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First of all, this is a great conversational piece worth leaving on the coffee table. It can break the ice with strangers coming around your place.
I bought it on Amazon, thinking it would be a small book with compact fonts. Infact it is a huge book with pictures of the show for each script and well indexed.
Any aspiring film makers and writers really should read this book, you get a better idea of what is funny when it comes to writing. After all, this show was a huge hit!!
Trivia: Several people in a North American university analyzed this book to find out a mathematical sum or equation for a good comedy joke.
You get the first two season's scripts (17 episodes).
The one thing that does hold it back, is the absence of any foreword or note from Jerry Seinfeld or Larry David. It is just a book of scripts!! But that's cool if you are the Seinfeld fan who just can't get enough!!
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Here's the book that partly answers why Seinfeld (and I Love Lucy and All in the Family and Married With Children and The Simpsons) is so funny: Great sit-com comedy doesn't just happen because you get a talented performer. It also depends HEAVILY on the writing guiding the performance.
Any Seinfed fan (or student or lover of comedy) MUST own this book. My only regret is that it only gives you scripts for the first and second seasons (which, actually, many consider among the best). It shows you the solid comedic, consistently witty, and highly ironic foundations behind the cast's classic performances.
The good news: this book READS funny. Unless you just don't like reading drama/comedy in script form, you'll howl almost as much (since you are missing actual facial expressions, timing and body language) as you read these. Quite a few of these episodes were written by Seinfeld and collaborator (who how has a critically acclaimed HBO comedy series) Larry David. The many episodes include "The Jacket," "The Pony Remark," "The Deal," "The Chinese Restaurant," (one of my favorites) and "The Revenge."
According to published accounts, Seinfeld and David were absolutely adamant that there would be "no hugging" on THEIR show and that they would do the show their way or not do the show at all. They stuck to their guns. This book contains highly original sitcom comedy which holds up exceedingly well in script form. Keep the importance of solid writing in mind as you see former cast members from his show (or even Jerry himself or former cast members of other big hits) try to clone their earlier success: without a solid comedic foundation -- which is funny on paper -- all the talent in the world won't create a hit sitcom.
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Cannot help but reminisce about those classic early episodes. Really fun to drop on the couch after a long day and read through the old scripts. If you are a Seinfeld fan, you will love to have this book.
This book is on the bookshelf in our living room with 100 other books, lots of great novels and coffee table books, but enevitably this is the book that almost EVERYONE grabs. At minimum gets a big smile, usually gets a good laugh.
Highly recommended.
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If you watched Seinfeld regularly, you probably wished you could go back and review favorite episodes and see why they worked so well. I know I did. Sure, I COULD videotape episodes and rewatch them (and I often did) but I found this book provided additional advantages. I could linger over certain phrases, note how well the script flowed in certain sections and gain a deeper understanding of why certain bits were funny. Plus, it was much easier rereading certain sections of this book than it would have been to rewind a tape, find the section and replay it. When it comes to television shows and comedic writing, books definitely have their advantages over videotapes. On the other hand, if you like to see how the characters interact, their facial expressions and mannerisms, you may still want to have a tape of each show, using this book as an excellent supplement to the tapes. If you have tapes AND this book of Seinfeld, I'd say you'd have a mini-course in good comedy writing.
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I wasnt sure of a book made up purely of scripts but this is great. It brings back great episodes and classic conversations ( Kramer and his levels). A definitive seinfeld publication and a great book for the coffee table or bathroom to re read over and over. Easily worth the price Top class.
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