Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld created one of the funniest shows ever to come on television, and over 30 years after it first aired, it has lost one of its power to make us laugh. After its slow early seasons, it found its footing creatively and built up the biggest audience on television. It was dubbed “the show about nothing” as it focused on the small, boring details of the character’s lives and the world they lived in and turned those details into great comedy.
While many shows try to be relatable by having characters that are just like you, this show was relatable in its brilliant observations about life. The show’s unique sense of humor and the milieu the characters live in became a template for the next generation of shows to follow, but none could match the success or hilarity of Seinfeld. In fact, it was not until Larry David’s own Curb Your Enthusiasm that the show got a true successor. Let’s take a look at a few points that make Seinfeld so influential.
Complex Story Structure
While most sitcoms followed a template of very simple A and B stories in each episode, Seinfeld was revolutionary with its heavy plotting centered around its multiple characters. This makes the show not just funnier than other sitcoms, but also more compelling, as you often watch the show eager to see what will happen next rather than just watching the jokes unfold in a routine way.
A Move Towards Single Camera
Multi-camera sitcoms were filmed on a stage, often in front of a studio audience, with multiple fixed cameras capturing the action live. This is the classic sitcom format, which has fallen out of favor for single-camera shows that are shot the way other shows or films are. While Seinfeld was a multi-camera show, as was required by NBC, it incorporated many single-camera scenes and helped push the genre away from the multi-camera format.