Seinfeld’s real genius was always the way the script managed to tie together multiple storylines into a cohesive whole.
The best example is probably the Marine Biologist episode. You could have never predicted that there would be any connection between golf balls and whales.
It sometimes beautifully worked across seasons as in "The Puffy Shirt" (where George becomes a hand model).
I think this was mostly Larry David's work. Jason Alexander once mentioned in an interview that after David left, this "dovetailing" of story lines kind of stopped, and I tend to agree. David continued it (even more pronounced) in "Curb Your Enthusiasm". Even the golf ball twist was kind of repeated - in extreme form and with a baseball - in "Curb".
Side note: another early TV show that often pulled this off to great effect was "The Honeymooners". I think this is the show that had the most influence on Seinfeld. Ed Norton is basically Kramer, Ralph Kramden is basically George, Alice is Elaine, and Alice's mother is Newman (you can also map "The Honeymooners" characters, and even entire plot lines, to "The Flintstones", but that is another story, and AFAIK Jacky Gleason, the creator of "The Honeymooners", considered suing Hanna-Barbera in the 60ies).
Jerry Seinfeld himself once said that we should wait and see if "Seinfeld" is still funny in 50 years like "The Honeymooners" (that was 20 years ago).
The amazing thing is even the writers didn’t know that episode was going to end that way until the night before they shot the ending. Here’s Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld talking about it: https://youtu.be/uZPSO4yte8k
I checked out this show on yr recommendation. I usually much prefer British tv to US American tv but on this occasion I found the British show vastly inferior. I found Coupling to be crass, unfunny and tedious. I also didn't find it doing what was the subject of discussion here - bringing multiple story lines together in an amusing and clever way.
"I’d like to say it worked organically or it worked from going backwards, but it worked and didn’t work in all of those ways. It never really happened the same way twice. A couple of times, I would think that I had it down pat, like in the episode with Teri Hatcher, “The Implant.” I had stories, but I also started off with four or five really great scenes. They had nothing to do with each other, but I knew they would make great scenes, so I started finding a way of mating them together. That episode came out great, so I thought that that was the way I would always do it. It never worked that way again. The process of that was pretty much a struggle every time."
"David: As soon as the read-through started, the laughs were huge. Big, satisfying laughs. I would glance at [the executives’] faces and they seemed to be enjoying it. You could sense it was a very special show. Then we all walked back to our office afterwards and I think one or two NBC executives were there and they had nothing. They just said, “Very funny.” And I was shocked.
Littlefield: They read it and it was hilarious. And Rick, as an executive for NBC, knew, “Uh-oh, shit’s going to hit the fan.” The broadcast standards executive who was there, was like, “What the fuck?” And Rick was like, “I didn’t know!”
Given that the chemistry of the actors was a huge part of the show's success, it stands to reason that you would drop anyone who everyone didn't gel with.
I just wrote another comment about this. Supposedly Jason didn't feel it with Heidi (Susan) and so the relationship was discontinued at some point. I'd say this specifically might be why the relationship worked so well on screen.
Sometimes what a project like a sitcom or a business needs is rather someone or several members who don't fit in. Because otherwise you start to suffer from creative and intellectual incest.
I read it on reddit that Jason didn't enjoy working with Heidi as in his opinion acting chemistry was missing. If I think about it that might actually be true but was probably contributing to why that relationship was so enjoyable to watch.
What a prick. The more I learn about the core Seinfeld group the less I like them. Googling Heidi Swedberg and looking at some pics of her it seems obvious why they didn't get along with her. She's a genuinely likeable and good-hearted person. At least that's my impression.
I'd argue this episode rather lends itself as an example how not to do it. The connection is just too cartoonish and random for me to find it funny. Other than that - great episode. I'm a huge Seinfeld fan.
The best example is probably the Marine Biologist episode. You could have never predicted that there would be any connection between golf balls and whales.