Seinfeld Season 8
For the last year or so, I’ve been rewatching Seinfeld. I need to return to Voyager, but Seinfeld feels so good.
Yesterday I finished watching season 8. I have forgotten how many amazing episodes are here! I have trouble remembering another sitcom that kept its momentum for such a long time. Are Friends in season eight any good? Meh. That 70s show? Meh. Married With Children? Brooklyn Nine-Nine? How I Met Your Mother? Two and a Half Man? All meh at this point. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia still keeps strong, so yeah. There’s one contender.
What keeps Seinfeld so strong is a complete lack of progress. When other shows keep mixing things up and evolving characters - Seinfeld is basicaly as it was in episode 1. The evolution
is especially dangerous, as characters become parodies of themselves - just look at Ross from Friends. Here? Kramer changed, but in a way that makes Kramer the most Kamer of all Kramers. He is still himself. He has crazy adventures, but he never jumps the shark. Yes, there are season-long stories, like George’s engagement, but they do not impact the characters.
And there are no babies. Whenever a sitcom introduces a baby, the dynamic changes, it’s nothing more than a surrender of the show. The creators have nothing more to do with what they’ve created and need to move to a new show - but without all the cost of a new show.
So, season 8. We are almost at the end of Seinfeld. And boom - the most iconic episode of all happens, The Soup Nazi. And my personal favorite, The Abstinence (yup, I am that infantile). In fact, there is not a single bad episode here. You can’t go wrong with watching any of them.
Personal top 3 episodes in no particular order are: