TV Revivals: Should ‘Seinfeld’ return to talk about more nothing?
TV Revivals are clearly a very in thing, and some that have been targeted more than any other are classic comedies. Just look at “Fuller House” or “Girl Meets World” for some prime examples. Everyone loves nostalgia, and therefore we’ve seen a sense of almost-desperation as of late for networks to tap into that.
With that, let’s go ahead and ask the question that has been posed a million times before, and will probably be posed a million more: Should there be more “Seinfeld”? While it was on for almost a decade, it’s in a rather bizarre position in that it took many years for it to become the smash hit we know it for today. Right when it was at the peak of its popularity, it left, and with a polarizing finale that may have been a little too meta for some people’s taste, reminding us time and time again of how these characters are, for the most part, terrible. (It’s still far less meta than another series finale that we’re going to discuss later on in this month-long TV Revivals series.)
How it ended – We basically had the entire cast on trial for many of the things that they have done over the course of the series, which included a wide array of cameos from everyone from Teri Hatcher to the Soup Nazi explaining how their lives were impacted by the self-centered behavior of Elaine, George, Kramer, and of course Jerry. They all eventually headed to prison, with the last scene being Jerry performing standup wearing an orange jumpsuit. Larry David, who had previously departed, returned to write the series finale.
How it could continue – How about bringing it back to what it was: Virtually nothing! The reason for the show’s popularity in our mind was always that this was a place for everyday viewers to see commentary on things that they’ve probably thought about at some point in their lives rather than cheesy and overdone family-comedy tropes. There are millions of topics over the past 15+ years that could be mined by Jerry and company, including social media, new fashion, hoverboards, silly food innovations, and possibly the idea that people wait online now to see teasers for upcoming movie trailers, let alone the movie itself. The possibilities are endless.
Can it be brought back? – The issue with “Seinfeld” as opposed to some of the other shows we’ve profiled in this series is that it has in some ways been revived already on “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” That was a different sort of meta-humor than what we saw on NBC back in the day, but we feel like it satisfied the taste that many had for seeing Jerry Seinfeld back with the rest of the cast back together. It’s something that both Seinfeld and David discussed at the time of doing “Curb,” acknowledging that not everyone felt the “Seinfeld” finale was the best representation of the show.
We’re sure NBC or Hulu (who owns the streaming rights to “Seinfeld”) would love to have it back in a second, but it’s not going to happen. There’s just no reason for Seinfeld to revisit this, Julia Louis-Dreyfus is busy winning plenty of Emmys on “Veep,” and of course David has a million of other things going on constantly including hosting “Saturday Night Live” this weekend. Everyone’s still enjoying the money they got from the original show, and sometimes you gotta know when to walk away.
Also, we kind of like the finale. While we probably would’ve preferred an ending that was a tad more realistic to this world than everyone suddenly being in prison, it was nice to see so many old faces again. Our idea would have been something akin to an intervention with fewer consequences, but still plenty of comedy. There was no actual way to tie up a show that rarely had any loose ends, so by that virtue, the finale would have probably always been polarizing.
Do you want any more “Seinfeld”?