Seinfeld's Impact on American Culture
Jerry Seinfeld's television sitcom, "Seinfeld," which went off the air in 1999, is still one of the most culturally pertinent shows today. The show dealt with little nuances of American society. A puffy shirt, for example, could be the main subject for an entire show. This show, which was derived from Jerry Seinfeld's observational humor, was voted as the "Greatest Show of All Time" by TV Guide in 2002. According to the show's official website, the ratings for the syndicated version of Seinfeld are ahead of many of the current primetime comedies ("Seinfeld" 2/5).
"Seinfeld" was always present in my home during its nine-year run on Thursday nights as "Must See TV," and the social
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Of his obsessive nature his mother said: "He never wanted just a piece of chocolate cake, it was the whole cake. And he always waited until he got what he wanted" ("Jerry Seinfeld" 1/7).
Soon Seinfeld's easy-to-relate to humor gave way to regular appearances on "The Tonight Show" and "Late Night with David Letterman." Other more gimmicky comedians failed the test of time, but Seinfeld's steadfast style made his popularity bloom. Despite national exposure, Seinfeld still stayed close to his roots, continuing to play at small venues as well as on television. With jokes like: "They say Tide cleans bloodstains. I say if you've got a T-shirt with bloodstains, then maybe laundry isn't your biggest problem" ("Jerry Seinfeld" 3/7) it's not hard to see why Seinfeld caught on.
In 1990, "Seinfeld," a sitcom based on Seinfeld's humor, debuted as a summer replacement show. Seinfeld allowed characters on the show to embody some of the idiosyncrasies his stand-up comedy had observed. Seinfeld played himself on the show, and the other characters on the sitcom were based on friends and acquaintances in Seinfeld's real life. The show was set in a recognizable Manhattan with specific storefronts and locales in the cut scenes and dialogue. The plot of an episode of "Seinfeld" usually centered on the daily menial tasks of the characters and the little quirks that they observed along the way. "Seinfeld," widely
Reality shows – the present of mass media on entertainment which make the big influence to American society. Everybody watched the same stuff, the same old movies, or the same reruns before the cable TV or Internet appeared. For example, the Simpson was a successful sitcom became an institution as important as the cult classic. They poured their shared pop culture experienced into the show. However, the character
First, the show Boy Meets World is about a boy, Cory Matthews, who goes through changes and grows up by the end of the show’s era. It had many events that happened during the show. For example, Boy Meets World was a show about a boy that was backstabbed by puberty and himself (Gonzales 3). This is one of the life lessons he had to go
There were many continuities and changes in cultural beliefs in the Americas during the time period 1450-present. Some changes were, when africans and natives were forced to learn christianity and syncretic religions started by mixing with native and christianity beliefs. Some continuities are, some native beliefs still survived and religion was still important to others.
Television shows have changed dramatically during the last 50 years. What was funny or popular 1, 5, 10 years ago, is now obsolete. The innocence of popular television shows from the 1960s has been overtaken with shows that would have been risqué. This will be demonstrated by describing the difference between “Leave It To Beaver” and “Modern Family.”
And finally, plugs on the lesser-known cable network Cozi TV target middle-aged and elderly viewers by focusing on issues related to older adult life, including health and finances. Only a few notable television series feature the elderly in starring roles (i.e. The Golden Girls), so older adults may find comfort in watching programs from the 1960s to the 1990s. The network’s website states, “Well-known shows like Frasier, Will & Grace, Little House on the Prairie, The Munsters, Columbo and Murder, She Wrote are featured on the network. … The past and present have come together on Cozi TV” (Cozi TV). Many viewers are retired, and they often watch their
His unique style was a clean and catchy form of observational humor. Most of his humor eschewed any charged political commentary or swear words, which broadened his audience. Seinfeld’s jokes often were prefaced with the phrase “what’s the deal with ___?” or “Have you ever ...?” These phrases defined the Seinfeld brand of comedy, and were also were easy for audience members to imitate on their own. By the end of the 80s, Seinfeld’s had grown, and he wanted to move his act onto television. Little did he know that this new business venture would change observational comedy
Another television show that parody contemporary both culture and politics is Saturday Night Live, SNL for short. The episodes starts off by introducing the celebrity that is hosting for the night. The first episode premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, and is still running strong. One segment that seems to be the most influence amongst the audience is whenever the cast of SNL does a political skit. The most famous skit from SNL is the impersonation of Sarah Palin. SNL political parody skits usually shape the way the audience perceive the campaign.
Over time the structure of family has evolved. Since the introduction of television many sitcoms have shown the development of the early days to the modern. Sitcoms such as ‘Leave it to Beaver’, ‘Growing Pains’ and ‘Modern Family’ highlight evolving families over the last 60 years. Overtime the image of family has changed and is still changing to this day. In the 1950s sitcom ‘Leave it to Beaver’ the family was represented as ‘The Perfect Family’.
Before the atomic age occurred, America perceived nuclear power as a revolutionary new energy sources making fantasies about science-fiction like machinery within reach. Unfortunately, technologies operated by nuclear power resulted in failure. When the nation entered an arms race with the Soviet Union, known as the Cold War, nuclear power received a more sinister agenda, the creation of the atomic bomb. It become more of a representation of panic and anxiety than one of hope and technological advancement, as originally intended. Popular culture outlets, such as comics, films and novels, dramatize the suffering experienced by American people in connection with the weapon, as well as, the repercussions surrounding the atomic age.
The vast political and cultural differences impacting American society are becoming increasingly liberal with each passing generation . The proves that the American culture is becoming more liberal with each new generation . The vast differences in the administrations and policies of Barack Obama and Ronald Reagan, show the radical changes that have occurred in American culture over the last generation.
We like to label things in our culture. Those over the age of 65 are called senior citizens. Those under the age of 18 are called children. Anyone falling in between those ages are considered adults and there are certain expectations placed on that demographic. Adults are the backbone of society, responsible for basically just about everything. Television reflects that responsibility, as adults are usually portrayed as hard-working, career-oriented, and often married and raising children. With television reinforcing these expectations, many young people have probably felt that they need to grow into these roles and become responsible adults. A decade ago, however, NBC’s sitcom Seinfeld debuted
As baby boomers reached adulthood, NBC, CBS, and ABC began to realize that much existing programming had not only been on for years, but had a superannuated audience. The large youth population was highly attractive to advertisers and the networks moved to clean house of a number of long-in-the-tooth shows. In NBC's case, this included programming like The Bell Telephone Hour and Sing Along With Mitch which were found to have an average viewer age of 50. During this period, the networks came to define 18-49 as their main target age, although depending on the show, this could be subdivided into 35-45 or 18-25 or 18-35. Regardless of the exact target demographic, the general idea was appealing to any viewers who were not close to retirement age and that TV programming was overall stuck in a 1950s mentality and had to be updated to resemble contemporary American society
A popular tv series that was being broadcasted at the time of my birth was Friends, which won an award of Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Comedy or Musical. (“Awards”) On December 17th, Friends released an episode, The One with the Inappropriate Sister, where Rachel is disturbed by Danny's relationship with his sister. ("The One with the Inappropriate Sister”) While Friends was having good comedy or musical, another tv show 48 Hours had the criminal and action episodes. That night of showing on CBS, 48 Hours was doing a rerun of one of their episodes of the 9 seasons they filmed. 48 Hours have won numerous number of awards over its years of being continued, it has won Outstanding Coverage of a Breaking News Story in a News Magazine many times. ("48 Hours Awards”) Another criminal based shows being broadcasted at the time was World’s Wildest Police Videos on
The escapist fictional fare of prime time made little reference to what was being reported on the news. That began to change in the late 1960s and early ’70s, but the transition was an awkward one; some shows began to reflect the new cultural landscape, but most continued to ignore it. That Girl (ABC, 1966–71), an old-fashioned show about a single woman living and working in the big city—with the help of her boyfriend and her “daddy”—aired on the same schedule as The Mary Tyler Moore Show (CBS, 1970–77), a new-fashioned comedy about a single woman making it on her own. In the same week, one could watch The Lawrence Welk Show (ABC, 1955–71), a 15-year-old musical variety program that featured a legendary polka band, and Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In (NBC, 1968–73), an irreverent new comedy-variety show plugged into the 1960s counterculture. The 1970–71 season was the last season for a number of series that had defined the old television landscape, including The Ed Sullivan Show, The Lawrence Welk Show, The Red Skelton Show, The Andy Williams Show, and Lassie, all of which had been on the air since the 1950s or earlier. Created by Norman Lear and based loosely on the British sitcom Till Death Us Do Part, All in the Family was the clearest example of what would soon be known as “relevance TV.” It took as its subject matter issues
Number Fourteen: It Floundered at First, but Now Has the Highest Ratings of Any Prime-Time Show Ever.