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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Guest&nbsp; 85555" data-source="post: 9632710"><p>A lot of shows started to emulate seinfeld in the 90s. So it was massively influential (arguably remains so). It isn’t like there weren’t smart or transgressive shows before it (Gary Shandling Show, Sledgehammer, Newhart, etc). But Seinfeld, once it took off was like a bomb going off. It did take time to catch on though. Also Seinfeld was just more in line with 90s American culture than typical sitcoms. But the 80s had lots of experimental and weird shows. I think with Seinfeld the difference was the laughs felt on a completely different level at the time. I watched it from the start because I liked Jerry’s standup specials as a kid. It was also a show where the characters were not nice people. That existed but the US generally hadn’t had a show like say Black Adder. So it was refreshing in that respect. The other element was the dialogue. It’s dialogue was distinct from standard sitcom patter at the time (I think this is why some people will do think pieces now about how Seinfeld wasn’t funny: it was funny, these think pieces cherry pick their evidence but it is true it didn’t have the obvious set ups and punchlines you had in stuff like Fact of Life or Growing Pains. Another interesting thing is the show was heavily inspired by the Abbot and Costello Show. That show did interesting word building with a range if stark characters, and you can see the influence of you go back and watch it. Also the cultural references in Seinfeld felt more sophisticated than standard sitcoms (there are references to historical events and movies other shows wouldn’t have done because they didn’t want to alienate viewers. But Seinfeld felt like it trusted the audience’s intelligence.</p></blockquote><p></p>

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