8 of 15

No

Write now Article Tools

Larry, Moe, Curly and a dame. What was her name, anyway? I don't remember. That pretty much sums up the Seinfeld experience. Three stooges comedy for middle-class yuppies to laugh at after dinner. Mindless sketches about nothing. And that's where this kind of comedy should remain. But what about Jerry?

While he is revered by many as the Lord of the Comedic Ring, Seinfeld, much like Milton Burle, accomplished something that could not be replicated today. He showed us that there was something funny about living in the Big Apple in the company of quirky family and friends. It didn't matter what was happening, if you were there, you had to laugh. Seinfeld brought America and beyond there, and everyone laughed.

Acceptable family humor these days is hard to find. There are shows that have attempted to capture the humor of quirky relationships that amount to little more than group therapy for sex-charged dimwits. Lately, there have been a plethora of sitcoms about quirky couples focused on self-centered bores and sexually interesting spouses. Fortunately, these shows are of the early evening variety. Most have thankfully gone to the syndication graveyard.

The magic of three funny people of a confused, or perhaps distorted state of mind in a rigid class-based society only comes along from time to time. Society summons it forth from great writers like Larry David in an attempt to relieve itself of the anxiety caused by self-awareness. They might say something like: Let's laugh at those fools in New York, because there's nothing funny about what's going on in Washington or the rest of the world.

These days, American viewers riding the television starship have drifted into rough seas. Reality shows are farces in disguise, comedy shows are hopelessly hopeless, cops and robbers and killers and sex abusers and thieves and drug wars and gangs and science fiction, all seasoned with plenty of dancing and singing and rocking and so on. Would someone please change the channel?

We have a morbid fascination with the boring because the boring are all that are fascinating. Reality is not real, comedy isn't funny, drama is contrived sexual-murder plots or murder-sexual plots, and the actors are attractively boring. See est I? We are, to borrow a title from Neil Postman, "Amusing Ourselves to Death."

Another Jerry Seinfeld sitcom is not going to save us from ourselves. Only we can do that, if we have the will to turn off the High Definition fantasy window and get a life. Real friends don't let friends watch television. We're wasting too much time even considering the idea.

I don't recall the Stooges and what's her name ever getting political about anything. Or, for that matter, if they ever have anything meaningful to say beyond slapstick comedy and making fun of our self-important class-based social system. Likewise, I don't recall an episode of Seinfeld ever saying anything important regarding the future of our nation beyond plugging a whale's blow-hole with a golf ball. I always assumed they were talking about Washington's beltway pundits in that episode. That's just Seinfeld's way of dealing with the looming crises of world domination by unruly whales assembling just off the coast.

The best source of humor today is in political satire such as The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. The Seinfeld formula for amusement doesn't work on the satirical stage and is best left to those that have mastered it. The only hope for Jerry's humor is to assemble a cast of characters and make an appearance on MXC. Now that would be funny.

Learn more about this author, Francis Jock.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

Add your voice

Know something about Should Jerry Seinfeld star in another television sitcom??
We want to hear your view. Write now!