Seinfeld - Season 8
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Movie Reviews of Seinfeld - Season 8
Movie Review: You just can't miss it
Summary: 4 Stars
You just can't miss it, another great Seinfeld Season.
The only reason that I do not give it five stars is because, in my opinion, there's no way, NO WAY, this season is better than Season Seven.
Yes, I understand the changes after Larry David left the show, I understand the approach to writing was different, I understand the show was still VERY good, entertaining, unbeliavably funny. But I think seasons 5, 6 and 7 were better.
Anyway, Seinfeld Eight is head and shoulders above the competition in terms of sitcoms. It was an unique moment in television history, one that will not repeat itself anymore.
Movie Review: It's Go Time!
Summary: 5 Stars
Finally, we hold it in our hands, the 8th season of maybe the best sitcom ever created.
In season 8, cast and crew, and especially the writers, found themselves in an awkward position. On one hand, they had just finished what some consider Seinfeld's best season (number 7), and a successful season 8 was almost guaranteed, but on the other hand, half of the series' genius spirit, Larry David, had just left the show.
As it is mentioned in the fantastic featurette "Jerry Seinfeld: Submarine Captain", this meant a total restructuring of the writing process. Unlike in the previous seven seasons, where Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld would revise other writers' scripts and have the final saying, season 8 is much more of a team effort.
That also meant much more storylines of the individual writers would get to the editing room as they were conceived by them.
The result is a show that takes all the characters' qualities, and human misbehaviours that were established in earlier seasons, and turns them almost into a life action cartoon.
In The Comeback for instance, when the writers take George's envy and (previously subtle) anger, and make it larger than life, so that in the end, he flies from New York to Akron, Ohio, just to come back at a guy with a witty one-liner that he didn't think of earlier.
I always enjoy the audio commentaries, of which there are far more in this season than in season 7, and I like it how the writers aren't shy of criticising themselves. That's really an attitude that I don't think anyone but Seinfeld writers can have.
In The Bizarro Jerry, for instance, writer David Mandel charmingly explains, without rest or full stop, why season 8 and 9 have a different feeling, and how the show commented on itself.
Tom Gamill and Max Pross, whose first episode was "The Glasses", have their last show in this season, and quite frankly, I think that was for the better. The "Notes About Nothing" subtitles list all their episodes, and to my surprise I discovered that they had written all the episodes that I found least enjoyable and too far out there.
Now, I find seasons 8 and 9 as hilarious and great as all seasons gone before, but for different reasons. And director Andy Ackerman describes it perfectly when he says that they felt like the teacher had gone out of the classroom, and the students could now have some fun.
And by god, they did!
They took all the pure comedy potential the characters always had, and milked it completely dry.
I also find that the final three seasons featured the series' best permanent characters: "Jacopo" Peterman ("Where is my pineapple?") and George Steinbrenner ("Big Stein can't be floppin' and twitchin'!")
A human caricature like Peterman could never work in seasons 1 through 6.
That being said, I know very well that some people think the show lost its zing, and I fully understand why they think that. This Seinfeld is not a different Seinfeld, but Seinfeld brought to the brink of the absurd. The thing is, the characters and their unbreakable bond of unfounded hostility (formerly the almost inperceptible cruelty of daily life) are so strong that they can take it without collapsing. Even more, I think the separation of the storylines into four distinct ones for every character brought each actor to his or her full blossoming.
But that, make no mistake, goes all to the expense of the ensemble performance.
Every character has much to do in each episode, which contradicts the series' label as the "show about nothing". They all have their hands full, and that's a huge part of why season 8 feels different.
Some people may tell you that all storylines are intertwined. That's not quite the truth. Yes, they come together in the end, but before that, each character goes his own way.
In rewatching early seasons, you'll find that Seinfeld's best moments were always the ensemble moments, when two people more or less had the same or (in Kramer's case) no storyline. Remember George and Kramer visiting the busboy? Or Jerry and Elaine in The Pen? Or Jerry, George and Kramer at Ackman the healer? Or the Jerry/George scenes with the NBC executives?
And lengthier face to face conversations are very rare now, too. It all more or less boils down to a daily debrief at the coffee shop. Why? Because there's too much stuff squeezed into the 20 minutes.
And yet, the characters never lost their "twinkle" amongst the mayhem, and that's why we love it.
The extras are excellent, as usual. The "Exclusive Stand-Up" material is missing, of course, since the show didn't have stand-up anymore.
I know I'll shed a tear or two when I hold season 9 in my hands. Originally, Jerry thought season 8 was going to be the last one, but we're all glad that he decided to add a bonus year, aren't we?
Movie Review: Best extras, good season if not the best
Summary: 4 Stars
By the 8th season Seinfield had become very inconsistent. Still there are enough storylines and jokes packed into every episode to make it worthwhile. Anod on the dvds you can always fast forward to the scenes you like. I think there is a lot of repeat viewing potential on this dvd. Movie Review: Season 8 - Is Great
Summary: 5 Stars
Somehow, Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld have been able to keep fresh ideas coming along to keep this talented cast busy for years. Can anyone claim that one season is better than another? There are a few classic shows that will remain in our culture for decades, and I'm sure that many of those can be found in this 8th year offering. This show remains great after all this time.Movie Review: Favorite season yet...
Summary: 5 Stars
With every season's release, I eagerly awaited Season Eight for this simple reason: in my mind it stood out as the funniest, wackiest and most memorable of all. Aside from pure hilarity in his delivery, Seinfeld had the incredible ability to make simple thoughts and actions seem funny; things that might occur to you in your daily life, like The Muffin Top idea, was turned into a non-stop joke. Larry David's departure didn't impact the show adversely and the ensemble cast, one of the finest in television history, continue to work seamlessly together to deliver scene upon scene of laughter. Through the nearly 10 years that Seinfeld has been off the air, I continue to hear every day references in conversation to his classic lines, i.e., Not That There's Anything Wrong With That, Yada Yada, I'm a Day Person..... and the list goes on and on. Add this to your collection or you will be missing possibly the best of them!