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SEINFELD - "THE INVITATIONS" Thursday 14/10/99, BBC2 reviewed by Steve Williams |
September
2000
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Alright, for an OTT feature that's supposed to be celebrating unrecognised classic television, Seinfeld could be seen as a very odd choice. Put the title in a search engine and there are thousands of entries, and these sites hardly skimp on information (one of them even provides a breakdown of the cereal on Jerry's kitchen shelves - "11 boxes counted, 4 identifiable as Chex"). It's also critically acclaimed in this country, with writers as diverse as Graham Linehan and Garry Bushell proclaiming it as one of the finest sitcoms of all time. But none of those websites originate in the UK and the general public refuses to watch it in any significant numbers. However, those who would like to lay all the blame at the BBC for its poor scheduling always seem to forget that when the series began on BBC2 in October 1993, its original slot was at 9pm on Wednesday nights. But the viewing figures were pretty unspectacular and the public reaction (including from me, who saw a trailer and disliked it immediately) was frosty, to say the least. So the programme moved to around 10pm on Saturdays, then around 11pm during the week, until the last series perched itself at midnight as a summer replacement for Despatch Box. Sky One were equally unenthusiastic - episodes were scheduled as part of their "Must-See Thursday" at 9pm, before being shunted forward to 8.30pm for Friends, then dropped for three months and returning late on Monday nights. However, I would argue that the late slot is in fact part of what helps me enjoy the series. Less than half a million of us were watching last year, and the snob in me quite enjoyed this "exclusive club". There aren't many of us in the UK, and because the plots require knowledge of American culture, and even better, back-references to previous episodes, it automatically makes you look intelligent. And you have to search to find when episodes are on. Also, the midnight slot allowed the series to go out four nights a week, so us fans were offered six weeks of concentrated Seinfeld. Some people would have you believe that the attraction is that it's the only programme where you're allowed to hate the characters. They've completely missed the point. The characters behave much as we might do, if we were a little cleverer, a little more confident, a little funnier. Take the episode that begins with Jerry asking George whether, if he was abducted by aliens, he'd prefer to go in the alien's circus or the alien's zoo. George decides he'd go in the zoo - he can get a bit more rest, they might try and get him to mate with a female, and so on. Jerry points out that in a circus you'd be able to ride on a train and see more of the planet. George argues that he'd have to wear a silly hat, jump through fire, and have the aliens put their heads in his mouth. But, Jerry adds, it's showbiz. That's Seinfeld encapsulated - an obsession with the tiny things in life. This provides us with a valuable guide to etiquette in everyday situations. For example, we now know never to dunk a previously dunked chip into dip. We also know what constitutes taking someone out for a meal - after Jerry invited a fellow comedian he disliked out for a meal in return for a suit, his guest ordered soup and then decided he'd have the meal another time. Jerry asserted that the soup constituted the meal. That was the plot of an entire episode. There are three absolutely textbook episodes of the series, which are required viewing for anyone with a love of comedy. "The Switch" includes a subplot where Jerry realises he finds his girlfriend's flatmate more attractive than his girlfriend, and asks George to help him formulate a plan to allow him to go out with the flatmate instead. We see them stay up all night devising a scheme, until George cracks it. Jerry is to ask his girlfriend if she'd like to participate in a menage-a-trois with her flatmate. George is convinced she'll be disgusted and dump him, and then tell her flatmate who at first is appalled but then finds the idea quite flattering. She will then phone him up and invite him out for a date, and his ex-girlfriend will announce that she's welcome to him. The "switch" will be a success. The plotting here is absolutely superb - so anyone who declares that the series is "a show about nothing" (another Seinfeld myth) has no idea. This careful scripting was most evident in "The Betrayal" - an episode which is disliked by some hard-core fans as gimmicky, but for viewers more used to The Fitz and Perfect World, shows the sort of care and attention that goes into the programme. The episode is a continuous series of flashbacks - starting with the final scene, then working back over the days, months and years until we find out exactly what caused this situation. Not only is this a ridiculously clever concept (the characters outfits change for scenes set in the past, and members of the cast who played characters at that time returned), it also works as a great episode of Seinfeld full stop - George meets a woman while wearing high shoes and begins a relationship, before realising that if he doesn't wear those shoes he's too short - he must then "always wear these shoes, no matter how ridiculous I look!" "The Invitations", though, is the all-time classic - the episode concludes a series that begins with George and Jerry deciding to grow up and become real men. George therefore proposes to his old girlfriend Susan - despite her leaving him years before for a lesbian relationship. He instantly regrets this, but for 23 episodes we see him unable to put off the wedding. By this episode he is becoming increasingly desperate to call it off, and he begins a series of frantic schemes to get Susan to dump him. In the final minute of the final episode of that series, Susan starts sending out invitations - and dies after licking the envelopes, which have a poisonous substance on the seal. Most sitcoms have trouble with plots lasting 24 minutes - this plot lasted 24 episodes, with no clue as to how it might end. It's not too late to start watching Seinfeld - BBC2 have two more series to go, and they'll undoubtedly be repeated ad infinitum on a whole range of digital channels. It's certainly an acquired taste, but it's a series that rewards repeated viewing and attention to detail. Now which country's supposed to have reduced television to the lowest common denominator? |
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