Does anyone know of a comedy show similar to Seinfeld?
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia on FXX, Hulu, Netflix
Mythic Quest on Apple TV+ - created by people who work on It's always Sunny
Veep on HBO - staring Julia Louis-Dreyfus!
Avenue 5 on HBO - same producers as Veep
They're even self aware about it in the episode "The Gang Does a Clip Show" where they mistake a bit from Seinfeld as one of their own memories - https://youtu.be/fCwI3KDGtRk
How did you like Mythic Quest? I'm really glad to see Rob and Charlie involved but it's definitely a bit more tame. I really like Danny Pudi playing a Dennis-esque character and the actress who plays Poppy is hilarious.
I loved F. Murray Abraham's character. Quite the departure from Dar Adal in Homeland. Overall the whole cast on MQ was very good though.
I am now on season 8(!) and there hasn't been a single episode I have not thoroughly enjoyed.
It is a superb show with some excellently executed jokes. Probably some of the best I have seen on TV. Some of the jokes are so superbly setup as well that you don't realise until the punchline drops that the build up has been several episodes.
I also watched Mythic Quest earlier in the year which was a lot of fun. We mostly watched it because my wife is a video game producer so we had a good time laughing at how real some of the craziness can be in the video game production world.
Avenue 5 took a while to find its pace but by the end of the season it was quite fun. Different but well done. I am looking forward to season 2.
I plan to sit down and watch Always Sunny, Veep and Seinfeld now :)
Only 1 season ever made, and it's on Yahoo! Entertainment for free:
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/other-space-episode-1-in...
Seinfeld also contains a stand up comedian playing himself. In that respect shows like Louis and Master of None are also quite similar.
Louis in particular is a fantastic show if you can ignore Louis CK's recent scandal.
Disclaimer; I am a pretty big fan of Seinfeld. But, I don’t think anything comes close to what the writers and actors achieved with Seinfeld. Luckily if you’re anything like me you can continue to watch Seinfeld for over a decade and still not get tired of it.
Ah! Triggered! /s
I agree that the "jerks" trope is at play here. But I don't think the characters are boring or without their observations on the world. The characters have plenty of observations about arising cultural moments, political issues, etc. Many episodes are essentially "The Gang Takes Opposing Views on X". Then we get to see these characters take each side to weird extremes while learning very little from the experience.
Like the "show about nothing" It's Always Sunny is in its prime during meta commentary episodes like "The Gang Tries Desperately to Win an Award".
Having said that, tropes are usually a little more specific or identifiable than just the concept of "mean characters", so it probably wasn't the best use of the word.
Google ngram search for the word: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Trope&year_sta...
I agree. Most people who I tell this opinion to who are also Seinfeld fans disagree though.
The social norms violation thing is also why Curb You Enthusiasm comes so close; it is mostly about Larry David’s opaque social norms being constantly violated.
Being regrettably engaged is a relatable situation, and miraculously being relieved of that engagement thru a freak accident is definitely Seinfeld’s darkest moment but is still fairly innocent. It’s actually one of the reasons season 7 is so unique and funny but I would hardly put it next to Peep Show in terms of darkness.
What actually happens is Jez accidentally runs over his "girlsfriend"'s dog (hard to really car her a girlfriend when they had only just met) while backing up the car, then hides the body in a messenger bag to conceal the incident. Later in the episode, he tries to burn the corpse but fails at that. Toward the end, they're on the girl's father's boat, and the girlfriend asks what's in the bag. Jez replies that it's barbeque chicken(?) and reluctantly takes a bite. Shortly after, they find the dog's collar in the bag and discover the horrible conclusion.
Jez may be a lot of things (selfish, lazy, etc.) but he's no murderer.
The premise of the episode can be boiled down to the following:
1. Jez meets attractive girl. 2. Jez wants to date this girl (they get along well). 3. Jez accidentally does something that would prevent #2 from happening. 4. Jez tries his darndest to hide his mistake. 5. The truth gets found out and girl casts Jez away.
The entire ordeal is comical because Jez makes repeated efforts to hide the dog's corpse and fails at every turn. The only really "dark" thing about the episode is that the dog was pregnant, which was only briefly mentioned (and easily forgotten).
Never used the word "murdered" not sure where you got that from? He did in fact kill the dog.
> then purposely fed it to her.
I did misremember this part. I still stand by the idea that eating a dog in front of their owner is really, really dark.
> The premise of the episode can be boiled down to the following:
> 1. Jez meets attractive girl. 2. Jez wants to date this girl (they get along well). 3. Jez accidentally does something that would prevent #2 from happening. 4. Jez tries his darndest to hide his mistake. 5. The truth gets found out and girl casts Jez away.
If you ignore the part of the script where Jez KILLS the girls dog and then EATS IT IN FRONT OF HER then yeah it is pretty innocent.
> The only really "dark" thing about the episode is that the dog was pregnant, which was only briefly mentioned (and easily forgotten).
If you think that is the only really dark thing about the episode then I think you and I might really disagree on what constitutes dark and this argument is pointless.
> one of the two main characters kills a dog and then feeds it to his girlfriend- the owner of the dog
The way you framed it implies murder. Yes, he kills the dog but it is entirely accidental, which is the relevant part that you conveniently omitted for the sake of your own argument.
> If you ignore the part of the script where Jez KILLS the girls dog and then EATS IT IN FRONT OF HER then yeah it is pretty innocent.
Again, you're intentionally framing it in a misrepresentative way. He only takes a bite out of a piece of the burnt corpse out of desperation because the group of people present are inquiring about what is in the bag. He says it's BBQ chicken and takes a bite to try to convince the others that's it completely innocuous. He's not doing it out of malice; he's doing it out of panic. And he's definitely not enjoying it either as he's visibly uncomfortable with doing it.
Anyone who watches the episode will clearly see that the way you're framing the whole episode is completely skewed and disingenuous.
> this argument is pointless
Finally something we can agree on.
EDIT: The scene where the dog is accidentally killed: https://youtu.be/E6WYvAWIowU?t=135 The scene where Jez takes a bite: https://youtu.be/cKaqzvzlgKU?t=50
And just for the record I like peep show, and I think the holiday episode is funny if a bit disturbing.
People Just Do Nothing, two pirate radio DJs and crew trying to hack it https://imdb.com/title/tt3762198/
Detectorists, two small town “smartest guys in the room” try to rediscover their friendship through their shared love of metal detector operation https://imdb.com/title/tt4082744/
And for a Japanese kick:
FLCL, a coming of age story about nothing, but writ LARGE https://imdb.com/title/tt0279077/
Steins;Gate, hard to generalize and hard not to spoil anything but it feels like if Back to the Future were made as a modern anime https://imdb.com/title/tt1910272/
Steins;Gate's protagonist's alter-ego Hououin Kyouma is a larger-than-life egotistical (comedy) genius which is analogous to Jerry when he's on-stage in the monologue segments of the show. But that same SG protagonist as his "normie" self Rintaro Okabe is crippled by self-doubt, upstaged by his own alter-ego, and would do anything for his friends, much like the version of Jerry we see outside the monologue segments. If you've seen the last episode of Seinfeld, the parallels between the two are a bit more clear. In Seinfeld, the past catches up with Jerry and the crew, and they cool their heels in jail as a kind of karmic payback or comeuppance for their years of prior shenanigans. In Steins;Gate, at a certain point the comedic backdrop lifts, the folly of Rintaro's ego and hubris is laid bare and elevated, and the karmic debt seeks its due via time and space.
It's still a hell of a thing worth watching, I should really get around to watching the sequels sometime.
This is just one quote, but it captures the vibe of the show IMO. Events happen and reactions to those events happen, but the sameness itself is the source of conflict in the plot, without getting into spoilers or character motivations or backstory.
I need to watch the sequels too, as my thoughts are based on the original 6 episodes comprising S01.
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