm glad to see others have too.
I love the later episodes. Sure, the characters and situations were extra wacky, but so memorable and quotable to this day. Whereas for me, the early episodes were still understandably finding their footing but have those awkward-feeling transitions where they show the exterior of Jerry’s apartment and you just hear traffic noise. It’s a little silently strange to me haha
Dude!!! I have been saying this for years. IMO it was kinda when Larry David left that the show evolved. They spread their wings even farther. My favorite episodes are in the later seasons. I’d love to chat more about it, I’m sure you’re a busy guy. But this video speaks to my soul.
Thank you man!!❤ You get Seinfeld one of my all time favorite sitcoms and Ive always been a bigger fan of the later seasons. Great vid💯💯💯
The dealership absolute gold!
I wouldn't say the last 2 years are great, but the finale is probably always going to be underappreciated, and there was a freeing component to David leaving and the "miserable coincidence" style of episode giving way to Jerry & Larry Charles' zanier tendencies. "This offends you as a Jewish person?" "No, it offends me as a comedian!" is still maybe the best joke on the whole show.
I'm a third of the video in, and already this is the best way someone has described the evolution of Seinfeld. Agree with everything so far. Great video! Just as almost always. Love this channel.
I was kinda shocked when re-watching the series how many iconic moments I remembered were from s8 and 9
Great stuff, as always. I remember an article in an English music magazine (Uncut or Mojo) that compared Seinfeld to the Beatles. The first third of their careers was doing fairly standard stuff but with a special spark. Middle third was more experimental (think Pepper and the backwards episode). And the final third was getting back the roots.
Ah yes, another bit of conventional wisdom that’s wrong- the one that says John Lennon was the experimentalist of the Beatles. In fact, he was an experimentalist for a year or two, and then was a rock ‘n’ roll purist to the day he died.
@DeflatingAtheism yeah, we know Paul was riding the bus to hip art shows in the mid-60s whilst Lennon played suburban husband/father for a spell. Thank you for your uninspired response! I hope there's more to come... 😉
George’s storyline in the Dealership always bugged me. He’s hungry the whole episode and gets mad at the mechanic for stealing his Twix. But where does he get the money for the candy bar line up? And why didn’t he just eat those?
He's a spiteful, petty, vindictive idiot. That's what makes it so funny and in character
I do lovve them myself. They were paced and clearly written slightly differently, but the characters were so well-established that you could just plug them into the scenario and it goes off without a hitch.
The Merv Griffin episode was the one that got me watching Seinfield . They all talk about how the chairs stink but yet everone sits in them... Hilarious..
Seasons 7, 8, and 9 are my favorites overall.
When you mentioned the last three or four episodes being weak, it got me pulling up the episode list to check. I have to agree, The Maid, Puerto Rican Day, a clip show and The Finale is a pretty weak run to end on. They're in fact probably the weakest episodes of the whole year, which probably colours people's view of the season.
Puerto Rican day parade is a classic, fantastic episode that offended some people.
This is a great analysis! I never understood the hate that was thrust upon the series finale, there were soooo many awful series endings but seinfeld wasn't one
I agree.
Until very recently, I didn't even know that David wasn't present for the last two seasons. That's how little I noticed a quality change.
when i watched seinfeld for the first time (on netflix), i never noticed the "drop off" as it was kinda just an escalation of the stakes of the show
Good vid.
High five.
.....
Don't leave me hangin'...
The last two seasons are goofball for sure, but they're hilarious. Definitely some of the best jokes
The last seasons weren’t bad, they just became a little less realistic but they were still great