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

[MarkHastings]

Sorry if I missed it, but did anyone comment on Married With Children? I don't believe there were any 'emotional' shows.

 

[Carlos Garcia]

Didn't they do a 2 parter in the last season where Peg and Al separated? As I recall, Al moved out and get his own apartment. Though it was all treated in a comedic way, it just didn't quite feel like a "regular" Married With Children episode.

 

[Mark_TS]

Jason Alexander played an attorney in the sci-fi/horror/drama JACOBS LADDER

 

[Sathyan]

and it was to feel even more different:

look at the original script: http://www.geocities.com/marriedania...pt/1116td.html

ACT TWO

SCENE FOUR

INT. DR. LONGO'S OFFICE - A FEW HOURS LATER

(AL IS SOBBING AND CLUTCHING A PILLOW. PEGGY AND DR. LONGO LOOK ON)

AL ... And then when I was five, my mommy took away my squirt gun.

DR. L (HANDING HIM A TISSUE) Maybe she had a good reason.

AL Well, I was using up all her vodka; and I kept missing her mouth.

PEGGY Al, we're here to talk about our marriage, not you wanting a gun.

AL The two are related, Peg.

DR. L (CALMLY) Mr. Bundy, you obviously have a lot of issues to deal with, and I think that at
some later date, you may want to... commit yourself. But right now I'd like to hear about
your relationship before you got married. Mrs. Bundy?

PEGGY (NOSTALGIC) We were young and in love. We'd cut class, have a smoke under the bleachers,
then have a quickie in the senior parking lot. Then we'd get in Al's car and go grab a
burger.

DR. L And what about you, Al?

AL (WISTFUL) It was the greatest time of my life. The chicks dug me. I was the star fullback
on an undefeated team, and all the teachers had to pass me. I had a bitchin' Dodge, and
gas was fifteen cents a gallon. Back then it all seemed possible.

DR. L And then what happened?

AL I had to get married.

PEGGY Great. Now we're gonna hear all about how if he hadn't gotten married, he could have
played college ball, gone to the pros...

AL Well, it's true. Right now I should be a retired football great, selling my autograph on
QVC, and addicted to the finest painkillers money can buy. You took that away from me,
Peg!

PEGGY The hell I did. Your big game where you scored four touchdowns? It was the blocking!

AL (HORRIFIED) You take that back!

PEGGY You never would've made it to the pros.

AL Well, we'll never know, will we? Because you had to go and get pregnant!

PEGGY (REALLY ANGRY) I'm gonna let you in on a little secret, Al. I didn't get pregnant till
our honeymoon.

(THERE IS AN AWKWARD SILENCE)

AL What?

DR. L (CLARIFYING) She lied and you wasted your life. Well, our time is up.

AL You lied to me for twenty-five years! How could you not tell me?

PEGGY I thought you might get mad.

(AL GRABS THE NEAREST THING, THE DIPLOMA, OFF THE WALL AND SMASHES IT. HE STORMS OUT)

PEGGY And I was right.

DR. L (SADLY) My mom just had that framed.

(PEGGY TAKES HIS OTHER DIPLOMA, SMASHES IT OVER HIS HEAD AND EXITS)

DR. L (AFTER HER) So, I'll bill you?!


DISSOLVE TO:

ACT TWO

SCENE FIVE

INT. BUNDY LIVING ROOM/KITCHEN - LATER THAT DAY

(PEGGY IS ON THE COUCH, UPSET. AL ENTERS FROM UPSTAIRS WEARING HIS FOOTBALL JERSEY, HOLDING A
TOILET SEAT UNDER HIS ARM, AND CARRYING A SUITCASE)

PEGGY Come on, Al. I told you I was sorry.

AL Sorry doesn't make up for twenty-five years, Peg.

PEGGY Does pudding?

AL(HESITATING FOR A MOMENT) No.

PEGGY But where are you going?

AL To live the life I shoulda had.

PEGGY Al, I only said I was pregnant because I was afraid to lose you. I did it because I loved
you.

AL That's not love, Peg.

PEGGY So, I hurried things a little. We still would've ended up together, right?

AL (BEAT) I guess we'll never know.

(AL EXITS TO THE GARAGE AND ON PEGGY'S REACTION WE)

FADE OUT

 

[Dave Miller]

Any show who's main character "makes out" during Schindler's List is definitely coming from the mind of someone with a dark sense of humor. Funny, but dark none the less.

Peace,

DM

 

[Amy Mormino]

Do they even use the term "very special episode" to describe a show anymore? I would think that satirists have made fun of that once-overused term so much that programmers would be weary. I have heard the term, "an episode that every parent should see with their child" used a bit in recent years, though.

 

[Rex Bachmann]

Sathyan wrote (post #44):



Al's usual way of putting this: "Shoot me now!"

 

[Dave Miller]

I guess you haven't seen the promos for the series finales of Friends and Frasier. That phrase and others like it are all over those promos.

Peace,

DM

 

[Anthony Hom]

Seinfeld took serious subjects and metaphored them into things that were comedic. One example is the issue of abortion where they analogized it with Kramer's "make your own pizza pie". Also the gay issue (not that there's anything wrong with that)

 

[Rex Bachmann]

Anthony Hom wrote (post #49):


(from memory):

Poppy: "It's a pizza the minutuh you-uh puttuh you'uh fistuh in the doughuh! Anduh no-uh right-thinkinguh personuh canuh disagree-uh!"
Kramer: "It's not a pizza until it comes out of the oven!"

 

[MarkHastings]

I was just thinking about this while watching the latest South Park. The reason Seinfeld was often funny was because they tackled serious issues but put a funny spin on it. A lot of humor can be achieved by playing the scene in a very serious way. It all depends on the 'punchline'. Without the punchline, it's just a serious scene.

 

[Rob P S]

Three's Company mostly stuck to comedy, although they had two or three emotional scenes.

Webster had a "very special" episode almost every week - Webster burns up the apartment, the child-molesting teacher, the illiterate grandpa, the burglars, the school-extortion episode, the cocaine-addicted basketball player who drops dead, etc.

 

[Ravi K]

Only a few shows like Cheers and Taxi could do the non-comedic emotional stories well. I liked Friends when it was on (not as much now) but it wasn't such a great show with great characters and great writing that I cared much about the emotional stuff.

Arrested Development is pure comedy. There are a few moments of emotion, but they're not serious moments per se.

Did I Love Lucy have many serious emotional episodes? I can't recall many emotional moments, except perhaps the ones when Little Ricky was born and Little Ricky had his tonsils out.