Friday, January 23, 2009

Seinfeld or Friends?

25 comments:

Martin Andres Austermuhle said...

Seinfeld.

Leslie said...

Ditto. Seinfeld.

P.S. I want to give Martin a shout-out for continuing to be the first to answer.

Anonymous said...

If forced to pick, Seinfeld, but I have nothing against Friends.

John said...

Friends, I think Seinfeld was good, but more like the warm up to Curb.

As for Friends, I think with 6 actors they had more to play with. Seinfeld's comedy was more along the lines of "isn't it weird that..." since it was about nothing, Friends could do those jokes, but also ones when did shows about something.

How's that comedy snobs?

Anonymous said...

When I catch reruns of Friends, I realize I didn't appreciate it at the time b/c it was so trendy. Those episodes can be pretty funny. While Seinfeld might be all 'ground breaking' in terms of comedy, I don't know if it will hold up as well. Though, if I say that, does that mean Arrested Development won't hold up well (except for us snobs who will never let it go)?

Dan said...

Seinfeld was genius. Friends was sappy.

Unknown said...

Friends. No contest. To me (and I respect differences of opinion here) the comedy has held up better and frankly I can't stand the sound of Jerry's voice when I watch Seinfeld reruns.

Anonymous said...

Seinfeld was for the intellectual man. Though, in retrospect, both shows are really about nothing. Yay 90's!

Anonymous said...

Seinfeld. Is this even a question?

W said...

Not being an intellectual, and having nothing in common with the characters in Seinfeld (this matters to me, particularly re: humor) I am definitely a Friends girl.

pinchie said...

Seinfeld.

I used to vehemently oppose Friends. I thought it was totally unfunny. But now I find myself watching reruns and enjoying them. Is it my age or just the lack of sitcom selections??

Anonymous said...

Friends hands down. I can not explain why I find that show so funny, I just do.

beenu said...

seinfeld.

norris, i'm still a comedy snob! and friends still sucks.

Unknown said...

Seinfeld, but when Friends was at its peak, I personally believe it was on par with Seinfeld. Unfortunately the show jumped the shark big time once Chandler and Monica got together.

Cate said...

Seinfeld. I've yet to have anyone explain to my satisfaction how or why Friends is superior to any other trite sitcom. It can be clever, but its still just fluff.

Think of it like a meal - you could go to Tom Colicchio's Craft or you can go to Chili's.

Scottie said...

Torn. Seinfeld was absolute genius, and actually contributed to our current vernacular...I mean, the word 'regift' has become commonplace...and I can't count the number of times I've referred to someone as the (Insert name here) Nazi. But yeah, I've watched a few episodes lately, and they just don't hold up as well. Friends, on the other hand, is still entertaining. Not profound by any stretch, but still watchable. Screw it. I'll watch MASH reruns.

Scottie said...

And I'd have to halfway agree with RyMecz about the show jumping the shark, but not about the timing...it really jumped the shark when Joey and Rachel had their little whatever. The episode where everyone finds out about Chandler and Monica has probably some of the best lines in the entire run of the series, culminating in Chandler's profession of lust for Phoebe..."I'm very happy we're going to have all the sex."

Mike said...

Truly one of the great questions of our time. Let's go to the video tape.

Seinfeld ran from 1989-1998
Friends ran from 1994-2004

Nielsen's Ratings
http://www.angelfire.com/ny2/televisioncity/9095.html

http://www.angelfire.com/ny2/televisioncity/9500.html

1994
Seinfeld #3
Friends >#25

1995
Seinfeld #1
Friends #8

1996
Seinfeld #2
Friends #3

1997
Seinfeld #2
Friends #3

1998
Seinfeld #1
Friends #5

Amazon dvd sales rank
http://www.amazon.com/Seinfeld-Seasons-1-2-Jerry/dp/B00005JLEX/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1232727086&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Friends-Complete-Season-Jennifer-Aniston/dp/B00005YU81/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1232726315&sr=1-3

Seinfeld Seasons 1 & 2 #1792
Friends Season 1 #2054

Any questions?

Yum Chilis!

Cate said...

Mike wanted to add this:

1994-1995
1. Seinfeld - 20.5
8. Friends - 16.1

1995-1996
2. Seinfeld - 21.2
3. Friends - 18.7

1996-1997
2. Seinfeld - 21.2
4. Friends - 16.8

1997-1998
1. Seinfeld - 22.0
4. Friends - 16.4

And in 1998-1999 season without Seinfeld's help Friends dropped to a 15.7. Then it kept dropping:

1999-2000 - 13.8
2000-2001 - 12.6

Anonymous said...

Love the stats, but I gotta go with friends here ( that may be though because I have a bit of a girl crush on Jennifer Ainston!)

Scottie said...

Much as I admire the statistics, just because a lot of people are watching it doesn't mean it's good. I mean, Nickelback's got a couple of platinum records...

Mike said...

Are we going to get into the definition of a good television show?

While I agree with your statement, lets assume that people generally spend their time watching shows that they like. Lets also assume that the goal of television is to produce media that people enjoy.

Given these assumptions and the fact that more people watched Seinfeld then Friends, I believe we can conclude that more people like Seinfeld than Friends and therefore it is a more successful or better show.

The fact that Friends' rating declined when they were not followed by Seinfeld is icing on the proverbial Friends sucks cake.

Mike said...

Admittedly, Leslie's question was a bit ambiguous. If she is asking which do you like better than there is no wrong answer. If she is asking which is better...

Leslie said...

Ah, Mike has found me out. I aim for ambiguity. It tends to lead to more answers. :) And there are no wrong answers on qotd.

Leslie said...

Oh and in response to Ryan's comment about Friends jumping the shark when Monica and Chandler got together. I once saw an interview with the creator (or one of the creators) of the show and he said they had always planned on those two getting together. He said the Ross and Rachel thing was only supposed to be a quick storyline but they kept it going because the fans ate it up. Hmmm...