Seinfeld: Seasons 1 & 2

Prior to requesting and receiving all eight volumes of Seinfeld on DVD for Christmas, I had only seen ten or maybe fifteen episodes of the show. Crazy, right? I always liked the show, but was only ten when it was canceled and was never a big fan of trying to catch a show off of syndicated reruns. Thus, I've waited until now to finally see a classic and defining sitcom in its entirety. This first volume was an interesting one. When these episodes originally aired, they spanned the course of three years ('89-'91). The pilot was definitely the strangest episode; Elaine was absent entirely and a ton of focus was put on Jerry's stand-up act. Kramer was also an odd shut-in who always wore a bathrobe and hadn't left the apartment in ten years or something. The entire first season (only five episodes) kind of seemed like a work in progress. Even the second season was much better by its finale than it was when it premiered. Now, again, I have seen several episodes of Seinfeld, so I more or less knew what to expect. I wasn't turned off by its slow start because I knew - had already witnessed, even - that the show would hit a stride and get better. Here's a comparison I need to make. The other day, I finished The Critic and complained about the numerous mid-'90s references it made. On the other hand, because Seinfeld tackled such timeless and mundane issues (it's a show about nothing, after all), it held up extremely well even twenty years later. One notable reference that made me groan out loud was when Jerry made some kind of joke about the Berlin Wall having just come down. Wow, did that one make the show seem dated. Generally though, the only part of the show that seemed old were the bizarre fashion choices made by people in the show. I know I've said it before, but man, women by and large just did not seem to give a shit twenty years ago. Of course, the men didn't do so much better; Jerry sported red sweatpants as outerwear multiple times and some of his stand-up suits were just hideous. Oh well. Product of the time, I suppose. Seasons 1 and 2 weren't bad, but I still look for Seinfeld to have a stronger Season 3. And for that reason, I know I made a good decision in asking for the series for Christmas. Stay tuned.