Jerry Seinfeld, Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michael Richards

It might pain some people to hear it, but by its ninth season ''Seinfeld'' was ready to retire. It had not jumped the shark and it still delivered its share of quotable quotes and water cooler moments, but the writing had become contrived and it had started to feel more like a sitcom than something fresh and new. The cast and crew were smart enough to get out while they were still on top – a chance The Simpsons team missed eight or nine years ago.

So what did the final series of ''Seinfeld'' deliver? It’s not short on classic episodes, that’s for sure. We have ‘The Butter Shave’, where Kramer uses butter as shaving cream and then as moisturiser (who could ever forget the disturbing image of Michael Richards done up like a roast chicken?); ‘The Serenity Now’ made George’s dad’s bizarre relaxation chant a common expression of frustration, and ‘The Frogger’, where George discovers he still has the high score on an old arcade game in a pizza parlour he and Jerry once frequented.

But for each of these there are two unremarkable or forgettable episodes. Perhaps most disappointing of all is the finale, which had the potential to be something special but amounts to a clip show, some recycled jokes and an anti-climax. In the special features on this DVD set, creator Larry David suggests that the extreme hype would have left fans disappointed no matter what, and while there is perhaps some truth to this, ‘The Finale’ is without doubt the weakest episode since those in the show’s inaugural year.

And here’s something no one ever predicted: ''Seinfeld'' is starting to show its age. While episodes of ''The Simpsons'' from the same period remain more or less timeless, something about ''Seinfeld'' – perhaps its glibness, its self-awareness or its cynical outlook – marks it as a creature of the ’90s. One suspects the next generation of teenagers might look back and wonder what all the fuss was about, especially if they take in the last two seasons where Larry David relinquished creative control.

But for teens of the 1990s, Seinfeld will always hold a special place as a TV show that helped define who they were and how they viewed the world. Not bad for a comedy about nothing.

As always, these discs are packed to the rafters with bonus bits. There are commentaries galore, mini-documentaries on particular shows, and ‘Notes About Nothing’, which when activated deliver a barrage of trivia via subtitles.

There is also a ‘round table’ discussion between the cast and Larry David, where they ramble and reminisce about making the series.

Overall, the special features provide a suitably thorough debrief on a classic series.

Rating :
Reviewer : Kris Ashton