Television How did they mess up the Seinfeld finale so bad?

[Hitman81]

I've always been a fan of Seinfeld but I never watched it from start to finish. So I spent the last few months binging the entire series on Netflix and only grew to love the show even more. It's hands down one of the most consistently and genuinely funny shows of all time.

So what the fuck happened with the finale? I can see what they were going for and I realize the final episode of any show can be difficult to make a satisfying conclusion to. But how did they manage to fuck it up THAT bad? There's no other episode of Seinfeld that has so few laughs and so much awkward silence. This felt more like some half handed reunion show that was made 5 years after the series had ended, not a finale that was shot while the show was still basically in its prime with viewers and the tv network wanting it to continue.

So what happened?

 

[BisexualMMA]

Worst part was when Tyrion made George king.

 

[Fatality]

Poor writing and a network that wanted to leave an out in case they managed to coax the cast back?

 

[RollSonnenRoll]

Seinfeld was always going to be a tricky one to end. I believe the mantra when Larry David and Jerry started the show was “no hugs, no lessons.” It was always supposed to be a borderline dark comedy cynical type show. So how do you put a nice bow on that? Most series finales end with tearful goodbyes and new journeys for the characters, that just would not have worked for any of them.

I liked the general idea of finding a way to bring back all the favorite side characters and on paper it sounds like a winner. It was just poorly executed. It wasn’t good but I can’t think of what would have been better

 

[Pittie Petey]

Season 8 and season 9 are the best seasons for me, packed with so many classic episodes, that its a bit surprising that the ending was so flat

I think part of the problem was they tried to go back to the earlier writing style where it was more about meaningless conversation and nihilism while also bringing back all the lovable goofball characters from the later seasons and those two things did not mesh well at all

 

[Jesus X]

I never got into seinfeld I dont get the hype. I think a comedy like community or 30 rock,always sunny in Philadelphia deserves more praise than seinfeld.

 

[Danger Dave]

Is this too soon?

 

[RowdyLesnar]

I don't think they did.

 

[TheNinja]

Seinfeld was always going to be a tricky one to end. I believe the mantra when Larry David and Jerry started the show was “no hugs, no lessons.” It was always supposed to be a borderline dark comedy cynical type show. So how do you put a nice bow on that? Most series finales end with tearful goodbyes and new journeys for the characters, that just would not have worked for any of them.

I liked the general idea of finding a way to bring back all the favorite side characters and on paper it sounds like a winner. It was just poorly executed. It wasn’t good but I can’t think of what would have been better

This is a great answer. Remember, Seinfeld was a "show about nothing" in a sense. They wanted to bring back all the characters and it was fun to see them all again. There was no real easy way to do that part of it. But then the ending just kind of had to end with.......well, nothing. No last episode where 2 people get married, some go off and have kids, the hero gets the bad guy, etc. It just kind of ends the same way it started about nothing.

 

[fungi]

I never got into seinfeld I dont get the hype. I think a comedy like community or 30 rock,always sunny in Philadelphia deserves more praise than seinfeld.

Seinfeld is for adults, grown ups, big boys (and girls).
What you mentioned is for college kids.
Immature lil boys (and girls).

No wonder you never got into Seinfeld.

 

[fungi]

Is this too soon?

Time.

 

[HereticBD]

I'll take a bad finale(although, I thought it was fine), over a bad final three seasons where the show turns into the "The Ballad of Jerry and Elaine's Everlasting Love", culminating with a wedding episode, like every other sitcom seemed to steer towards when they ran out of material.

 

[Streeter]

"A year isn't so long" ............. been a long fucking year.

 

[Bob Gray]

Seinfeld was always going to be a tricky one to end. I believe the mantra when Larry David and Jerry started the show was “no hugs, no lessons.” It was always supposed to be a borderline dark comedy cynical type show. So how do you put a nice bow on that? Most series finales end with tearful goodbyes and new journeys for the characters, that just would not have worked for any of them.

I liked the general idea of finding a way to bring back all the favorite side characters and on paper it sounds like a winner. It was just poorly executed. It wasn’t good but I can’t think of what would have been better

Good points. I'd also add that Seinfeld was always about small, every day things that were completely relatable. Then they made the finale this "Big Event" and it was just a complete tonal shift for the show and didnt work. Still GOAT sitcom, though. If the worst thing you can say about a legendary show is that the finale wasnt that good, they did something right.

 

[StoneColdSteveAustin]

The later seasons of seinfeld lost all their smart writing and turned into Slap stick comedy and the characters became too silly.

it’s good it ended when it did. Seasons 4-5 were peak seinfeld and some of the best writing tv ever had.

 

[Thai Domi]

I liked the finale.

 

[Tone C]

I never got into seinfeld I dont get the hype.

Yup, me too. Watched several episodes and was like ' meh'

 

[Beechwood]

I know, the Seinfeld final episode wasn't that good.

My guess is they wanted to show how terrible the Seinfeld characters were. They were funny, but rotten people.

 

[Robocok]

The later seasons of seinfeld lost all their smart writing and turned into Slap stick comedy and the characters became too silly.

it’s good it ended when it did. Seasons 4-5 were peak seinfeld and some of the best writing tv ever had.

I agree. Also, the characters got weird at the end and became exaggerated caricatures of themselves. It was kind of bizarre and cringey to watch. I read that there was tension between the cast members over how much more Jerry was earning than them.

 

[TankAbbott4Eva]

I know, the Seinfeld final episode wasn't that good.

My guess is they wanted to show how terrible the Seinfeld characters were. They were funny, but rotten people.

Yep they were all pricks that's for sure, shocking humans