Friday 25 November 2005

Master of my Domain

The Soup Nazi, Moops, Mulva, Festivus, The Opposite, Bizarro Jerry.

If you don't know what I'm on about, you're probably not acquainted with Seinfeld. And if you're not now, you never will be, but you should...

The latest box-set of the original series (seasons 5 & 6) is released on November 28th (in the UK). My copy has been on order for, ooh, months now and can't wait to get my hands on it.

The quality of extras on the whole series has been exceptional - the BBC could learn a lot. Their own shoddy release of Fawlty Towers, in particular, was most disappointing.

But, the top-notch writing and performance of Seinfeld blows Fawlty Towers away. Cleese and Booth's masterpiece is often regarded as the best British sitcom ever (I would disagree - Porridge stands the test of time far better) but Seinfeld is consistently rated, by fans and comedians alike, as probably the best sitcom ever made.

The adventures of Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer were treated disgracefully by the BBC, who used to run it around midnight (though never at exectly the same time twice) on BBC2, when it deserved a prime-time run.

If memory serves, Seinfeld was usually followed by The Larry Sanders Show - almost as good, but still miles better than My Family, My Hero, Blessed, 2.4 Children, The Worst Week Of My Life, or any of the other anodyne pap that passes for comedy on the BBC [Lord Ricky Gervais - the honourable exception, except for Politics, which is arse].

Thank God for ITV4 (for God's sake) who are currently repeating Garry Shandling's masterpiece. Now - anyone prepared to re-run the fantastic, but never repeated It's Garry Shandling's Show?

Do yourself a favour and get Seinfeld here:



Also:

Seinfeld: Season 4
Seinfeld: Seasons 1 - 3

4 comments:

meljoy said...

Hey! I happen to like My Family! I have seen a few episodes of Wosrt Week of My Life and I can't say I am impressed. I do like seiznfeild, butif you lived in the States, you would have no reason to buy the box set. I swear, of the 300+ channels I have, at least 20 of the are playing a Seinfeild episode at any given time of the day.

Then again, my husband and I only have two shows box sets. Me: Dark Angel, Him: The David Chappelle Show.

Do you ever watch the Daily Show, or The Cobert Report on Comedy Central? Those are funny shows! Not sitcoms, just news related...

petercmoore said...

We've got one channel (Paramount Comedy) that plays Seinfeld re-runs. But they seem to play season 1 to 3 and 6 to 8 over and over.

David Chappelle I've heard on CD. VERY funny. VERY rude. He's the guy who does the bit about dwarf-sex, right?

The Daily Show. Is that the Jon Stewart one? They JUST started showing it over here, but it doesn't work. He makes jokes about politics, but if you don't happend to know the name of the deputy-vice-Governor of Rhode Island and the fact that s/he was once arrested for throwing ice-cream in a multiplex, it's just not funny to us. Same as topical news comedy shows over here wouldn't work for you guys.

petercmoore said...

Oh, and My Family? Seriously sucks the big one!

Try Extras, if you haven't already - the new Ricky Gervais show.

meljoy said...

We only get ONE BBC channel! i have never heard of those shows. They play maybe five shows over here.

My Family, Little britian, worst week of my life, cash in the attic, and something else I can't remember. I was talking to Dave about My family, and he mentioned it being too much like American Comedy, but the ONLY reason I watch it is because it's different from all the same shit they play over here. Funny how subtle (maybe) things make a HUGE difference, but I guess it's in the eye of the beholder.

Yes, Dave chappelle does the midget sex skit, haha. He's great!

That's true, I didn't think of you not knowing who our political powers are. I just ASSUME (being american and all) that EVERYONE knows EVERYTHING about us, a very selfish way of thinking, but that's what our news media tells us... It's effin bullshit is what it is, it's bad for your brain. I can't watch the news anymore... Jon Stewart just makes it amusing...