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l liked "The Wonder Years", and nostalgia in general


Ralphie

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One of my favourite memories is Ben Stein droning on and on aboot the inevitable decline of energy and increasing entropy of the universe - comedy gold. :D

 

I also liked the whole Wayne/Butthead thing.  Now "The Goldbergs" is obviously influenced by that show, doing the same big brother thing, and is based on 80s nostalgia instead of 60s and 70s nostalgia.  And I love the mom (From hot in Reno 911 to overbearing but loving mom in this show) and of course Larry David's buddy, the pantsless father guy. 

 

 

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  And I love the mom (From hot in Reno 911 to overbearing but loving mom in this show) 

 

Wendi Mclendon-Covey, was also good as Liz on Rules of Engagement, the extremely slutty and trashy neighbor and even wife (for a brief time) of the David Spade character.

 

I never watched Rules of Engagement during its initial run on TV, but I now watch it regularly in reruns.  It's pretty funny.   :)  

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Wendi Mclendon-Covey, was also good as Liz on Rules of Engagement, the extremely slutty and trashy neighbor and even wife (for a brief time) of the David Spade character.

 

I never watched Rules of Engagement during its initial run on TV, but I now watch it regularly in reruns.  It's pretty funny.   :)  

I'll have to check that out.  I like her as an actress. :D

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Another tie-in to "Seinfeld", one of the lead characters on Rules is played by Patrick Warburton who played Elaine's on-again / off-again boyfriend, David Puddy.   :)

I loved the Puddy character and his interaction with Elaine.  That's right.  :D  Like the time on an airplane - she asks him if he wants a book or something, and he just stares straight ahead with a blank look and says"No thanks, I'm fine." :D

 

My wife and I still watch Seinfeld reruns.  Is that wrong? 

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I loved the Puddy character and his interaction with Elaine.  That's right.  :D  Like the time on an airplane - she asks him if he wants a book or something, and he just stares straight ahead with a blank look and says"No thanks, I'm fine." :D

 

My wife and I still watch Seinfeld reruns.  Is that wrong? 

Me, too.  As long as it isn't one from the last season or two.  The series kinda started sucking in my opinion, as all long running series do, toward the end.  The characters become less real and more caricatures of themselves.  The difference between the first few seasons and the last few is huge.

 

Patrick Warburton plays essentially the same character as Puddy on Rules, but married and more intelligent.   :D

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Me, too.  As long as it isn't one from the last season or two.  The series kinda started sucking in my opinion, as all long running series do, toward the end.  The characters become less real and more caricatures of themselves.  The difference between the first few seasons and the last few is huge.

I haven't really noticed that much.  So do you think it actually jumped the shark at some point, like Happy Days? :D

 

Hmmm.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seinfeld#Seasons_8.E2.80.939

 

I think I am gonna have to disagree with you there.  I loved a lot of those later ones, like the Merv Griffin set thing.  And apparently Puddy didn't show up until then too.  I wonder if Jerry ever regrets taking the series out so abruptly?  I would think for sure that they could have continued it for a few more years even without Larry David without jumping the shark. :D

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I haven't really noticed that much.  So do you think it actually jumped the shark at some point, like Happy Days? :D

Definitely.  I can even notice the change from the Larry David produced shows and the "after Larry David left" shows.  The show became more extreme and chaotic (for lack of a better description) after Larry exited.  The show seemed to rely more on gags than on the lives of the interesting characters and their daily interactions.  

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Definitely.  I can even notice the change from the Larry David produced shows and the "after Larry David left" shows.  The show became more extreme and chaotic (for lack of a better description) after Larry exited.  

But they did continue the "connection" thing, like when George brought the injured squirrel on the Merv Griffin set and got attacked by the falcon or eagle or whatever. :D

 

(I didn't know until fairly recently that Larry was the voice of Steinbrenner.  I'll bet he had a ball doing that. :D)

 

I am also pretty surprised that you can tell the later ones by the disappearance of Jerry's comedy bit at the beginning.  I thought that was gone for a lot more than just the last two years.

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The "Seinfeld" show discussed so many topics never discussed before on TV (many not even in real life), that those shows will be appreciated and replayed for a long time to come.  The fertile minds of Seinfeld and David would come up with a seemingly endless supply of fun and bizarre topics, such as peeing in the shower, for instance.  And any one show would usually have three or four story lines running at the same time, unlike most comedies of the time, which regularly struggled with just a single story.

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The "Seinfeld" show discussed so many topics never discussed before on TV (many not even in real life), that those shows will be appreciated and replayed for a long time to come.  The fertile minds of Seinfeld and David would come up with a seemingly endless supply of fun and bizarre topics, such as peeing in the shower, for instance.  And any one show would usually have three or four story lines running at the same time, unlike most comedies of the time, which regularly struggled with just a single story.

That interweaving of storylines seems to have become a staple of many situation comedies now, Modern Family is a good example.

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I have a station here that plays reruns of the Burns and Allen Show originally broadcast in the mid 50's.  I love that show and I even remember watching it as a little kid.  

 

I was and still am enthralled at how George would do his asides wherein he talks to the audience about what is going on in the show.  Towards the end of the series, he becomes even more involved with the audience than he is with the characters in the show, while the other characters remain totally oblivious as to what he is talking about at times.  He even involves the fact that the show is on TV and intertwines that twist into the show plots where he retreats to his den and watches the other characters as they plan and scheme, completely unaware that George is watching their every move.

 

As a kid, I thought this idea of a show within a show was pure comic genius.  I still love to watch it here locally every Saturday night.   :)

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The "Seinfeld" show discussed so many topics never discussed before on TV (many not even in real life), that those shows will be appreciated and replayed for a long time to come.  The fertile minds of Seinfeld and David would come up with a seemingly endless supply of fun and bizarre topics, such as peeing in the shower, for instance.  And any one show would usually have three or four story lines running at the same time, unlike most comedies of the time, which regularly struggled with just a single story.

 

Papaya King is actually a good-tasting place.  The gags were all getable to non-natives, but it is nice to see the show again after living here and having an enhanced frame of reference to attach.  It was a good show.  

 

I hated Seinfeld the first season, because it sucked.  I was indifferent to it the second season, because it was only ok (mostly).  It really got much better the third season, though, that is when it became great.

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Papaya King is actually a good-tasting place.  The gags were all getable to non-natives, but it is nice to see the show again after living here and having an enhanced frame of reference to attach.  It was a good show.  

 

I hated Seinfeld the first season, because it sucked.  I was indifferent to it the second season, because it was only ok (mostly).  It really got much better the third season, though, that is when it became great.

 

I have often thought that most great comedy series take a few years to really hit their stride, when the writers get in a groove and have finely honed the character profiles and the actors have truly become the characters they are playing.  The jokes just start to come naturally after that.

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