What is going on with TV shows nowadays? It feels like television peaked in the 90s and early 2000s. Seinfeld and Friends were the best damn shows in history, and after their final seasons came to an end, not one show has matched their excellence.
Today, if a show wants to get the audience's attention, all it needs to do is have slapstick. The audience will go crazy, and ratings will bounce back. Although Seinfeld and Friends did have a tinge of slapstick in them as well, the jokes they employed were much more genius than slapstick alone. The humor was actually thought out, relatable, and it made you think about ideas beyond the show.
What's even better is that Seinfeld and Friends are timeless. Yes, there was the occasional joke that's now out of date, but ultimately, there's almost nothing in these shows that would be hard for someone to understand today.
Joey once pointed out how stupid celebrations can be, like how unnecessary it is for a one-year-old to have a birthday party. Friends showed this in 2003, but it's still just as applicable today. Why do one-year-olds have birthday parties? It probably feels like an arbitrary day in their lives. Why does anyone really care about birthdays? These are thought provoking philosophical questions – which you can thank Friends for inspiring – that are still valid today.
The ideas presented in Seinfeld are still bona fide as well. “Male Unbonding" first aired in 1990, but it had one of the most timeless quotes in television history. When asked to go to a cappuccino place, Elaine says “I'll go if I don't have to talk." That was one of the most relatable lines I have ever heard. All humans - even the most talkative - have experienced moments of not wanting to speak. It was true 28 years ago, it's true today, and it will be true as long as humanity exists. You can thank Seinfeld for articulating this truth so relatably.
I won't name any shows in particular, but I feel confident in saying that all the shows today suck, compared to Seinfeld and Friends. Unfortunately, it seems like the best shows are behind us, but I can always count on watching Seinfeld and Friends to relive the greatest days of television.
