How Sitcoms Deal with Death

[@videojames290]

Malcolm in the middle did a really graceful job of transitioning between seasons and periods. Even though you can sense time passing it's clear that the show does as well, and the level of production rises in a really natural way

[@Irishgunner414]

Malcom in the middle was great

[@mysteryyoshi4917]

I would say seinfeld’s ending is a preferred one since you see them finally getting what they deserve from them being assholes but also since it’s a show about nothing and a sitcom that shows you life goes on, we get taken away from that window because do you really wanna see them do their jail routine for a year? They even showed in the credits with jerry doing jail standup and it felt like at that point it would be a serialized show with always seeing recurring characters and seeing the gang’s emotions and character changing with each interaction and that ruins the point of their characters because they need to be shown in the outside world for them to retain their asshole behaviors and how their mess ups connect to the other and being affected by it.

[@kweenkong2281]

Spot on🎉

[@johnykilroy5521]

They go to jail and they continue to go about their lives exactly with the same attitude. As if you say they didn't care what the critics and the naysayers thought. They did a show how they wanted to do it. It ended it the same

[@magicgotaidz]

Also fun to point out they went to jail for essentially doing nothing too

[@jorgesuspenso5105]

It' s not a show about nothing! People really misunderstood the meaning of that line!

[@StormForthcoming]

I love how poetic an ending Seinfeld is. The characters are trapped in prison, forced to act out their roles forever, but the audience is free. We pan out, we move on with our lives, but a sitcom can’t. It’s a product of it’s time, and will rot forever.

[@octopickle8]

That sounds like a great concept for a phycological horror film or book

[@alface935]

​@@octopickle8True

[@redactedinfo8557]

bro added something to the show about nothing

[@MaydupNem]

that's a shockingly good take on what I never really saw as a good finale before now

[@JBergmansson]

I actually really like the ending of Seinfeld. If nothing else, it is unexpected, it fits the show, and it has a bit of poetry to it. Of course people hated it, people love generic and expected things.

[@RandomSkyeRoses]

I like the ending of Seinfeld too

[@_marlene]

the last moment is fantastic. The last episode really dragged, though. I think Jerry's resisting commercial pressure to abuse the show's legacy solidifies it as the greatest work of the television era. It's shakespeare...except that last episode, and the (2?) recap episodes, really dragged. The poetry of the ending is ideal but the ep sucks.

[@randomguyontheinternet7940]

I've grown to like it. It does what a lot of endings try to do now but a lot more subtley (The whoile lop premise where the show's ending mirrors the beginning.) Kinda sad this kind of ending has become a cliche, but atleast some shows pull it off well.

[@quiteabizarreone6441]

Somewhat related but I think the best example of what you said is waterfalls in video games. A treasure behind a waterfall is generic and expected, considered cliché. When there's nothing but a stone wall behind that waterfall though, we get disappointed.

[@obamafan1]

I like the ending, the episodes where they parody the oj trial are always funny to me and I think its pretty funny to send the main characters to prison as a final farewell

[@jeylavan4914]

for those who are curious, the text at 8:39 says "It's 3AM and I somehow missed the fact that I called "The Doctor" Doctor Who at this part in the script, please don't skin me alive if you're a fan of the series, thank you." now you dont need to press pause and play over and over again to catch that :)

[@ThomasZT]

You can pause videos and skip just one frame forward with the point key. You can skip one frame back with the comma key. You can rapidly press or just hold them down.

[@eveykhan]

Thank you for your service

[@Knightros]

@@ThomasZTAight but mobile users?

[@SerAbiotico]

What's the problem with calling him 'the doctor'?

[@quilli1222]

​@SerAbiotico late reply but in the video he called him "doctor who" which is the name of the show while the character is named "the doctor" there is no problem with calling him the doctor.

[@nawarb.4226]

The best example of a sitcom dealing with the episodic loop has got to be The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. After a season and a half involving multiple summer breaks and winter holidays while no one seemed to age, it was revealed that the world is actually stuck in a time loop of the main character's creation. This effectively gave the series an end condition: it's all over when the time loop is over, because at that point, the MC's overarching goal will have been fulfilled.

[@imperialbagel]

It's a good explanation but I also hate how it ends because it leaves so many things hanging and open for interpretation.

[@vinegar...]

Really like how you ended the video the same way you started it, emphasizes the idea of it all just looping well. Also that was a good video just in general.

[@tateoctober814]

I know its a little unrelated, but the Seinfeld finale ends with the Green Day song Good Riddance (Time of Your Life). This song is famously used at graduations, weddings, proms, etc because it sounds like a sweet, nostalgic song. However, the song was actually written as a sarcastic fuck you to the singer's ex-girlfriend who dumped him (thus the "Good Riddance"). I find this funny, since the ending of Seinfeld deliberately goes out of its way to not be a finale episode, leaving all the threads completely open and all the characters literally in jail. It makes the song choice seem deliberate.

[@abbiehayhurst]

gotta love billie joe!!!

[@themccarthyproject8654]

I really feel like the Seinfeld ending has aged amazingly. Of course at the time it’s sad that it’s ending and it’d be upsetting to know that the last time you see these characters is on such a note. But it’s not the last time you see them. It repeats and I know just like me many others have rewatched the series countless times. It’s not the last time you see them, the cycle repeats in such a perfect way.

[@draakisback]

Great video. You know it's funny a lot of people hated the Seinfeld ending but honestly I quite liked it. It does the exact opposite thing that the audience expects and yet this is the same thing that the show has been doing for 9 seasons, after all it's a show about nothing. There's something kind of magical in the fact that it was able to create such symmetry and yet still do something that so many people think is controversial and subversive. The problem with serialized TV and even non serialized TV shows like sitcoms is that it's almost a no win game when you get to that point. So many shows either veer into territory that doesn't make sense in the context of the original conceit of the show; the office for example ends on a very heartfeld ending and yet the show was supposed to be a comedy. Another show that comes to mind is scrubs, the scrubs finale (not counting that bizarre last season), was again a tonal shift away from what scrubs normally was. This isn't to say that Scrubs didn't have dramatic moments but obviously the ending was very much for the fans. If you think about these shows as episodes in the lives of these characters it doesn't actually make sense to have such a long dramatic ending. I don't know if the Seinfeld ending was planned out at any point before they knew that the 9th season would be the last but it did in my opinion the best job of closing a series in a way that is consistent with the rest of the series while also poking fun at the characters who for all intents are really bad people.

[@Grymyrk]

Just like how every episode resets, so does the entire show. A fitting ending.

[@PotatoPatatoVonSpudsworth]

This made me want to see a movie about Wile E. Coyote after he breaks from his loop. Call it "After The Roadrunner," and have it be an existential art piece about a clever coyote who's lived his entire life jumping from one goal to the next, now suddenly forced to stand still.

[@MacaqueStinx]

Your videos touch on the feeling of existential dread that constantly gnaws at the back of my mind. I love it, and I hate it.

[@jasonday5143]

Nice! Love the inclusion of Don Hertzfeldt's Simpsons couch gag. You know what's up. That opening had me sobbing, and it's clear it stuck out to you in a similar way it stuck out to me.

[@alexcargill8855]

Something that I always loved about Community is that it moved forward while still managing to keep the episodic style of the series, but you never noticed when will it moved the plot forward. It’s just like life, almost every day is the same, while some others your old friend dies and the group starts to change.

[@Xegethra]

This is what soaps do. Only without nearly as many jokes. Shows like Eastenders and Coronation Street and the like.

[@Miss_Claire]

I love these type of video essays. This deserves so many more views. Keep it up

[@pamallama]

8:39 I’m more mad at you at this moment for making me spend so much time trying to pause the video to read the text than I am for the mistake of calling him “Doctor Who.” 😂

[@zachariahmerry2396]

A useful tip if you're on browser: You can use "," to go backwards a frame and "." to go forwards. Incredibly handy for getting those 1-frame shots.

[@_t03r]

​@@zachariahmerry2396 True, but it's much harder on mobile. Slow down to x0.25, double tab the play/pause button as fast as possible and it still takes me a dozen attempts to hold on the correct frame 😂

[@oofiethetroll2059]

I was able to get it first try on mobile at normal speed 🤷‍♂️

[@MrLiberty1776]

Might you know who the woman is at 5:24 in the video?

[@calypso3316]

Took me a bit on mobile as well, but he doesn't wish to be maimed by the Doctor Who fans for a 3 in the morning blunder 😊

[@ShyGuyXXL]

From the title I thought this was goint to be a video about what Sitcoms do when their actors die in real life. Like how the actors are replaced or maybe written off the show or whatever.

[@koeniging]

I’ve never thought of Seinfield’s ending as a “non-ending.” Comedies like Friends and The Office end at a certain point when everyone seems to go their separate ways - didn’t Seinfield effectively do this? If we were to continue from this point naturally we’d have to follow the three men completely or share some focus with Elaine in a women’s prison… but then what? They eventually go their own ways. I think it was a fitting ending tbh

[@Irishgunner414]

True and they kinda wrapped it up like by bringing back all the people they did wrong for the court sequence

[@p1xelat3d]

Thinking too much about things people don't usually stop to realise is my favorite activity and that's literally your channel in a nutshell I love it

[@momodolape]

amazing writing and editing and a fabulous view on not literal death, but rather tv death

[@legendaryswordsman2279]

Not where I thought this video was going but I’m here for it

[@Sanomorf]

This is a really good video I never watched seinfeld and you did say people hated the ending but, the way you said it in the video made me completely fall in love with it The idea of people just existing and be able to just live and be in their own world is nice, they dont need to have an ending if they have themselves This is a weird connection but this reminds me of the anime cowboy bebop in a way The characters of cowboy bebop (except for 1) all already had their story and had their lives of "sitcom" already done, their journey is complete and theyre now just living what their past brings to them now, but they dont change and they dont want to, because they already learned and lived all they needed when they were younger, they didnt have an ending before so why have one now? They just keep going with their lives now Seinfeld's ending seems like it's exactly that too. The characters are just having a normal story, theyre being themselves and laughing, because what else would you do? These characters have enjoyed just being themselves and just having a story of silly and funny things, if we know the characters are still being themselves, the ones we the audience like, we wouldnt need anything else because we know how their world works, we had our fun with them but both our lives and the ones in seinfeld continue. It doesn't need to have a complicated ending or something that'll make you cry. You can choose your own ending, and if the one you want is as ending where youre just talking to your friends showing that they enjoy being there, its nice. I like this ending of a sitcom i never watched, but I respect it now

[@HalIucinations]

The ending of Seinfeld was ahead of its time

[@Mart1n192]

9:53 i was kinda waiting for the whole video for this specific moment to be referenced that couch gag was insane

[@JustDanishXD]

Well they deal with it, but we never get past it, it's just sad, man 😔

[@maxwowmax]

It’s been talked about countless times - but the sitcom “Dinosaurs” had a very interesting/controversial end as well. It’s so neat to see the philosophies of different showrunners come through in their finales.

[@broken_sheep6622]

I like how adventure time had a simular ending, and in the show when they asked what happened to our main charicters, BMO said that they just kept living their lives. While we dont really see much of what happened in their lives after that, im glad with distant lands they gave some closure. I didn't watch Seinfeld, but the ending reminds me alot of that. Great video!

[@JohnStanworth]

I like the ending of Seinfeld. How else could they give one last, quick appeare of every, popular character than on a jury stand? Getting the show Jerry comes full circle but then subverting that is a typical plot of Seinfeld. Leaving the characters on a drastically different note is like saying "Hey, we're not bound by the episodic forumla anymore."

[@7u381]

"You can’t have happy endings in sitcoms, not really, because, if everyone’s happy, the show would be over, and above all else, the show… has to keep going. There’s always more show. And you can call Horsin’ Around dumb, or bad, or unrealistic, but there is nothing more realistic than that. You never get a happy ending, ‘cause there’s always more show. (...) I guess until there isn't." - Bojack Horseman.

[@dgshaw1967]

Seinfeld is one of the few shows that you don't immediately think of the ending. Maybe they knew what they were doing

[@MegaMagicdog]

For a long time, many shows both dramas and sitcoms would end like you stated for Seinfeld, essentially, closing that world off forever with no resolutions or finalities. That's why The Fugitive was famous for it's finale (once the highest rated of all time) in which the loose ends were wrapped up, the killer dies and Dr. Kimble is exonerated and left to ponder his next move as a free man. I like it if there is a finale to various shows. Some shows and characters need to be closed with a deserved and fitting finale, rather than just another episode as if it were coming back again next season. A decent show should have a plan in mind - like a book or a play.

[@xdarkjimmyx]

I love that you chose WKUK for the bit about sketch comedy. It’s always great to see another WKUKer! Great videos man, I’m binging your channel

[@xdarkjimmyx]

@@kylespevak6781 Aww, man… I envy you greatly

[@moonxliqht]

i LOVE this analysis. seinfeld is one of my favourite shows and i love what this brings to the table!

[@partymantis3421]

i thought you meant like, death of the characters on the show or of their actors rather thain the figurative death of the show itself pleasantly surprised, you are doing great

[@RationalGamers]

It's interesting that shows that do the will they won't they thing and then have them get married and have kids are usually always worse when they do. It's almost like the getting together of those correlates with when the writers didn't want to do it anymore. I think that's why friends is so beloved because they knew the paradigm shifts of Ross and Rachel finally getting together and Monika and chandler having kids would spell the end so they made it the end and didn't drag it on

[@terracottagecheese2767]

I have a tendency to somewhat dread when two main characters actually get together, married, have kids, etc. because the writers never seem to know what to do with them after the will they, won't they ends. I've just always felt like, 7 times out of 10, the relationship between the two characters somehow, how do I put this, dips in quality? As if, like you said, the writers didn't want to do it anymore.

[@meleepinata]

The ending is there with Seinfeld. The joke comes full circle but it's the long game. The joke always comes full circle in Seinfeld.

[@Cubnooble]

My parents had their wedding on the night of the Seinfeld finale and everyone was at the bar watching it during the reception, lol

[@TheChiacch]

Great video man. Hi from Argentina.

[@Ceejmm]

Bro please do more of these, excellent work!

[@julianaalexander]

Talking about long TV shows. My mom's favorite show is The Young & the Restless which has 50 seasons, 12.5k episodes, & has been airing since 1973. She's watched this show before me, with me in her stomach, and now I watch it with her occasionally. The show is double my age & has actors that have celebrated 45 years of being on it

[@ashley3k]

Wow what a great video!!!! You had me actually clapping and cheering at that bit about The Simpsons. Couldnt agree more. Please keep up all your hard work! Grateful to have stumbled upon it. ^.^

[@noahking2896]

Found you recently. Your stuff is great

[@ziggyciggs5862]

so cool. you close the window. another banger judge

[@loganvlachoyannis8700]

Dude, your content has quickly become my absolute favorite on the platform, I love your takes and your videos. Please keep up the good work!

[@rohitchaoji]

This brings a whole new context to that surreal fever dream of the infinitely generated Seinfeld AI

[@Jimboy8023]

I find it interesting that Seinfeld ends with a showcase for why the show must end because Jerry ends up recycling his old material. The show ends right as it's about to enter it's zombie era, it shows us what we narrowly avoided by having the sitcom end at right that moment.

[@cultofmrozinski368]

Everyone knows the canon ending for Seinfeld is when the FBI shoot Jerry after he became Kramer’s cable boy.

[@teajart]

Dude you are exactly how I wish to speak and explain things

[@zacharyfredricksen1381]

The ending of Seinfeld is perfect. After watching the last episode watch season 1 to 9 and repeat. The loop will never end!

[@cacaisaac]

i really like the seinfeld ending, it fits the show so well.

[@Mibbitmaker]

First... The Road Runner were theatrical shorts, not a TV show. They've been shown on TV, often as a compilation of cartoons under a title. And... I liked the ending of Seinfeld. Best was the fact that they now had all the time in world (for a year) to talk observational minutia, and they, only then, finally run out of "material". In the tag, Jerry's act, based on said minutia, doesn't even work on his inmate audience.

[@West_Coast_Mainline]

You know sandman, the east german show, they still make episodes

[@growingupwithdisney]

I’ve never watched Seinfeld, and that’s actually a funny and interesting way to end the show lol. If I watched the show, I’d probably be disappointed, but I’ve never seen an tv ending like that lol

[@landoftheninja]

Damn. I should give Mash another watch

[@BlueLock-np7ud]

I loved that wkuk shout out

[@finnie4394]

I thought this was gonna be about how they deal with deaths in the show. Non the less still a great video

[@buzinessdog]

in 60 seconds in and I can already tell that this one is a banger

[@harjapoo5793]

This is a really good video

[@calcreats]

I love the Wkuk shoutout!!!

[@sampeacaml9307]

The split-second text at 8:38 is an apology for calling the Doctor Doctor Who.

[@martino5742]

Obviously i cried my balls out (eyeballs) at the office finale because i am a human but i also liked the seinfeld finale as well. I think i was vaguely aware that it wasnt received well at the time, but i wasnt thinking about that when i first watched it. I was pretty surprised that it was so hated tho cuz all of the characters coming back seemed like a fun crowd pleaser and it was pretty in like with the show thematically. Ig its kind of disappointing that it was only one plot, so there werent the intersecting stories with the satisfying ending, either fitting or ironic. They did kinda just plop their message on the table, but it was pretty fun. And it was the right time to end. Season 9 had a few gems that still live on in the zeitgeist, but the shark was jumped long ago and it was going downhill. We didnt need more Larryless pain

[@memeconnoisseur3002]

Glad I discovered your channel, rlly well made content

[@noahinvero351]

"End" is something we wish for, something we make, but that doesn't exist

[@oyisankukwana4010]

your description of The Simpsons 😭😭

[@Btomaek]

showes that end > shows that don't

[@doctordanger4143]

Love WKUK, RIP Trevor Moore Fucking legend.

[@GlennDavey]

I definitely remember being a kid watching the last Seinfeld episode with my friend around the same time as we watched an episode of the Simpsons that was kinda... less funny... than we were used to... the beginnings of the zombie simpsons

[@vein5]

george costanza poisoning and killing his fiance is still peak comedy

[@joboxer42]

The Sopranos would have been a perfect mention here too. Ignoring the implied fate of Tony, ultimately it too ends by cutting the cable and are window into that world, much like Seinfeld.

[@tekbox7909]

I never watched seinfeld but from what I heard about it here and elsewhere the ending sounds fitting

[@georginolaws5568]

How did this video about sitcoms become kinda terrifying

[@bobojenkins5805]

Seinfelds loop with no progression makes you feel like you just wasted your time watching it and there was no purpose or progress just empty wasted time

[@BaronVonQuiply]

00:03 I'm not joking here. I can taste the bitterness of envelope glue as the camera approaches the diner. If you don't touch on Susan's death, that will be awkward. 06:29 Awkwardness averted.

[@AlexDaeling]

What a fantastic thumbnail

[@p1xelat3d]

Don Hertzfeldt.

[@johnykilroy5521]

To this day one of my favorite endings. It was genius. I'm glad someone saw it the way I did. I've had many arguments about this ending.

[@APersonTM]

8:39 I spent a solid two minutes trying to pause perfectly to see what it said so might going to help some other people out, it says- “It’s 3am and I somehow missed the fact that I called “the doctor” doctor who at this part in the script, please don’t skin me alive if you’re a fan of the series, thank you.”

[@youssefmehana1249]

Entertainment is gonna confuse the hell out of future history nerds and joke books too

[@nataliecostanza3463]

another judge classic

[@penazas3116]

[The Sopranos spoilers ahead] It's funny how the ideia of the ending of Seinfeld and The Sopranos actually matches in a way: an ending that is not an ending / closing the window the viewer has into that reality. Also, The Sopranos has a weird connection with sitcoms in general, given how a lot of scenarios are used throughout the whole show and, while not being episodic, you have threads that last a couple of episodes and resolve themselves, so that's at least similar. P.S.: I know that you can interpret The Sopranos' finale as Tony dying, but I can still see the connection between it and Seinfeld's finale, at least in a more literal way.

[@murco_]

everyone knows after seinfeld jerry turns himself into a bee

[@intellectually_lazy]

obviously the sweaty guy with the headphones is Q

[@rachelkessler5901]

a combination of episodic and serial would be a loopdyloop

[@dougfowler1368]

@thecursedJudge others have mentioned Cheers after season 3 and 8 Simple Rules as major sitcoms who have had characters die. Barney Miller is another, Jack Soo who played Detective Yemana (sp?) died midseason, something like season four or five. But what I don't know is if any sitcoms had a character whose actor slowly was dying in real life so they had a chance to prepare which is what you seem to be talking about. The first were sudden, but I don't know about Jack Soo. From what I recall they immortalized the actor but also made it feel as if the character had also passed which was very nice. Of course I was about ten when I saw it. Yes I loved history current events and the news then and it was great for discussion in my family.

[@dariosmagata8481]

The one thing I never liked about the Seinfeld finale was that Kramer was holding the camera. I think it was out of character for him not to intervene - he usually had a sense of morality that the others didn't, even if it was warped, he seemed to do what he thought was the right thing most of the time.

[@GumCow]

I enjoyed the Seinfeld ending. Though I would like to see the cast return for a get together, or one off episode, before they get too old and die.

[@Tom.Livanos]

This is the end... My one and only friend, the end...

[@honeyBv]

My life is a hybrid show.

[@jennarhodes2724]

Are you kidding throwing all your sitcom characters in jail is an iconic ending

[@TheCursedJudge]

I like the ending! Other people didn't

[@charlieme5150]

"It's 3AM and I somehow missed the fact that I called "The Doctor" Doctor Who at this part in the script, please don't skin me alive if you're a fan of the series, thank you."

[@rockethola3515]

Tbf we really got an ending 10 years later on Curb your enthusiasm

[@impastabowl2328]

I like how the UK office ended, it knew when to stop and leave a good thing be before it became dried out.

[@wellesradio]

6:26 WTF? No, she didn’t. She was just a normal person who had the misfortune of getting involved with George Costanza. Nobody stands a chance under Constanza’s … pants? I don’t know, but if she had deserved it, it wouldn’t be funny. Her death coming out of left field and George’s subsequent reaction is what made it funny!

[@MrLiberty1776]

Might you know who the woman is at 5:24 in the video

[@smbsuperfan271]

8:39 don’t worry, we’re an understanding fan base… mostly

[@Frustratedartist2]

I think the ending is bad not for lack of closure, but for being so off in themes, voice and tone. There are suddenly no jokes and a judge carries a speech about the characters being assholes. It's very serious, quiet and eerie. Also, I think that deciding that the characters were bad people implied that liking these characters makes you also a bad person of sorts, which rubbed people the wrong way. I think there was a downhill slide over the show's course, from sarcastic slice-of-life to nihilism and selfishness. Maybe the writers understood that, and wanted to turn the wheel back. If so, it wasn't done elegantly or gradually, hence the backlash.

[@DoobieKeebler]

Its funny because people have that always uneasy feeling about Curb. "Will this be the last? Will we be lucky enough to get another season?"

[@acejinwoo]

The Seinfeld ending is absolutely beautiful ❤

[@robyn3600]

really really good video!!! usually put on video essays as background noise but you made so many new and interesting points I was so interested the whole way through. brilliant mate :)

[@kodiwinslow6583]

the finale of seinfeld is clearly a symbolisation of how the characters were trapped in a prison of mediocrity