seinfeld vs friends

nothing but the cast dancing in front of a fountain. The stories in both shows are very much based in reality, as there are no sci-fi story lines and the characters in Friends even grow as the seasons move forward in time and seem to learn from their past experiences that we experienced with … Seinfeld beat Friends at the time, and it remains more of a critical darling now, for example holding a Tomatometer score of 89%, compared to Friends ' 78%. (And yes, I know Seinfeld premiered in 1989 and Friends lasted well into the 21st century.). Is one REALLY better than the other? Think of Jerry and Elaine laying out the specifications of how they might sleep with each other in a platonic setting in "The Deal," for example. Newsletters may offer personalized content or advertisements. friends is influential in that it has inspired countless of other horrible shows, but it is also influential in that it has inspired better shows to not be like it. Seinfeld and Friends are basically about two different groups of people who hang out together because they want to. (Think Rachel's aforementioned selfishness, or Monica's extreme competitiveness.) I think that Seinfeld clearly held the edge during its original run and in syndication, where it was the higher rated show on NBC and subsequently … Both Seinfeld and Friends have the casual NYC relationship theme to them. Mad About You was definitely set … Seinfeld doesn’t push the jokes with canned laughter and that makes all the difference. Seinfeld was more groundbreaking because the four leads on the show weren’t people that you wanted to emulate, at all. In 2013, people still pick their nose and masturbate. We didn't. "Seinfeld" dealt with a lot of those same issues we saw on "Friends," but in a way that was was maybe more detached. 5 months ago. Lauren: So, then I think it boils down to what you need in order to process these tougher realities. There is as you say real warmth in it but it is reflective of our zeitgeist that our friendships are so shallow. Sometimes all you want is a very good grilled cheese sandwich. I remember reading this on Twitter even though I can't remember exactly who said it. As Friends hits its 25th anniversary, there’s something we’re all still trying to decide about the hit sitcom. Seinfeld is centered around a man named Seinfeld living in Manhattan and follows him as he goes through life and the interactions with his friends and acquaintances. Because I am lazy and it was late and I wanted to watch something that had the semblance of comfort food, I changed the channel to Nick@Nite -- which was airing a rerun of "Friends. Also the cast of friends is a younger looking group that people young and old can relate to. This is not an endorsement of Friends. Comparing Seinfeld and Friends doesn’t solve the question of which is better because the debate barely scratches the surface of how both TV shows conquered pop culture history. Seinfeld remains re-watchable because the show did a fairly good job of not dating itself. I believe Friends is a better tv show more because it has more social situation humor rather than stand up comedy type. Maybe that's why it draws such different types of people? 1 1. Instead, it reminds me of where I was when I had watched that episode for the first time. This is at the same time predictable and alarming. ", Get top stories and blog posts emailed to me each day. This is an admittedly odd way to open up an essay that is primarily about Friends. (For whatever reason, Zoom was not remembered fondly or even at all at the University of Missouri in 1997.). In the early days, Seinfeld tried to have recurring plot lines, but that never quite worked out. Posted by LSUZombie on 10/3/17 at 11:53 am to pwejr88 I absolutely love Curb Your Enthusiasm but just never could get into Seinfeld. In honor of the 25th anniversary of "Seinfeld," HuffPost TV pitted a fan of "the show about nothing" against a fan of "Friends," to determine which was truly the best '90s sitcom: Lauren: So, it's the 25th anniversary of "Seinfeld"! But I've been enjoying it for reasons completely different from those that make me enjoy Seinfeld. The simplicity of the entire series (though, calling it "a show about nothing," never made sense to me because these was always something happening) got chucked out the window in the final installment -- replacing what worked with a barrage of cameos and over-complicated plot points. Obviously, there's an awesome absurdity to "Seinfeld" that kind of places the two shows in different universes, but both take on a sort of later stage of growing up. All of the friends have character traits that are also not objectively "good" that they hold on to for the whole series, and those flaws are huge sources of humor for the show. After the final episode of Friends aired the other night, it was immediately followed by the pilot. One thing is certain, though. (Also startling was the opening credit sequence that had no clips from the show to work with, so "I'll Be There For You" by The Rembrandts played over nothing but the cast dancing in front of a fountain on a Warner Bros. studio lot.) I like Friends better. So dated that now, finally, my sense of nostalgia for Friends has kicked in. It was fun to relive those feelings with the added knowledge that, nine years later, I'm still here. It’s been 15 and 20 years, respectively, since the last two sitcoms, Friends and Seinfeld, capable of generating 20 million viewers on a weekly basis have stopped producing new episodes.However, the Friends vs. Seinfeld wars continue. Both of these popular sitcoms have a similar rating, a close ranking in the Top 250 TV and ran for ~10 years with most of … Part of HuffPost Entertainment. Lauren: This is fair! We just wanted to watch them complain about the same things they had been complaining about in every episode of the previous nine seasons. So it's kind of like the best of both worlds -- really great, edgy jokes but also grounded emotional friendship and love! In fact, Seinfeld's $1 million per episode was a record until 2002, when the cast members of Friends all banded together to push for – and get – $1 million an episode. Seinfeld is only superficially similar, it is heavily metathematical while Friends is a regular, fairly cliched sitcom that happened to be popular due to good casting and a more natural, less formulaic theme. There's some kind of connectivity that feels like it might be missing from "Seinfeld." Seinfeld, top 5 Friends, top 50, maybe.. Give me 2 minutes I can come up with 20 shows funnier than Friends — Charleston Strong (@DagneyTaggart3) August 19, 2019 Friends, on … As Larry David once said: "no hugging, no learning. "Seinfeld" fans don't need all that. It's like someone took my perfect grilled cheese sandwich and served it with a side of Keith Hernandez's warm piss. Seinfeld clocked in at nine years (1989–1998) and Friends at ten years (1994–2004). I just watched an episode in Season 9 where she says to Phoebe something like "I love that you have principles! Seinfeld gang: Jerry is a neat freak who would never dirty his hands, much less bloody them. But the only reason I watched Friends was to find out what would become of its characters. The 'Friends' fandom and the 'Seinfeld' fandom are going head-to-head to see which classic sitcom reigns supreme–and 'Seinfeld' fans did not come to play. (And its reliance on celebrity guest stars - George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Billy Crystal and Robin Williams among them -- is just as annoying today as it was back then.). Homer Bufflekill. https://ew.com/article/2016/05/19/er-friends-seinfeld-top-10-ratings-1996 I certainly don't have any." Seinfeld's sarcasm and irony are funny but difficult for me to love. Here in New York City, a local television station reruns two episodes of Seinfeld every night starting at 11 p.m. -- and I'm pretty sure something similar happens almost everywhere in the United States. Lv 5. ), and we also see other scenarios played to provoke feeling rather than laughter like later in the series when Monica/Chandler find out they can't have children. ", I have seen every episode of Friends. Relevance. Alarming in that we're already talking about Friends as a relic of the past. Although, I don't think "Seinfeld" was a specifically non-emotional show. But it's more than re-watchable. Set in 1994, Jerry and his friends are about to meet his girlfriend's friends for the first time. Friends still draws a weekly audience of 16 million in the U.S., according to Vulture, bit enough viewership to make it a viable hit on current network TV (that number is not even including screening).Plus, in the U.K., ratings for Friends repeats are growing. Friends v Seinfeld: Which sitcom is better? Seinfeld did its part to fell trees and pave valleys for our current porn highway system, the envy of the world. “Friends” came in at No. Today is National Voter Registration Day! "The Finale" is only episode of the series that I refuse to watch again. "Seinfeld" offers up a kind of cynical view of that version of adulthood that skewers the lesson-teaching nonsense of the traditional sappy sitcom, whereas, even in its more offbeat moments, "Friends" kind of runs with this moral about, well, friends being the most important thing. It's a security blanket after a long day. Friends is easily translatable and therefore more influential. It's not all about hugging at the end and being a perfect family. This. Seinfeld has found a way to still co-exist with society in 2013. Now the only question is, how will they all get along? 10 Answers. All three shows were on at the same time during their runs: Mad About You ran from 1992-1999, Friends from 1994-2004 and Seinfeld from 1989-1998. But while Seinfeld is generally held in higher regard by critics, with particular praise for its writing, it cannot match the enduring popularity of Friends. MARK: The Seinfeld gang would not could not beat the Friends gang. 5 months ago. Lily: Yeah, I think that's exactly it. Not even close. Friends was deceptively smart and a great show for its time. There are a lot of cool features analyzing the show's importance, but on a much less complex note, I'm wondering how someone could not like "Seinfeld," or, more precisely, like it less than another little show that was on around the same time. Senior Entertainment Writer, The Huffington Post, Sign up for membership to become a founding member and help shape HuffPost's next chapter. Even though both Seinfeld and Friends are bound by being New York-based sitcoms of the '90s, these two shows could not be more different. There is no outside force involved. The amount of time today that Friends has been off the air is equal to the amount of time that The Dukes of Hazzard had been off the air when Friends debuted. And yet, until this particular night, I hadn't watched a full episode of Friends since the show ended its run in May of 2004. seinfeld is influential in that shows want to be like it and it did new things and was funny. But it took me back to 2004, just a few months before I moved to New York City. Seinfeld. It was. At the core of "Friends" is this theme song in the fountain, we-really-care-about-and-love-each-other sentiment. "Seinfeld" offers up a kind of cynical view of that version of adulthood that skewers the lesson-teaching nonsense of the traditional sappy sitcom, whereas, even in its more offbeat moments, "Friends" kind of runs with this moral about, well, friends being the most important thing. And I don't necessarily think one way is better than the other, it's just about the shows' different mission statements. See the above comments. Seinfeld vs Friends ? Rachel got off the plane. Lauren: Agreed, but we better stop. 5 months ago. And that is super special to me/anyone who is alive and cares about comedy. I think this is what people are talking about when they gush over "Friends." Shrek Cristo. (For reasons that won't make sense, I've always preferred to refer to Joey Tribbani by his last name. 21. Tap here to turn on desktop notifications to get the news sent straight to you. Three decades on from its TV debut, the effects of Seinfeld 's inspired take on nothingness remain quite obviously ingrained in the mainstream. Seinfeld's biggest mistake with "The Finale" was thinking that we cared about what happened to Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer. I recently watched the final episode of Friends. That is perhaps the reason why many people could relate to it. The 2013 version of me still finds Seinfeld entertaining. In Seinfeld, like in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the characters are terrible, despicable people. Directed by Logan Wildey, Ram Azur. 1 0. matthewfein. ©2021 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. A couple of months ago, the hour-long episode of "The Finale" aired, so I changed the channel -- after those first couple of minutes that always fool me into thinking it's a normal episode. Still, we acknowledge “Friends” has its loyal fan base, but in 2013, TV Guide ranked “Seinfeld” as the greatest television show of all time. We see genuine explorations of feeling all throughout the Ross/Rachel love saga (which OMG another reason in itself to love "Friends" -- THE ROMANCE! ), I don't relate to Friends in the present tense. (To this day, I don't care about Crazy Joe Davola.) Seinfeld and Friends have very similar cast types. Lauren: That's all totally valid, but ... Lauren: Maybe it's not a question of which show is "better." (To put this in perspective. Privacy Policy. Now Friends and Seinfeld are both good representations of middle class life styles in the city. The intricate details or annoyances of life in 1998 are not that much different from those of life in 2013. Unfortunately, the 2013 of me feels sorry for Ross, Rachel, Phoebe, Chandler, Monica and Tribbiani, who will forever be stuck on an endless loop somewhere between 1994 and 2004. Lily: Yeah, I think that's true. The intricate details or annoyances of life in 1998 are not that much different from those of life in 2013. There's something appealing about that. And we see that in the way "Seinfeld" approaches its situations -- whether its the moors of relationships you mention, relatable scenarios, or even high-stakes emotional situations (like, as Zoller Seitz mentions, George's fiancee dying from the envelope licking) -- there's always that lack of sentimentality. The Commentary. Tom’s Restaurant, from Seinfeld, is iconic, but just doesn’t reach couch status like the Central Perk prop does. Poll: Face-Off: Seinfeld vs. Friends A poll by RbDeraj . You can contact him directly on Twitter. By Jessie Heyma n. April 30, 2015. Recently, i finished watching one of the best TV series ever, called Seinfeld. Seinfeld boasts four single adults in New York while Friends has six main cast members... living in New York. In the blink of an eye, all of these characters were ten years younger. Lv 7. In 2013, people still pick their nose and masturbate. It's televised comfort food. ), Over the last couple of months, however, I've been watching a lot of Friends. Bronte Coy brontecoy. And the main thing I can put on my finger on is that "Friends" really has an emotional non-sitcom-esque aspect to it -- some threads of it almost play like drama -- that I like and that gets me emotionally invested in its characters. And I think that's really great, and keeps it from being a shmaltzy sitcom -- the idea that we can like these characters even though they can be awful. by Hai_He Plays Quiz not verified by Sporcle . I also realize this isn't a unique or particularly notable opinion to express, since most people who have seen the last episode of Seinfeld share it. Answer Save. (I have every season on DVD.) Watching this episode brought back every feeling of uncertainty that I had about moving to the city where Friends took place. I do remember agreeing profusely, because I would find such a channel very appealing. For example, when Tribbani (I know, I can't help it) attempts to teach a dance class, I remember being surrounded by my friends in college, being the only one to get a reference to the PBS television show Zoom that would be mentioned later in that episode. The fact that Seinfeld is almost impossible to replicate renders Friends the more influential series, given that it has set the bar and path for the creation of more successful sitcoms. After all the issues get culled through, there's a safety net, where you have pals, and you play around in a fountain, and you get a theme song. I am saying that it's not a particularly good television show in 2013. It's 'Friends' vs 'Seinfeld' as Sarah Goldberg, Charlie Barnett, Keeley Hawes. In a lot of ways, it taught us how to cull through the moors of relationships. I'm certainly not trying to say that Friends wasn't a good television series. Lily: Totally. According to a “60 Minutes”/Vanity Fair poll, “Seinfeld” was the funniest show on television; “Friends” was fourth. Entertainment Quiz / Seinfeld vs Friends Random Entertainment or Friends Quiz Can you name the actors or actresses who appeared in both Seinfeld and Friends? Lauren: Sure, and "Friends" is also influenced by that idea. ? Seinfeld is far better, not even close. His girlfriend just happens to be Rachel Green. And, believe it or not, the characters were more human than Seinfeld. Lily: Right. Friends gang vs. Seinfeld gang. When all is said and done, there probably still won’t be an official winner of this Seinfeld vs. Friends debate. But the show also still has a cynical side and a rawer humor than a traditional family sitcom would. The same goes for Friends. Mike Ryan is senior writer for Huffington Post Entertainment. Even if I sometimes still like to visit them there. "Seinfeld" pioneered this idea that characters don't have to be likable in the traditional sense of objective goodness. While Seinfeld still feels oddly contemporary, Friends feels hopelessly dated. With Logan Wildey, Cynthia Aileen Strahan, Jolie Santos-Ramsey, Dominic Angelo. To me, it's unwatchable. I think it was called "Friends.". Friends, on the other hand, was more driven by an ongoing plot. Nostalgia is not a good enough reason to enjoy a show. That was startling to watch. They can be offbeat or have outright dark shit buried under the stuff that makes them great comic figures (like being kind of relieved that, say, your fiancee died via envelope). So, Which Is Better: 'Seinfeld' Or 'Friends'? Jerry was whiny and a bit of a womanizer. But that’s the… (The episodes that take place in L.A. come close, but I don't hate them enough to change the channel.) SUBSCRIBE TO THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER, Entertainment Reporter, The Huffington Post, Associate Entertainment Writer, The Huffington Post. Matthew Zoller Seitz just wrote in Vulture that Larry David always told the "Seinfeld" writers that there should be "no hugging, no learning" in the scripts. I've been enjoying Friends lately, unexpectedly enough. There was “The Contest,” about who could resist masturbation the longest. I think the differences between the shows are what made each able to stand out and build its own loyal fan base, to the point that you and I still want to have this conversation 20 years later. But "Friends" intertwines that kind of humor with a grounded emotional side that adds a layer of depth. The only way Friends win if you care about a traditional character-driven story arc. I already knew she was going to get off the plane. — Clown World Zoomer (@kekistaniite) August 20, 2019. Seinfeld is probably the winner on the basis of pure artistry, but Friends is more enjoyable and relatable, which makes for the better sitcom. Lily: Okay, so that's a good question, and I've been trying to pinpoint exactly what it is that I like about "Friends" that "Seinfeld" doesn't have. re: Seinfeld vs. Friends, which one is better? Seinfeld vs. Friends: Breaking Down the Economics of Two Beloved ’90s Sitcoms. I watched this episode, too, which felt as every bit a relic of 1994 as the prior episode had felt a relic of 2004. Friends, meanwhile, may not be … I mean, there are plenty of reasons that they emerge as the Coke and Pepsi foils of '90s sitcoms, but why we like one or the other boils down to a nexus of factors that probably says more about us than it does about "Seinfeld" or "Friends.". In "Friends," it's not like Rachel starts off in the pilot as a rich shallow girl and then by the end of the series becomes this perfect genuine soul. The twang of an unidentified mid-range brass instrument is enough of a cushion. Seinfeld remains re-watchable because the show did a fairly good job of not dating itself. I hate the last episode of Seinfeld. Predictable in the sense that all good television shows will eventually evoke nostalgia. We made it easy for you to exercise your right to vote! "Seinfeld should have its own 24-hour-a-day cable channel." Rate 5 stars Rate 4 stars Rate 3 stars Rate 2 stars Rate 1 star . I've never felt a desire to revisit the adventures of Ross, Rachel, Phoebe, Chandler, Monica and Tribbiani. Even now, 15 years after Seinfeld went dark ("The Finale" aired on May 14, 1998), it remains the most re-watchable show on television. (I think it was NHL.com writer Dave Lozo.)

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