Rating:  - The Middle Years of Seinfeld Were the Best Years
The middle years of the Seinfeld series were classic television comedy, and season four sets the tone for the best years of the Seinfeld series. The writers for Seinfeld truly found their stride in season four, because each episode was filled with so many original catch phrases and funny bits that it is hard to remember them all. One of the best aspects about Seinfeld is that it was a comedy series truly created for mature audiences that could understand and appreciate its smart, wry sense of humor and wit. Seasons one and two of Seinfeld were slow and dry, and the series was pretty much out of gas during the final season, but the middle years of Seinfeld are gold !
Rating: - Master of their domain
"Seinfeld" became "Master of his Domain" with the fourth season of the series. The cult hit finally found a massive audience during season four. Not that there's anything wrong with that! For a show about nothing there are plenty of extras on this great boxed set. Jerry and George pitch their idea for a show about "nothing" to NBC, Kramer manages to burn down the house of George's new girlfriend Susan. The only things to survive the fire are letters writer John Cheever wrote to Susan's father testifying to his gay relationship with her father. Kramer manages to flip of his junior minds into a friend's body during surgery. A college writer discovers what all that bickering is about between Jerry and George when Elaine jokingly "outs" the two friends. It's all in a season's work for the men who destroy the Bubble Boy's plastic home.
Columbia-Tristar has sprung for the best for "Seinfeld". The series is presented in high definition with a picture much, much better than what has been seen in syndication. "Seinfeld" was originally shot on 35mm film so some of the grain visible was inherent in the original film. I didn't detect any analog defects nor did I see any digital ones that were noticeable. The sound has nice presence and the dialog is crystal clear.
First off, we get the original broadcast version of "The Handicap Spot" featuring the late John Randolph ("Seconds","Serpico") as George's father. When the role was recast for consistency sake the producers went back and reshot Randolph's sequences with Jerry Stiller. Jason Alexander who performed with Randolph on Broadway does a touching introduction for the original broadcast version of the episode. Randolph's take on Frank Costanza is quite different from Stiller's. While Stiller would make the role his own and take the character to absurd new heights, it's nice to have Randolph's performance available again. The syndicated version features Stiller as George's father.
"Inside Look" features interviews with the cast, production crew and writers discussing key episodes such as "The Bubble Boy", "The Cheever Letters", "The Opera" and others. A side note to writer Larry Charles-trim your beard guy you look like an escapee from a mental institution. Michael Richards comes across as a bright, articulate guy the exact opposite of his TV persona. We also get deleted scenes, outtakes with the cast cracking up or forgetting their lines during scenes and NBC's original promo spots for the series.
"The Breakthrough Season" discusses the series jump from cult favorite to superstardom. Larry David mentions how his idea for a story arc that reflected the real world pitch to NBC was received with mixed feelings. Nevertheless, Warren Littlefield was supportive of the risky venture and luckily the NBC crew had the foresight to see how the show could breakthrough to a massive audience. There's also a discussion on the difficulties that David faced with "The Contest". Luckily, the NBC censors had no problem with the episode because masturbation is alluded to but never mentioned outright. Michael Richards also discusses on "The Opera" about Kramer's fear of clowns and how that drove the comic elements of the story for his character. If you look very carefully at the menus you'll also find a number of amusing Easter eggs planted throughout each disc.
Hands down the best commentary tracks are by the trio of Jason Alexander, Michael Richards and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Sadly, Seinfeld's commentaries were recorded without the other members. It's too bad as the synergy between the four of them would have been fun to hear on their commentary tracks. Nevertheless, the trio of Alexander, Richards, Louis-Dreyfus only speak when they want to bust each other's chops or have something to say about the shooting of the episode. Larry Charles comes in second with fascinating tidbits about the episodes he wrote. For example, "The Trip Parts 1 & 2" features Charles commenting on how NBC approached producer/writer/co-creator Larry David about doing an episode set in Los Angeles. David wasn't interested so he gave Charles free rein to create two episodes that represents his bizarro world take on "Seinfeld". Jerry Seinfeld's commentary tracks sound the least comfortable of all the ones recorded here.
"Notes About Nothing" offers a text commentary for the episodes. Their filled with extraneous information about the episodes, some of the jokes and some of the topical people that are referred to within each episode. They also provide interesting tidbits about the production of each episode. Although they can occasionally be annoying, they're pretty interesting on the whole.
For the "Seinfeld" virgin, this really is the first essential season to see. It captures the writers-performers-directors at the peak of their game. The fact that they were able to continue at that level for 3 more seasons is astonishing. Featuring some of the classic key episodes that the series is best remembered for, "Seinfeld: The Complete 4th Season" looks exceptional in this high definition transfer. From here on out "Seinfeld" was not only "Master of His Own Domain" but Thursday night "Must See TV" on NBC throughout most of the 90's.
Rating: - By Far the Best Season Released
This season is by far better than the previous 3 combined. And really, this is where Seinfeld begins to shine. The seasons beginning with this one and through to season 8 begin to show the best episodes of the series, and I personally am pretty excited to the next seasons to be released.
Rating: - Thank God For The Fourth Season
Not only does this season boast one of the greatest most well constructed episodes of television ever, the contest, but some of the best seinfeld jokes and one liners of the series. Between "It's a junior mint", "You double dipped" and "He's a bubble boy", its hard to choose a best of anything. Best show, best lines, and best Michael Richards schtick are all incredibly hard to choose one best. All things considered the fourth season is a blessing and one that will provide true Seinfeld fans with the great material they will remember forever.
Rating: - Overrated? HUH???
This was the season Seinfeld really came into its own...The Bubble Boy, The Contest...two classic episodes out of many are included in this season of the show. I can't see how anyone would call this show overrated...between this show and Friends it's easy to see why NBC has had a rough time following the successes of both of them...about the only comedy still in production that's consistently in the top 20 right now (spring 2005) is Two and a Half Men...it's the writing and the ensemble casting. Seinfeld and Friends came before the current glut (glut is the only way to describe it) of so-called reality TV (can't anyone spend some money on a decent scripted series these days?)...this is classic TV and so is Everybody Loves Raymond because they're based on real life friendships and relationships and not on what someone will be willing to humiliate themselves for to win an obscene amount of money --okay, George Costanza might, but you know what I'm getting at here. The "show about nothing" came into its own and truly began to shine in season four, not to take anything away from some stellar monments in the first three seasons but this was the year they realized they were onto something, and subsequently got their confidence to rise to even newer heights. If this show doesn't make you laugh, you just aren't paying attention.
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