Seinfeld vs Curb
It’s been a week since I started the first LarryDavidFan.com poll and it has been a resounding success! A healthy 77 votes were cast to help decide our favourite season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, but alas most people (38%) voted for answer for option 6: “I can’t decide, they’re all brilliant!” Following that season 2 was the most popular with 21% or 16 votes. Season 4 placed second with 11 votes, closely followed by season 3 with 10 votes, season 5 with 6 votes and season 1 with 5 votes. All poll results are viewable on the polls archive page.
As for this week’s poll, I think for many it will be a tougher decision than last week’s:
Which is funnier, Seinfeld or Curb Your Enthusiasm?
For me, although they are close, Seinfeld is my favourite show of all time and in my opinion the superior one. The influence of Jerry is evident in Seinfeld with the lighter, more trivial, less cringe-worthy humour. Whilst I can’t say I prefer Jerry’s to Larry’s humour I feel Seinfeld had the perfect balance between the two styles. And while Curb boasts one of the most impressive supporting cast in TV history with characters like Susie, Jeff, and Richard Lewis, I cannot go past Seinfeld as having THE best cast of any television show. George was and always will be my favourite sitcom character of all time. Although based on Larry the fact that he is also slightly overweight, often unemployed, incredibly cheap, a pathological liar with low self-esteem yet in some strange way oddly loveable, just makes him all the more hilarious.
Kramer. Must one even attempt to explain the zany hilarity that was this character? Whilst based on a real person (Kenny Kramer), Michael Richards created the funniest oddball neighbour on TV, with physical humour that I have yet to see matched. I must also mention Julia Louis Dreyfus’ Elaine, who as the sole female lead did an amazing job with this character. It is unfair to make a comparison with Cheryl as their roles are markedly different, where Cheryl acts more as a facilitator to Larry’s jokes. Regardless I feel Seinfeld really did operate as a terrific ensemble that Curb cannot really match. Memorable supporting characters that included Wayne Knight’s hilarious Newman, TV’s funniest married couple Frank and Estelle Costanza, Uncle Leo, the Seinfeld’s, J. Peterman, Crazy Joe Davola, and Larry’s own incarnation of Yankee manager George Steinbrenner just further contributed to the sitcom’s iconic status.
I have a lot more to say on this rather contentious subject, but as I notice this post is getting rather long I will reserve it for another occasion.
I hope to see some heated debate on this in the forums this coming week!
I think, both shows are great. Before “Curb”, Seinfeld definitely was my favorite show.
I agree with all you wrote about George, he´s my favorite sitcom character as well.
I also loved Jerry and Elaine, but I´ve never been able to actually relate to kramer.
If I had to pick one of the two shows, I think I´d pick “curb”.
I just love Larry´s character and almost all the stories have been awesome so far.
Watching Seinfeld, I usually didn´t like the kramer parts that much.
Another thing I like about Curb: it just seems to be a bit more “realistic” and lifelike, a bit less sitcom- like.
In Seinfeld, some characters definitely were kind of extreme and exaggerated (George´s parents, Kramer, Newman).
In Curb, the characters are more like people you could actually find in real life.
I also enjoy the fact, that the Curb humor is not just a “laugh out loud” kind of humor.
The jokes and the humor in general are evolving while the episode´s story proceeds.
The parts of Seinfeld I liked most, always were the George parts.
And curb focuses on these “George parts”. So I´d pick Curb :).
Hi Nadine thanks for the comment. Yes I see where you’re coming from and can appreciate why you prefer Curb. And so far it seems most agree with you! After 15 votes cast in this week’s poll, the two Curb responses have received a combined 67% of votes!
curb s better..more larry,more lifelike..also love the way larry says whatever he likes to people..without caring for what they think..that s the most likeable part