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| Seinfeld - Season 9 | 
 enlarge | Director: Tom Cherones
Actor: Jerry Seinfeld
Studio: National Broadcasting Company (NBC)
Category: DVD
List Price: $49.95
Buy New: $28.79
You Save: $21.16 (42%)
New (35) Used (10) Collectible (3) from $26.55
Avg. Customer Rating:  97 reviews
Sales Rank: 316
Format: Box Set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dubbed, Dvd-video, Full Screen, Subtitled, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Portuguese (Subtitled), French (Dubbed)
Number Of Items: 4
Running Time: 553
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.6 x 1.3
MPN: COLD22509D
UPC: 043396225091
EAN: 0043396225091
ASIN: B000VECAEO
Release Date: November 6, 2007
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Seinfeld Rules! March 29, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
seinfeld flat out rules! best show ever! best show there will ever be.
Still the best March 18, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is still the best comedy out there. I would recommand getting them before the take them off sale .
 Phuleeeeeeze! March 17, 2008
3 out of 33 found this review helpful
I realize that "Seinfeld" is loved, adored, indeed *worshipped* by millions of people -- but phuleeeeze, you've got to be kidding!
"Seinfeld" is so lightweight it's embarrassing. All four of the major performers are one-trick ponies: extremely one-dimensional.
It's not that the show isn't somewhat amusing, it is. But that's all it is, mildly amusing at best.
One thing "Seinfeld" *does* have going for it is that most sitcoms nowadays are far WORSE -- incredibly mean-spirited which "Seinfeld," thankfully, isn't. "Seinfeld" is, if nothing else, a sweet, civilized, humane show, and that's rare nowadays.
But that aside, the show is weaker than Johnny Fontaine's vocal chords.
The funniest thing about "Seinfeld" is the laugh track. Notice when the laugh track kicks in. The laugh track is activated for lines that are either barely funny or else not funny at all. Then, when there is a legitimate laugh, the laugh track gives the impression that an enormously funny thing has happened; which is rarely the case.
Listen to how out of sync the laugh track is as compared with what a live audience would, in reality, laugh at.
In many markets, "Seinfeld" reruns are followed by reruns of "Everybody Loves Raymond," and the difference between the two shows is remarkable. "Everybody Loves Raymond" is light-years better than "Seinfeld." It's better written, better acted and better directed. Moreover, the characters on "Everybody Loves Raymond" are more fully conceived -- *and* the show is filmed before a live audience.
So why is "Seinfeld" such a highly regarded sitcom? Here are a few theories.
Theory #1: People like "Seinfeld" because they're attracted to the idea of a friendly, likeable guy living in a big impersonal city who, nevertheless, opens his door to all kinds of goofy people. This is also my theory as to why "Friends" and "Cheers," two other lightweights, are also so popular -- friendliness amdst the anomie of a big city.
All three shows are also heavy on "relationships" and "lifestyles," especially relationships and lifestyles among singles. And, God knows, people *do* need the maturity and intelligence of commercial teevee to clue them in on how to relate to people. I imagine people see Elaine's "relationships" and say: "Yeah, I guess that's how it's done. Better check with Oprah though. Get a second opinion."
Theory #2: Jerry Seinfeld is, in and out of character, an extremely likeable person, and on teevee that counts for a great deal. As previously noted, one thing "Seinfeld" is *not* is mean-spirited; so the show scores points when compared to the harshly cynical junk that dominates teevee nowadays. I don't watch "Seinfeld" reruns very much but when I do at least I know the show won't be cynical and mean-spirited; and that's like an oasis in a desert of mean-spiritedness.
Theory #3: Jerry Seinfeld is evil incarnate. Diabolical fiend that he is, he's hypnotized America into liking not just him but his facockta show. (Oh, and they thought we'd never find out! J'ACCUSE JERRY SEINFELD!)
OK, let's consider each character, starting with Kramer/Michael Richards. ...
I mean, come on, fellow bipeds, how many times is it funny that Kramer enters a room skidding across the floor? Without a rigged laugh track and a bigoted stand-up routine, Michael Richards would be working for the post office, and *Josh Mostel* would be sliding across the floor. At least THAT would be funny!
Also, Mike baby, dig it -- Jerry Lewis did the spastic bit 50 years ago, and even then Jerry didn't drive it into the ground the way you do.
Elaine/Julia Louie-Dreyfuss. ...
Pshaw and alas, very *very* limited. Compare her to, say, Deborah/Patricia Heaton, the wife on "Everybody Loves Raymond." Patricia Heaton can *act* comedically. She *moves* comedically. In fact, her physical humor is as good as any female comedian ever to appear on television. And she can deliver long, plot-enabling monologues as good as anybody in showbiz. All in front of a *live* audience. In short, Patricia Heaton along with the rest of the cast of "Everybody Loves Raymond" can do all the things that nobody, and I mean NOBODY can do on "Seinfeld."
Which brings us to Jason Alexander ...
His one-trick is that he whines. Oy, can he whine! This is some feency-schmancy whiner. I want a million dollar whiner, this is my boy. I pray to God for a whiner: Jason Alexander falls from the heavens.
Virtually every one George Costanza's laugh lines is Jason Alexander whining. Whine, whine, whine. Enough already! Enough already, I'm getting naaaauseous!
There should be a character on "Seinfeld" whose sole job it is to *demand* that George Costanza stop whining. In fact, if "Seinfeld" was performed in front of a live audience and one of the characters yelled at George Costanza, at the top of his lungs, "STOP WHINING!" -- there'd be a regular standing ovation.
The writers on "Seinfeld" are intelligent in that they know how to write for their characters -- one-dimensionally. Unlike, the writers on "Everybody Loves Raymond," Seinfeld's writers don't give their performers anything very difficult to do comedically. And the reason is simple: the performers on "Seinfeld" are limited, as both actors as well as sketch comedians.
The show has a very strict, very limited formula, which has caught on with the public and those associated with the show are content to work and prosper within those limitations.
One senses that the "Seinfeld" writers understand clearly and implicitly the actors' limitations and, as such, "write-to-character" with their limitations firmly in mind.
Which brings us to Jerry Seinfeld. ...
The people who conceived the show (one of whom no doubt was Jerry Seinfeld himself) were very smart not to make Jerry Seinfeld play a character. Jerry Seinfeld plays Jerry Seinfeld for a very good reason: Jerry Seinfeld can *only* play Jerry Seinfeld. In fact, even when Jerry Seinfeld plays Jerry Seinfeld, he isn't very good. (Now THAT'S a limited actor!)
Jerry's whining is, more of less, one octave lower than Jason Alexander's whining. And, ok, so one's fat and the other's skinny, but so's my Aunt Carmela and Uncle Bernie, and where's their sitcom?
The other thing that distinguishes "Seinfeld" as lightweight -- besides the rigged laugh track, the limited writing, and the low-grade talent -- is that a given show has a number of side-stories that very often "slam-cut" across one another, the hoped-for laugh being implicit in the juxtaposition of two story-threads suddenly coming together. ... Big deal. Martin Scorcese watch out! ... This is as predictable and as overused as Kramer sliding into a room or George Costanza whining about his last date.
The use of several story-threads in each episode means that scenes are often short, quick, non-sustaining. Jerry is, for example, standing outside his door saying goodnight to his date, there's a few back-and-forth lines, and then BAM! the camera cuts to, say, Kramer running down the street tripping over himself, and then BAM over to Ealine and George trying to unlock her, I don't know, her chastity belt.
All this suggests performers who can't otherwise sustain a "comedy spine" to a scene for more than a few seconds. This is no doubt one reaosn why "Seinfeld" is filmed and therefore able to be done over and over, take after take, as opposed to performed in front of a live audience. Notice, by contrast, how on "Everybody Loves Raymond," a given scene is quite long, with often four or more actors in the scene. "Seinfeld" a.) wouldn't dare film in front of a live audience and b.) keeps everything short and quick because short and quick creates a feeling of movement when the movement, the energy, should occur *within* the scene not against what comes before and after.
Jerry Seinfeld, a self-professed admirer of the classic comedians, must be profoundly baffled as to why his show is so successful. I doubt very much if he would disagree with the above-offered analysis.
Indeed, performers know that WHAT they do as performers is very often quite a bit less than what they're CAPABLE of doing as performers. You've heard the expression "dumbed-down"? -- I think what "Seinfeld" has done is to "laugh-down" the comedy of the show, that is to say, they've purposely made the comedy so bland and so predictable, so obvious and so formulaic that the show is, in effect, "safely funny" -- cute, predictable, and (financially) guaranteed.
... Kramer sliding. ... George whining. ... Jerry standing up straight. ... Elaine trying to do God-knows-what, acting I suppose. All this evidently pleases the people laughing on the laugh track, if not America's millions.
But what's lacking?
As much as Jerry Seinfeld, an admirer of great comedy, would like his show to be part of "The Great Comedy Tradition," the truth is, the show falls way, way short of that lofty goal. ...
All great comedy speaks to the human condition. The audience, at some level, must be moved; must be made to look at the world and their place in the world "with fresh eyes." The players have to be not just good comedians but also good actors. They have to deliver not just cute, clever lines, they have to in some way move the audience to look at themselves. ...
For example, Alice Kramden gets mad at Ralph. Her anger sets up the next joke, but her exasperation with Ralph, within the overall context of the story, speaks to the human condition -- Ralph, alas, is a big dreamer who always winds up losing; but although a loser, his wife always stand by him, always love him. We are moved by their love. Secretly, we long for such unfailing love. This requires a display of emotions on the part of the performers. This requires acting. ...
Lou Costello makes us laugh, but he's also simpatico. He is a fool in a world full of people far more clever than he is; a fool in a world full of forces far too powerful, far too mysterious for one person to figure out, alone. So he needs a partner, Abbott, to help him out. The thing is, though, Abbott takes advantage of poor Lou as often as he helps him. And so Costello is Everyman. Indeed, he is perhaps us. This requires a display of emotions on Costello's part. This requires damn good acting.
Laurel and Hardy keep pushing that piano up the hill; it keeps falling back; yet they still keep pushing. Why? Why do they remain faithful to the life-force? Why do they endure? Why don't they just give up? It's funny, yes, what they're doing: the audience laughs, being comedians they Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy do know how to make people laugh -- but while they're making us laugh, we're also thinking to ourselves, perhaps not in so many words: "This is The Myth of Sisyphus! This is funny not just because these guys are doing funny things but because they're putting what they're doing within the context of the human condition, in this case the absurd of life. My God, the impossibility of it all!" There is longing in Stan Laurel's face and exasperation in Oliver Hardy's sighs, both of which transcend comedy. ... In short, we're not just laughing, we're, on some level, enlightened.
Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, Charlie Chaplin, W.C. Fields -- all the great comedians are much more than merely clever: their futility, the utter hopelessness of their situation, moves the audience to think about something beyond the humor, beyond what's apparent.
"Seinfeld," on the other hand, is completely devoid of emotions. The material that's written for the performers doesn't require actors because it doesn't require emotions. The "stuff" that's goes on never rises above the merely clever; it's instead smart-alecky, "look-at-how-clever-I-am" ... nothingness. Indeed, the creators of the show brag that the show is about nothing. And, yes, that's exactly right, that's it in a nutshell: it's empty humor! And, with empty humor, we get empty humanity.
Notice how in "The Honeymooners" or "Everybody Loves Raymond" or in a Charlie Chaplin movie or in any classic comedy, notice how at a certain point "a seriousness" presents itself. Often this seriousness takes the form of someone being hurt (Deborah is offended by a remark her mother-in-law has made; The Little Tramp has been rejected by his love-interest because of his downtrodden condition) -- so that amidst the humor of the piece, a misunderstanding of sorts has taken place, and, as a result, someone in the story we can identify with feels abandoned, alone, unappreciated. The performers at that point have to act their way out of the predicament, dealing with a problem comedically that can just as easily become tragic. (Imagine, for example, if Deborah on "Everybody Loves Raymond" REALLY had a mother-in-law like Marie! Violence might easily replace comedy as a resolution.)
"Seinfeld," needless to say, is light-years away from that kind of comedy.
That, ultimately, may be why the show has been so successful. It's what America wants -- to quote Ernest Hemingway: "nada y nada y pues nada."
There is no emotion on "Seinfeld" -- no simpatico, no humanity -- because the creators of the show have decided that that's how they want to pitch their show to the American public. And, bingo! they succeeded. Cleverness and nothingness are, after all, what television nowadays is all about, no? "Seinfeld," in that respect -- smug, shallow, smart-alecky -- was a forerunner for shows with even less quality and more shallowness; less talent and more smugness.
I can't believe that any of the performers look at the show in reruns and say to themselves: "Yeah, man, that was my best work!" Or, "Damn, that's the best writing I've ever performed!" No way.
Finally, poor Jerry Seinfeld. Poor, poor, poor-poor-poor Jerry Seinfeld. The Wandering Comedian. ...
-- He did a voiceover for a character in a bee movie. *And* we're told by Jerry his own self, that he did "exhaustive research" for the part. (Like, omigod, what a pa-foh-ma!)
-- He produced and starred in a documentary which tells us how he created from-scratch, from Joke 1, a stand-up monologue. (Yaaaaaaaaawn.)
-- He went on David Letterman and stood up for his racist, anti-Semitic colleague Michael Richards. (Note: a few months before he did his racist rant onstage, Michael Richards did an anti-Semitic number, too.)
And so one must ask: whither doth thou goeth now, Jerry Seinfeldeth? What's your next move, boychick? Let's face it, what can you do now, limited that your talent is? What can you do now that people won't finally catch on that "Seinfeld" was a fluke.
When, oh when will you finally crack, Jerry Seinfeld? When, no longer able to contain your guilt, will you go running naked through the streets of Beverly Hills screaming: "I AM UNCLEAN! I AM UNCLEAN! TAKE BACK THE MONEY! I AM UNCLEAN!"
Such thoughts, no doubt, haunts Jerry Seinfeld. I imagine he wakes up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat: "You mean, they actually paid me for that cocking around?! They actually PAID me?!"
His wife turns to him: "Jerry, please, not again. Go back to sleep. And stop whining one octave lower than Jason Alexander. (Sheeesh!) It was only a nightmare. Not to worry, the money's still in the bank."
Jerry (to his wife): "There's one born every minute, isn't there?"
"Yep, every minute. And two to take 'im."
The series was weakest the first and last year March 12, 2008
I'm a Seinfeld fan so let me explain the reasoning for giving the 9th season 2 stars. The entire series started and ended weak. First, I'm not a big fan of the final episode. I remember it was a bit of a let-down when I first viewed it. Subsequent viewings haven't really changed my opinion. Second, after I had about the first 5 seasons or so I saw Jason Alexander on a poker show on tv. He was such an arrogant jerk it's not even funny. (he was genuinely bragging about "being a millionaire" and how some young lady who was dealing cards was obligated to treat him differently as a result) We all know about Michael Richard's patently racist crap. Seinfeld and Louis-Dreyfus are both elitist snobs, of course. So the second star was taken off for personal petty reasons: it bugs me a little bit to provide money to talented, but elitist jerks. (It seems a lot of their snob humor was genuine whereas I always thought it was sarcastic in nature). The reason for the third star being removed was based on their marketing. The release of a collector's compilation pack kinda bugged me. I could have saved money by waiting. They know there are some small-minded people out there who will purchase it all over again just to have it (as one reviewer proudly proclaimed he did). I'm not so petty, I'll live without the stupid little book and what not. Besides, money seems to be the root of their elitism. If I can mitigate their real-life snobbery by a modicum, I must try.
 Honest Wrap Up March 5, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
The 9th season of the most highly rated comedy series ever obviously strove to wrap things up in a way which would exemplify the character of the series and seemed to succeed in doing so with this pot pouri or episodes followed by the inevitable climax. This was not your father's television but it was cutting edge and took chances and maintained a bite to it while providing so many laughs and yet..
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