Much has been written about Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld's impact on network television. They created the format, the four lead characters and the style of a show that redefined the sitcom.
But they didn't do it alone.
I've been looking back at "Seinfeld" recently and I think it's worth exploring the impact of early Larry Charles and Peter Mehlman on the construction and development of the main "Seinfeld" cast.
Both started writing for the show in Series Two and - between David, Seinfeld, Charles and Mehlman - all four ended up at least co-writing 100% of Series Two, 82.6% of Series Three, 87.5% of Series Four and 67.6% of Series Five. Charles left at the end of Series Five.
The writing became much less centralised in the post-Larry Charles years. As a point of comparison, the three most prolific writing teams of Series Six and Seven - David, Mehlman and Gammill & Ross - contributed 50% of scripts. In the post-Larry David seasons of Eight and Nine, the most credited writers - Berg & Schaffer, Mandel and Feresten - produced 41.% of those years' scripts.
That's likely how the show became broader and zanier - with no vision (or a collective vision) for the show, the priority became laughs at the expense of core writing values that David, Seinfeld, Charles and Mehlman brought to those early years.
In the below post, I will be exploring Charles and Mehlman's respective visions for the characters from Series Two-Five and how their versions helped to define Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer from their very different incarnations in the first season.
It's long but I think these ideas are worth exploring.
JERRY
The first season, Charles-free version of the character is a more conventional sitcom hero: he's frequently down-trodden, he struggles with a will-they-won't-they dynamic with Elaine and he is a lot more sensitive to the feelings of others. Charles' work on the character helped to define the character as one of life's winners: while early episodes like "The Robbery" and "The Stock Tip" concentrate on George's prosperous financial status, Charles sought to emphasise Jerry's success relative to his friendship group. While sitcom convention favored relatability and thwarted ambition, Charles discovered that it was possible for Jerry's comic sensibility to involve victories or, at least, balance. "The Airport" seems to be the inspiration for "The Opposite" and earlier Charles episodes culminate with a positive out
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Can we just appreciate Larry Charles as a writer? He made both Seinfeld and Curb a little better or at least a bit darker.
>Joel Embiid is just the 5th player in the last 40 seasons with 40 points, 15 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 steals in a game
>
>alongside Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, Vince Carter and Anthony Davis
Absolutely monstrous game from Joel Embiid in this one. What makes this even more impressive is that it was on the 2nd night of a B2B.
Good afternoon,
I would like help finding this book, ebook, pdf, if possible. Also, if anyone can find the 7th edition that would be good.
Thanks!
Hi y’all!
Just thought I’d share my opinion a little... does anyone else feel the episodes written by Larry Charles were... well, worse than the others?
I mean, not that they’re all bad, but a lot of them seem much darker, much... creepier than the others. You know the ones: The Keys/the Trip, all the appearances of Crazy Joe Devola... They’re always featuring characters that don’t seem to belong and are deeply unsettling, like the failed actress that Kramer meets in LA or the guys that are with him (Charles Manson “Family” types) when he tells the story of the keys in The Trip... Or the cleaner guy and his girlfriend in The Statue... or Joe Devola himself.
I always feel weird watching these particular episodes and only quite recently realised they were all written by Larry Charles.
Anybody else?
Bill Brundige
- Shot Put (College) - 56' 01.5
- College - Colorado
Rico Smith
- 55m - 6.18
- 100m - 10.57
- College - Colorado
Cliff Branch
- 55m - 6.14
- 60yd - 6.0
- 300yd - 30.2
- Big 8 Champion in 60yd in 1971 & 1972
- 1972 Big 8 Champion in 440yd Relay
Rae Carruth
- 55m - 6.2
- 200m - 21.5
- College - Colorado
Merwin Hodel
- 60ydH (Low) - 7.0
- Big 7 Champion in the 60yd Low Hurdles
Larry Brunson
- 1972 Big 8 Champion in 440yd Relay
- College - Colorado
Charles Johnson
- 1994 Big 8 Champion in Distance Medley Relay
- College - Colorado
All 4 of the top 4 teams have WR as a top 5 team need.
Obviously the Bengals are out because they are going Burrow.
I find it interesting that in this year's "historic" WR class no one is talking about WR to the Redskins, Lions, or Giants.
I know it's a deep year too, but even in 2004 when a record 7 WRs went in the first round we still had Calvin Johnson go 3rd overall (as well as Roy Williams and Reggie Williams at 7 and 9). In 2014, the deepest year ever, that saw 14 WRs go in the first 2 rounds and Sammy Watkins still went 4th overall.
So which is it? Is it a historic class with multiple elite WRs or just a deep class with many good WRs but no top end guys worth a top 6 pick? If these guys are supposed to be the next generation of studs, why does almost every mock have none of them in the top 10?
