Seinfeld first aired on television in July 1989 and ran till May 1998. It has been a starting point for major American sitcoms. Even though it has been more than 20 years since the show ended, it is still very much relevant and relatable. What exactly makes Seinfeld, a show about nothing still so relatable?
The show revolves around the stand-up comedian Jerry Seinfeld(played by himself) and the three characters, who play his friends George Costanza, Elaine Benes and Kramer and their mundane everyday misadventures. The show claims to be about ‘nothing’ which is actually true. It is about the daily life of a stand-up comedian and his friends and how even the simplest uneventful events can bring humour out of various situations.
The show is considered to be one of the best-written sitcoms of all time and it is based on humans and human behaviour making it timeless. The way writers of the show have dramatised those regular mundane events is hilarious. One of the very popular episodes is when they forget about where they parked the car in a huge mall parking, a whole episode about that and it is still hilarious and relatable. Another very famous episode is about Jerry and his friends at a Chinese restaurant, waiting for a table and again it is still relatable and hilarious.
One of the main reasons for the show’s success is its characters and the way they were written. Especially the main 4 characters. Elaine is one of the most loveable characters in the show, she is a smart erratic goofball and in fact, it is really difficult to try to describe her character. She is one of the most complex, quirky and hilarious characters. Elaine Benes’s character is groundbreaking for her time, she is outspoken, assertive, fights for abortion rights and is unapologetic of her sexual appetite. To be honest a woman in her mid-30s, not obsessed with marriage and children still raises a lot of eyebrows even today.
Another character who played a very important role in the show’s success is George Costanza. A character so petty you feel sorry for him. George is a self-loathing egomaniac pathological liar. You will have no hopes from him at all and still, he always manages to stoop down a little more each time which is hilarious. Someone who would use his ex-girlfriend’s dead relative for discounts, someone who would knock down old women and children to escape the fire. It is hard to imagine ‘Seinfeld’ without George Costanza, maybe we all know a George Costanza or he is a little self-reflection of us and our minds.
One of the most famous characters in the show is Cosmo Kramer. Kramer is that neighbour who would borrow stuff from your house, and you won’t even know about it. Kramer is loud, full of energy, probably out of his own control, weird and just capricious. You can not define Kramer but you would know when you will see one.
The lead protagonist of the show is Jerry Seinfeld, played by himself. Even though Jerry was a terrible actor who just couldn’t speak his lines with a straight face, it does not really matter. The show revolves around him, he is the creator. Important thing is that like his friend, Jerry’s character is not perfect either. Jerry is never satisfied, he always finds out ways to destroy his relationships with women he dates because of really small things and blowing them out of proportion, Jerry is just too picky. Jerry is very much like a child who has no idea what he wants, and that’s exactly why I feel the show is about nothing.
