Fun
Knit to This: Seinfeld
Dear Ann,
Sometimes Netflix reaches out and gets ahold of you, and you can’t wriggle away even if you want to. You are going to sit there, hour after hour, watching episode after episode, occasionally pausing to click YES, DAMMIT when Netflix asks you “are you still watching?”
When I found out that all 180 episodes of Seinfeld are now streaming on Netflix, I thought to myself, well, just one episode, a little moment of 90s nostalgia—that should be fun.
Three weeks later, I’m still there, moving into Season Nine. Getting a lot of knitting done along the way.
Despite being in the bullseye of the target audience for Seinfeld back in the day, I rarely managed to watch an episode. But it was such a cultural phenomenon that it was impossible not to know the characters and basic situation of this comedy: four fairly awful people getting into cringey situations. Endless dating, no actual love.
I really did not expect to enjoy it so much. Bonus: when my son pops in to watch a few episodes with me, I get to point out references to things like the OJ trial and The English Patient. Sometimes we get screaming attacks of high-pitched belly laughs from a single word of dialogue or bit of physical comedy. It’s fun, and it is also enlightening in ways that can be uncomfortable. Some jokes that I would have been blind to at the time are embarrassing and wrong now. It’s good to have a record of these things.
If high-pitched belly laughs won’t get too much in the way of your knitting, settle in.
Love,
Kay
Kay! Was watching Seinfeld last night, as I was happily knitting away. Of course, I had to stop to watch my favorite bits. Even when I know a punch line’s coming, I still laugh so hard. Serenity now!
I came to it late, in 1993 or ‘94. No longer living my hometown, NYC. The first epi I ever saw was a rerun of “The Contest,” I couldn’t believe *that* was on TV. Plus I had a long-standing crush on John John even though I knew I was far too short and brown-haired for him. How fun to see it for the first time.
I’m finally watching Schitt’s Creek and loving it. It’s the opposite of Seinfeld. Have you seen VEEP? JLD is fantastic.
I’m like you. I never watched on a regular basis back then but am loving watching from the very beginning. Im on season 3. Love seeing how so much has changed over the last thirty years. Love the restaurant episode where George has to wait for the pay phone. Kids today will never understand the struggle.
“No soup for you!!” is still one of my all time favorite lines.
Here we are watching MASH.
One of my favorites. Such great characters.
So SO crinchy and SO GOOD!!!
I am the last living person who has never watched Seinfeld! The nineties was a sandwich season of babies and caring for my elderly mother. (I call them my “lost years” lol) I have some catching up to do and am looking forward to some high-pitched belly laughing too!
No, you’re not alone. Never watched a single entire episode. The little I saw was cringy even then. For the 90s: Northern Exposure — and why is that not streaming somewhere? — which was clever withot ever being cruel.
And China Beach? Loved that show!
I loved Northern Exposure and have also wondered why no one is showing it.
Love Seinfeld. So many “real life” moments. Just trying to meet friends at the movies became an hilarious miscommunication misadventure.
Finally bought Northern Exposure on DVD.
Now looking for Molly Dodd.
I’ve watched and continue to watch Seinfeld too many times. I get belly laughs just thinking of some of the episodes. And yes, I flinch at somethings that they were able to say then.
My 15 year old grandson just stated watching and told me Elaine reminds him of me. Not sure how but he seemed to say it as a compliment; I’ll take it.
My parents, who were born in the 1930’s watched this show in syndication every night before they went to bed for years. It was such a habit that at the end of each episode, when the odd music played, the dogs would stand up knowing it was time for bed. They loved it and so do I!
I’m watching it but there’s definitely a lot of cringing going on. Yikes, the homophobia!
i am lucky, Seinfeld is on every night in NY area. Has been for years…no matter how many times you have seen an episode, you still watch it all the way through! Great writing.
One show I never got into.
I never missed it the first time through, and have many pictures in my personal era of Elaine’s hair! I remember doing to my stylist with my little bit wavy hair and telling her I wanted Elaine’s (albeit in our color, Kay, which at the time was still natural!) — and the era of my ‘monster perms’ with a head of too many rods to count! The epic line, which you may not have arrived at yet, which has survived and been passed on to my next generation: “Not that there’s anything wrong with that.” That episode was a huge event at the time!
All I say is HAPPY FESTIVUS! From George’s father