Seinfeld (BFI TV Classics) by Nicholas Mirzoeff

by Nicholas Mirzoeff

Excellent Book

Genres: The United States Of America

Paperback

First published January 22, 2007

Reviews

[Magdalena · Rating 4 out of 5]

What Flaubert and Jerry Seinfeld have in common, why the show has become a TV classic and what makes its jokes funny: the book tries to come up with answers to these questions and asks many more.
Not providing too much pop trivia, the author aims to analyse the show from the point of view of a British immigrant and a Cultural Studies Professor in the post-9/11 world. Of course, there's still place for lines that will never leave everyday conversations (not that there's anything wrong with that...).

[Andy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not what I expected. Unfunny.

[Evan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite thorough. I could have done without the once-per-chapter discussion of Freud (have we not disposed of his erroneous thinking yet?) but that's my only major complaint. I would have liked a touch more discussion of formal elements just because it is so lacking in critical discussions of TV, but that isn't really a negative point since this author's expertise seems to lie more in cultural depictions.

Its tone is amusingly British at times, in contrast to its very American subject matter. This is often a refreshingly different take on the subject, but also is a limitation as the author occasionally seems to lack a broad understanding of both the current and past landscape of American TV programming and the modern critical discussion of American TV.