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| Jerry
Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michael Richards, Jason
Alexander |
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Anamorphic
widescreen |
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Dolby Digital
5.1 |
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DTS |
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Trailer(s) |
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Featurette(s) |
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Documentary |
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Audio commentary
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Deleted scenes
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Concept art
/ storyboards |
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Multi-angle
feature |
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George Costanza
(Jason Alexander):
You know I always wanted to pretend I was an architect.
A comedy show about nothing.
 It's
hard to term Seinfeld anything other than a minor miracle
in American TV history: one only moderately successful without
much TV experience was invited by NBC to come up with a show, and
ended up enlisting an obscure, notoriously querulous stand-up comedian
to write a sitcom about nothing other than the annoyances, misunderstandings
and bits of trivia that made up their daily conversation. After
disastrous focus group screenings, the four episodes that made
up the first 'season' were shelved, to be broadcast at last in
the worst possible time slot. Then, based solely on the conviction
of one NBC executive who refused to give up on the show, the network
ordered a second season of thirteen episodes, which weren't much
more of a success than those first four shows had been.
It wasn't ultimately until midway into the third season, by which
time the network at least was convinced of the series' quality,
if not of its ultimate longevity. But as we all know, Seinfeld swiftly
developed into a popular phenomenon from 1992 onwards, validating
the show's initial champions and turning its creators into multi-millionnaires
and worldwide celebrities. Even Larry David, the least known key
contributor whose personality and sense of humor were the crucial
ingredients for the show's success, has now become a recognizable
face following the success of his self-starring HBO series Curb
Your Enthusiasm. But as funny as that more recent comedy often
is, it lacks the combination of eccentric wit and general amiability
that continute to make Seinfeld such an infinitely rewatchable
delight that started off at an incredibly high level that it somehow
managed to sustain throughout its nine-year run. |
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Identical four-disc sets are
available for Region 1 and 2, also available in some countries
as an eight-disc gift set. The first set contains Season
1 and 2 along with an hour-long documentary on the creation
of the show, and the second set collects Season 3 along with
several featurettes and other extras.
The fullscreen
image is framed at its original broadcast aspect ratio of
approx. 1.33:1. The episodes have been remastered in High-Def
video and look better than you've probably seen them look
before. Colors are remarkably consistent and bright, apart
from the pilot, which has a slightly grainier look.
The Dolby Surround 2.0 sound mix is bright and crisp, that
familiar bass guitar line bouncing around pleasantly.
 As
rewatchable as most of these episodes are, the multitude
of extras on these sets offer a wide variety of ways tof
getting even more out of them. Not only are there audio commentary
tracks from all the key contributors (in a variety of combinations)
on many episodes, but there are deleted scenes, introductory
featurettes, and the invaluable 'information about nothing'
subtitle trivia track on all the shows. The hour-long documentary
on the show's creation and first year is the highlight of
the first box, but there are also hilarious bloopers and
a wide variety of featurettes to complement the seasons perfectly.
An ideal presentation that bodes well for the seasons yet
to arrive on DVD.
Dan
Hassler-Forest
Reviewed:
January 5, 2005
Click
here for IMDB info on Seinfeld.
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