#4: Mad About Seinfeld

As we have discussed in class, Seinfeld is a TV show which is highly unique to the sitcom genre. Clearly, it is in a class all its own with its uninspiring characters, subtly Jewish undertone, and minutiae of daily life. However, since Seinfeld appeared, America has bared witness to many sitcoms which resemble Seinfeld's quirkiness. One sitcom that seemed to stick out in my mind was Mad About You- the TV show which features a young couple surviving the ups and downs of marriage. Like Seinfeld, Mad About You focuses on minutiae of daily life for these working-class lovers. Also, Mad About You is based on the creator, Paul Reiser's, actual career of a film maker, and Seinfeld is based on Jerry Seinfeld's own comedian status. One more similarity between the two hit sitcoms is that there are ongoing jokes throughout seasons of each show. For instance, in Seinfeld Kramer is very much afraid of clowns, and that fact is joked about within different episodes. In Mad About You, something that is poked fun at is that Helen Hunt's character, Jaime Buchman, has a difficult relationship with her mother-in-law. This is joked about throughout the many seasons of this sitcom in various ways. This also relates back to the focus on daily minutiae which is seen in both Mad About You and Seinfeld because women today are often believed to have rocky relationships with their mothers-in-law. Many other sitcoms, both new and old, have placed focus on this fact and it has become accepted as humorous.