Seinfeld: Lots of Comedy; Never Serious (1 Viewer)

[MarkHastings]

Wasn't Chuckles also the name of the upstairs neighbor who died on FRIENDS?

Speaking of death, didn't Mork and Mindy do an episode where the downstairs neighbor died? (i.e. Tom Poston?) I'm trying to remember if it was funny or not...

 

[Daniel W]

In that case, I guess "a very special episode" would have been one that stuck strictly to comedy.

I guess my main point was that both "Blossom" and "Fresh Pince" seemed to have, or at least promote, so-called "very special" episodes every week, which makes me wonder what the heck was so special about them?

 

[Amy Mormino]

Almost all sitcoms have "very special episodes" because almost any show that wants to take place in the real world has to have some serious elements, even if it is a comedy. Thankfully, most of today's comedies aren't as heavy-handed and moralizing as some of the ones I grew up with in the 80s. I especially recall an episode of "Growing Pains" where Carol's boyfriend died of drunk driving, as my Religion class played it on video the next day.

I always saw "Seinfeld" as existing in its own special universe, so its black-hearted attitude was okay and rather refreshing. I wouldn't want every show to emulate it, though.

Even cartoons go the "VSE" route. "The Simpsons" and "Futurama" have had some serious elements in their episodes. One cartoon that hasn't been mentioned that I don't think ever went really serious was "The Family Guy".

 

[MarkHastings]

The closest they ever got was the epsiode with Peters father.

 

[Robert Ringwald]

Which, IMHO, was the worst episode of them all.

 

[David Lambert]

No, that was Mr. Heckles. The episode was called "The One Where Heckles Dies".

 

[Jaime_Weinman]

The episode with Peter's father was one of the few episodes of Family Guy that I thought was good. But the most serious episode they ever did was the episode with Brian and the reclusive old woman. Which was the best episode they ever did, since it had some actual emotion in it and a genuinely interesting story (plus a good song). A little seriousness can be a good thing in a sitcom.

In fact, it's unfortunate that there's this idea that sitcoms have to be all funny, all the time. We don't have that stereotype about movie comedies (many great movie comedies are rather serious in parts). Some of the great sitcoms are those that are willing to do without a joke if they have a moment that doesn't call for jokes.

 

[Daniel W]

IIRC, Matthew Perry played the boyfriend.

 

[MarkHastings]

Oh yeah, I forgot about that one.

 

[Kevin Porter]

Yeah but at the end when Pearl flat-lined the doctor comes in the room and yells to his doctor friends:

"Alright! Who wants to see a dead body?!"

The drama in that FG episode was (I thought) actually quite good but I love that they immediately undercut it with dark humor.

 

[John Lloyd]

While I agree with this for the most part, wasn't Jason Alexander's role in "Pretty Woman" relatively serious?

 

[John Kilduff]

It's been a long time since I've seen "Pretty Woman", so I honestly couldn't tell you.

Sincerely,

John Kilduff...

I have listened to the soundtrack innumerable times, though. Ya gotta love "King Of Wishful Thinking".

 

[WillG]

Well, it seems to me that some of his work in "Pretty Woman" is kind of a darker version of George Costanza

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

Home Improvement went the way of dramedy in its later years. The years I happened to stop watching it as well.

What I hate are shows that have to announce every episode that it is a 'very special episode' *cough* 7th Heaven *cough*

 

[Jon Mahoney]

I can't believe no one has mentioned probably the worst offender of them all...Blossom. I swear every single episode of that show was a "very special blossom". I just remember those stupid commercials over and over again. Yeah 7th Heaven is way up there too.

 

[Daniel W]

Check out post #13

 

[Cathy Suzan]

I believe that any comedy show or sitcom that depicts a family (FAMILY TIES, GROWING PAINS, ETC.)will almost certainly have some drama added to them. Even MARRIED WITH CHILDREN had it's share of poignant moments, although it did come close to the SEINFELD phenomenom of all comedy and no "sweet" or "sad" or just plain "serious" moments. Can anyone tell me of another show which has all comedy and leaves out the drama, even a small amount of drama?

 

[Carlos Garcia]

The only other show I can think of is "Curb Your Enthusiasm". Then again, the show is done by Seinfeld co-creator Larry David, and he has a warped sense of humor. If you think killing off Susan was in poor taste, wait until you see the episode of CYE where Larry's mother dies, and they're not happy where she was buried, so Larry and his family members all sneak into the cemetary to dig her up and re-bury her! Nothing is sacred for good old Larry!

 

[WillG]

While not a comedy, I think, as far as I know, that ER is the worst culprit of this type of thing. Every week, it's either "Can't Miss" "Riveting" "The most intense" "You won't believe" etc.

 

[Daniel W]

As I said earlier, I think both of Gary Shandling's shows fit the bill, particularly "The Larry Sanders Show".