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Seinfeld Essay

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Comparing Two Classic Comedies: Seinfeld and The Office Sitcoms, or situation comedies, have been a staple of television programming for decades, and their impact on society cannot be overstated. These shows have the power to influence public opinion, shape cultural norms, and provide a window into the human experience. While many shows are put into this umbrella term, they can differ wildly. For example, we can shed light on the show Seinfeld, a sitcom characterized by its focus on everyday life's trivial and mundane aspects. On the other hand, there are sitcoms like The Office (US), a popular American sitcom that follows the daily lives of employees at the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company through a mockumentary-style …show more content…

The show follows the lives of Jerry Seinfeld (A fictional version of co-creator Seinfeld), and his friends, namely George Constanza, Elaine Benes, and Cosmo Kramer. The main premise of the show is to discuss the minor details of life, ones that are the tiniest of annoyances, like waiting for a table at a restaurant, breaking the news of not wanting a friendship, and of course, the failed attempts of romance and friendship that the 4 main characters experience from episode to episode. The show contains many quirks that led to its success; one of them was its use of Jerry's Comedian acts as a cutaway from the show, which are comedy bits parallel to Seinfeld's situation at that specific moment. Seinfeld has mastered utilizing catchphrases and running gags, such as "no soup for you" (S7 ep.6) and "yada yada" (S8 ep.19), which help to build continuity between episodes and establish the show's unique sense of humor without seeming "corny" or …show more content…

After the release of its pilot episode, Seinfeld became a commercial success, with its formula proving to be entertaining not only for the audience of the 90s but even the audience of today. Due to the length of the show, and its constant popularity and ratings throughout the 181 episodes divided into nine seasons, the formula of the show worked such good fact that NBC, the broadcasting network for Seinfeld, offered Jerry Seinfeld 100 million dollars for another 20 episode season, ultimately he declined as he felt the show came to its natural conclusion, and having more episodes would mean risking the show getting stale or recycling plotlines. This ensured that tuning into any series episode would always ensure quality and laughter from its audience. This success was directly connected to the subversion of the traditional sitcom structure, with Sinfeld often credited with reinventing the sitcom format, instead of relying on the laugh tracks and cliche

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