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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
Jerry Seinfeld’s frosty view of modern TV comedy pines for a | |
long-gone past | |
Analysis by Brian Lowry, CNN | |
Updated: | |
12:25 PM EDT, Mon May 6, 2024 | |
Source: CNN | |
“Seinfeld” premiered 35 years ago on NBC, becoming one of the most | |
popular sitcoms ever and making Jerry Seinfeld and creator insanely | |
rich. In promoting his directing debut Seinfeld has lamented the | |
current state of TV comedy, in a way that identifies some modern | |
challenges while ignoring the complexity of how times have changed. | |
Seinfeld voiced those remarks to while making the rounds (he joked | |
about the extent of that promotional tour on “Saturday Night Live”) | |
to support the movie, which looks back at in the 1960s. Yet the | |
comic’s views of where comedy went wrong have an unavoidable “Old | |
man yells at cloud” quality, not because the observations were | |
entirely wrong but because of everything they overlook in | |
oversimplifying and romanticizing the past. | |
“It used to be you would go home at the end of the day, most people | |
would go, ‘Oh, ‘Cheers’ is on. Oh, ‘M*A*S*H’ is on. Oh, | |
‘Mary Tyler Moore’ is on. ‘All in the Family’ is on,’” | |
Seinfeld told The New Yorker. “You just expected, there’ll be some | |
funny stuff we can watch on TV tonight. Well, guess what – where is | |
it? This is the result of the extreme left and P.C. crap, and people | |
worrying so much about offending other people. Now they’re going to | |
see standup comics because we are not policed by anyone.” | |
That’s a lot to unpack, starting with singling out four of the best | |
sitcoms ever, conveniently skipping all the lame ones that existed | |
during those years. Similarly, people looking for something to watch | |
when those shows premiered only received three broadcast networks and a | |
handful of channels, before Fox, cable and premium TV, much less | |
Netflix, streaming and a host of internationally produced imports. | |
Yes, greater sensitivity among various constituencies – or “PC | |
crap,” if Seinfeld prefers – has complicated the comedian’s job. | |
But one aspect of the past Seinfeld appears to long for is that people | |
could be offended with little fear of consequences or reprisals | |
because, well, where were they going to go? When the menu consisted of | |
ABC, NBC and CBS, it’s not like they had a lot of choices or | |
alternatives. | |
The mass-appeal comedies that Seinfeld cites were indeed great shows, | |
but they have given way to a wider variety of series aimed at narrower | |
tastes, scattered across a vast array of outlets. The result has been | |
fewer traditional multi-camera sitcoms but more single-camera shows, | |
including the broadcast hits “Abbott Elementary,” “Ghosts” and | |
“Young Sheldon,” the last of which (spun off from “The Big Bang | |
Theory”) will wrap its seven-season run this month. | |
That doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of cable and streaming | |
comedies, animated shows, international series that now reach US | |
shores, and acclaimed series labeled “comedy” that aren’t really | |
comedies at all, like “The Bear” and “Barry.” | |
Even taking Seinfeld’s argument at face value, “All in the | |
Family” is the only one of the shows he mentioned that might have | |
regularly run afoul of the comedy scolds to which he objects. As for | |
standup comics, there has been an explosion of opportunities to get | |
their material in front of the public he couldn’t have imagined when | |
he was breaking in sets on “The Tonight Show,” including the | |
barrage of specials spilling out as part of the “” festival. | |
Granted, there’s a long tradition of talent bemoaning how bad things | |
have gotten since their heyday. Having recently turned 70, Seinfeld and | |
the rest of the baby-boom generation have seen TV change in | |
unrecognizable ways from the period during which he cut his | |
professional teeth. | |
While it might not be “All in the Family” or “Mary Tyler | |
Moore,” there’s still funny stuff to watch for a broader range of | |
tastes, including those with the fortitude to sit through | |
“Unfrosted.” All that’s required is knowing where to look, and | |
maybe, opening your eyes. | |
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