Shortly after the nominations were announced, a friend of mine, Charles Gooch, wrote in his blog that FG has been on the decline.

He wrote:

Family Guy stopped being funny sometime in the middle of the fifth season. Take it from me, I’m right in this show’s wheelhouse and can quote almost anything from the show at request, but I probably fast forwarded through half the episodes this year. It had funny bits, but the whole ‘randomly-generated-stream-of-consciousness’ joke thing may have run its course.

I can’t say I disagree. The show has been on a steady decline, and has been resorting to over-the-top-offensive jokes to stay on top. (And I’m hardly a guy who is easily offended.) FG has indeed jumped the shark. Matter of fact, FG jumped the shark so long ago, that the speedboat is back at the marina, and FG has removed its life jacket and swim trunks* and is sitting at a picnic table eating a cheeseburger.

* I love calling them swim trunks. It’s old school, and it sounds funnier than bathing suit.
 
For those of you who are not as familiar with TV colloquialisms as me and Gooch, jumping the shark is when a TV show’s plot crosses into the absurd and it moves towards characterizations that are not in line with the show’s original plot/feel — the point at which you know, it’s all downhill from here. It’s named after the moment when Fonzie jumped a shark in Happy Days (which went downhill after that).

FG gained such a cult – and then mass – following because of its willingness to joke about things that most other shows wouldn’t touch. When a show builds its foundation this way, it has to keep getting more and more offensive because the writers have to top themselves.

In every joke, you need to know when you’ve reached the funniest point. Once you’ve reached it, it’s best to end the joke. Imagine you’re telling a funny story to a group of friends. You’d like the funniest part of the story to be the climax — the last part you tell. Once you get the big laugh, you’re done. You don’t keep trying to add on to the joke. (Think George Costanza trying to leave on a high note.)

The problem with FG is that they’ve already got the big laugh, and they keep trying to add to the joke, but you’re not laughing anymore. Now, you’re uncomfortable because they’re still talking and it isn’t funny.

The show’s cutaway gags were funny early on. But, like any other novelty, they wore off. It goes from being funny and clever to being unfunny and pointless. The problem is, they can’t move away from that, as that is what set them apart from shows like The Simpsons, King of the Hill, and South Park.

By the way, have you noticed that The Simpsons is taking a page from the FG playbook? I’m not sure how long ago they started doing it, but they’re using more cutaway gags in their show, although they’re not using the typical “… than the time when I…” setup.

 
Maybe the overuse of such gags, coupled with their desire to be more offensive/shocking, means the show has run its course. I don’t know. Maybe what kept the show funny for the first five seasons is the fact that it was canceled twice, which led to the hiring of some new writers (most of the old ones got new jobs) who brought fresh new humor.
 
Now, the show has been on for four consecutive seasons. This is about the time you start to see writer fatigue, and shows tend to start going downhill. As Seth MacFarlane, creator of FG, put it (although not in the same context), “you see a lot more sex jokes and (bodily function) jokes and signs of a fatigued staff that their brains are just fried.” This is probably the case.

Think about it. Season 4 of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: Nicky is born and they get a new actress to play Vivian. Season 4 of Saved by the Bell: Slater’s long lost sister and Tori are introduced, and this is the last season before The College Years. (The horror… the horror…) Season 4 of Friends, Phoebe becomes the surrogate mother of her brother’s triplets, and Emily is introduced. Season 4 of The Cosby Show: Sandra and Elvin give up law and medicine, respectively, to open a wilderness store. Theo catches a dead body on a fishing trip. C’mon man. Need I go on?
 
I think the fourth/fifth season of a sitcom is usually when it starts to get stagnant. There are exceptions – Seinfeld – but for the most part, without rotating or completely changing the writing teams, you’re going to start noticing the same jokes over and over again. I think that’s what happened to FG. I’m not saying the show should be canceled yet. But, someone should certainly start thinking about it. And remember, I like(d) the show.

This is one of the few funny moments, to me, from after season 5:

But, I do have a problem with that fact that my girlfriend is trying to get me to watch GG with her.

Whenever my girlfriend starts to watch a new show, she tries to get me into to it, too. Normally, I just watch the show. That way, I have that in my arsenal the next time she makes a face when I say I want to watch the Cowboys game or the NASCAR race. But with GG, I just can’t watch it.

Originally, she added the show to her Netflix queue. I was lucky enough to avoid watching those episodes with her. I’m not sure how many episodes she watched, or how many there actually are, but I did catch part of one episode that she was watching one day.

I knew I wouldn’t like the show when Nate Archibald showed up to play football in a cardigan and khakis. Who the hell wears a cardigan and khakis to play football? Natty A! That’s who!

I guess I should back up and tell you what this atrocity is about. The show revolves around some rich kids (played by adults) who attend (though they never actually attend classes) a private school in New York. I believe they started the series in high school and then moved up to college. (I asked my girlfriend if they’re ever shown in class. She said no, but she assumes they go because they’re not failing out of school. Ha!) Actually, it seems that they do little more than attend upscale parties, drink and do drugs, hang out in bars, clubs, and coffee shops, have sex, stab each other in the back, and blackmail each other.

How that translates into successfully completing high school and getting into elite colleges is beyond me. But, it’s a TV show, so it doesn’t really need to be rooted in reality. I mean, in Rescue Me, Tommy Gavin lost his cousin on 9/11, son in a hit and run, brother in a shooting, boss (chief) to suicide, father to natural causes, and – based on the season finale – maybe his life to being shot by his uncle. If that were reality, he wouldn’t have experienced all of that tragedy. And, if he did, he’d be insane. So, I get it; TV is not real. I don’t expect it to be.

But come on! GG doesn’t contain anything clever, or at least entertaining. It’s basically strung-together, clichéd, over-dramatized vignettes. There’s no central plot, and the characters are flat and boring. I don’t know if it is the acting skills or the writing, but it’s awful. Newsflash: Models do not make good actors. See Ashton Kutcher.

The kids also seem to know everything and need no parental support. I guess when you come from money; you grow up faster and know more than your parents. It’s nothing for Natty A to drop $50,000 on a poker game he isn’t even playing in. Carter has to go work on an oil rig (do kids who like this show really know what an oil rig is?) to settle a debt (with the Buckleys?) and he isn’t happy about it. Natty A decides to get Serena in the poker game, so she can win and get Carter off the hook. But Serena isn’t that good at poker, and she loses big.
 
As a result, Natty A throws in a pic of his cousin Trip about to take a bong hit. Since Trip is running for office, that’s probably a bad thing. But, turns out the pic is fake, and when it’s revealed Trip will look good AND Carter will be free to live like an elitist instead of an oil rigger. Serena gets mad, and takes the real photo to the Buckleys, which keeps Carter from having to go to the oil rig, but it doesn’t result in her and Carter getting together since instead of being glad to be off the hook, he says he would rather have proved himself. Then he bounces in his limo. Yes, he’s got a limo and a driver, but can’t settle a debt without working on an oil rig; or producing a picture of Trip, as it were.
 
See… this is exactly why I didn’t want to watch this show. I start to remember too much stuff about it, and it becomes a part of my life. It’s like an infection you can’t control. Next thing you know, I’ll be showing up to play football in a cardigan and khakis!

10. The Fire (Season 5, Episode 9).

Overview: Elaine is annoyed by Kramer’s girlfriend, Toby, who also happens to be her coworker. Jerry is working his act to impress a critic, while George is dating a woman with a son. Toby heckles Jerry during his set with the critic, so he heckles her at her job, resulting her pinky toe being severed. Meanwhile, George goes to his girlfriend’s son’s birthday party. After seeing smoke, George yells “Fire!” and knocks over children and elderly women to get out of the apartment.
 
Reasoning: Seeing George not only trample women and children to get out of the apartment fire, but to actually get out and close the door, trapping the others was priceless. No matter how many times I see that scene, it always makes me laugh. Jerry heckling Toby was pretty funny, but the resulting accident is also a classic scene. Kramer’s description of the bus ride to the hospital, complete with slapstick comedy is really funny. And, George’s proclamation of, “You’re Batman” has me in tears. Interesting cameo: Jon Favreau as the clown. (It’s hard to tell its him.)

9. The Race (Season 6, Episode 10).

Overview: Jerry is dating a woman named Lois. She works for an old rival of Jerry’s, Duncan Meyer. Duncan thinks Jerry cheated in a race in high school and wants to challenge him to a race to prove once and for all that he is a cheater. Elaine dates a communist and gets blacklisted from a Chinese restaurant. Kramer becomes a communist. And, George answers a personal ad from a communist, resulting in the Yankees thinking George is a communist sympathizer.

Reasoning: I really like that Jerry’s comical obsession with Superman is front and center in this episode. Also, his repeated use of, “I choose not to run.” was very funny. After the race, when he knocks Elaine out of the way to get to Lois, had me in tears. Kramer and Mickey’s interaction over being a communist is also quite funny. This episode has lots of laughs, and the race was classic.

8. The Junior Mint (Season 4, Episode 21).

Overview: Jerry is trying to figure out the name of the woman he is dating. Elaine visits her ex-boyfriend, Roy,  who has lost a lot of weight, in hospital. She considers getting back with him, since he lost weight. He needs to have a splenectomy, which Kramer and Jerry attend. Kramer drops a Junior Mint into Roy, resulting in his miraculous recovery.
 
Reasoning: Jerry and George’s guessing of names that rhyme with a female body part was very funny. Mulva is classic. Jerry’s antics with the yo-yo when the doctor is discussing Roy’s prognosis is also laugh-out-loud funny. I really liked that Kramer treated the operation like a movie, bringing Junior Mints, and then asking the doc to move over so he could see. But, the best moment in this episode is when Jerry says, “All right. All right… Just let me finish my coffee. Then we’ll watch them go slice this fat bastard up.” Classic.

7. The Pick (Season 4, Episode 13).

Overview: Elaine’s Christmas photo card, taken by Kramer, accidently reveals her nipple to everyone she knows. Jerry’s girlfriend, a model he met on the plane in “The Airport,” dumps him after she witnesses him picking (scratching) his nose. Kramer thinks Calvin Klein stole his idea for a perfume he invented in “The Pez Dispenser.”
 
Reasoning: This episode was full of laughs, particularly when Elaine puts George’s head in her chest after George complains about not getting a Christmas card. Jerry’s insistence that he didn’t pick his nose was also funny. But the reason this episode really made the list is because it is the first episode of Seinfeld I saw. From this show on, I was hooked and have since seen every single episode.
 
6. The Merv Griffin Show (Season 9, Episode 6).

Overview: Kramer finds the set of the Merv Griffin Show in a dumpster and sets it up in his apartment. George hits pigeons with his car, with upsets his girlfriend. In an attempt to avoid hitting a pigeon, he swerves and hits a squirrel. The squirrel requires surgery. Jerry drugs his girlfriend to play with a toy collection she inherited from her father. Elaine deals with a “sidler.”

Reasoning: Kramer’s pretend talk show is funny, particularly the others’ reaction to his fake commercial breaks and studio audience. George’s dealing with the pigeons is funny as well, especially when he tramples a couple in the park. I also like when Kramer takes a short commercial break, eats some chips and drinks a soda. Then, he burps and says, “Okay, We’re back.” If you look at George, you can see him start to laugh. Priceless. This would have been higher if there weren’t so many other good ones.

5. The Soup Nazi (Season 7, Episode 6).

Overview: Kramer introduces the gang to a soup stand that features the best soup in the city. People line up to order the soup. But, the owner is a little eccentric. He has strict rules for ordering and will banish people from the restaurant by yelling, “No soup for you!” Elaine and George have trouble ordering the soup. And, the soup almost causes Jerry and his girlfriend Sheila to break up. Elaine gets an armoire, but can’t move it into the building. Kramer agrees to sit out with it overnight. Homosexual “street toughs” take the armoire under Kramer’s watch.
 
Reasoning: The Soup Nazi was a classic character. His “real life” version was also featured on the local news in NY, when this episode aired. The “Soup Nazi” character made this episode for me. He was very funny, and how he treated George and Elaine was very funny. Newman’s delivery of the line, “Jambalaya,” was perfect. George and Elaine’s annoyance with Jerry and Sheila’s public affection was also funny. And, Boy and Ray, the street toughs, were funny too. “We’re taking this armoire and that’s all there is to it. Okay?”
 
4. The Little Kicks (Season 8, Episode 4).

Overview: George and Elaine attend the J. Peterman company party. George hits on Anna, one of Elaine’s employees. Elaine dances, horribly. Jerry gets tickets to a sneak peak at a movie. Kramer invites his friend, Brody, a bootlegger. Brody falls ill forcing Jerry to finish bootlegging the movie. Brody is so impressed with Jerry’s work that he wants him to bootleg an art film. Elaine, thinking George will hurt her reputation at work, tries to stop Anna from seeing him.
 
Reasoning: This episode is funny for so many reasons. First, Jerry’s transformation from reluctant bootlegger to the “temperamental artist” bootlegger is very comical. Second, George’s attempts to be a bad boy because Anna is attracted to bad boys. Also, at the end when Frank and Elaine fight, that’s a really funny scene. But, what makes this episode really funny is Elaine’s dancing, which George describes as “a full body dry heave, set to music.” That’s too funny.

3. The Frogger (Season 9, Episode 18).

Overview: Jerry and George go to an old high school hangout, a pizza joint that is closing. George sees he still has the high score on the Frogger game and decides to buy it. Elaine, tired of the forced socialization at work, isolates herself, and then misses daily cake she used to get at the office parties. So, she eats Peterman’s cake from the 1937 wedding of King Edward VIII. Jerry dates Elaine’s friend who annoys him. He tries to break up with her, but gets back with her when he thinks a man he sees is the “Lopper,” a serial killer in the Riverside Park area that is killing people who look like Jerry.

Reasoning: I really like this episode. George’s story was very funny, and the obstacles he had to overcome in order to preserve his high score. I like George’s reaction when Jerry mentions that unplugging the machine will erase George’s score. Jerry’s break up attempt with Lisi is funny, too. I also like Entenmann’s cakes. But, the best part of the show, obviously, when George tries to cross the street with the Frogger machine, like in the game. That was classic.

2. The Chicken Roasters (Season 8, Episode 8).

Overview: Kenny Rogers Roasters opens across from Kramer’s apartment. The eatery has a giant glowing chicken on the roof and the light shines through Kramer’s shades. Jerry runs into a college friend named Seth. Seth blows off a business meeting to catch up with Jerry, resulting in Seth being fired. Seth ends up working at the Kenny Rogers Roasters. Elaine abuses her power as J. Peterman president, buying personal items and putting on the business account. She buys George an $8,000 hat. George leaves it behind in an attempt to get a date with a woman. When the accounting department at J. Peterman finds out about Elaine’s spending they request going over the items, including the hat, which is missing.

Reasoning: This episode was really funny. First, Jerry and Kramer switched personalities after switching apartments. That was funny, though Jerry’s Kramer was better than Kramer’s Jerry. Elaine: “you look a little stressed.” Jerry: “Oh, I’m stressed.” That was priceless. I also like George saying “Co-Stanza” like “By Mennen.” And, the look on George’s face when he informed Elaine that he stole Heather’s clock. Funny. I also like Newman’s reaction to eating broccoli. “Vile Weed!” This episode always makes me want roasted chicken. It makes it look so good.
 
1. The Pothole (Season 8, Episode 16).

Overview: George’s keys fall into a pothole, which is then filled in by a road crew. Jerry drops his girlfriend, Jenna’s toothbrush in the toilet and doesn’t tell her before she uses it. She then puts something of his in the toilet, which results in him throwing most of his stuff away. Kramer adopts part of a highway and takes care of it, resulting in chaos. Elaine pretends to live in a building across the street so she can order flounder from a Chinese restaurant that doesn’t deliver to her side of the street.

Reasoning: This episode is the one I’ve seen the least out of all of them. It was also the last one I saw (I saw it for the first time after the finale.) It’s is by far the funniest because of the ways the characters’ stories all intertwine. It was really funny when Jerry told Jenna: “I was drinking a Celray, and I brought it up too fast and I banged it into my lip, and then I knocked your toothbrush into the toilet and I wasn’t able to tell you before you could use it.” Classic. I also like when he finds out that she put the toilet brush in his toilet and he says, “Toilet brush. Ohhh! All right, I can replace that.” Also classic. Elaine’s attempts to get the flounder were also humorous. George hitting the water main was also funny. The best scene, however, was when Kramer spilled the paint thinner, and Elaine dropped the old sewing machine. Then Newman, who had his mail truck loaded with fish, hit the sewing machine and dragged it through the paint thinner, which made his truck burst into flames. That was too funny. “Oh the humanity!”

You’re welcome to disagree with any of my choices here, but these are the top episodes to me. So many others could have made this list, but I had to make these the top 10. They’re the funniest episodes to me.

10. The Movie (Season 4, Episode 14).

Overview: Jerry tries to set up two comedy sets instead of meeting up with the others to see a movie. Through a series of miscommunications, he ends up missing both sets, and everyone but Kramer ends up missing the movie: Checkmate.
 
Reasoning: This episode just didn’t do it for me. There were some funny parts, but they were few and far between and none of it made me really laugh. Also, Buckles was too annoying for me. I know he was supposed to be annoying, but he was just too annoying. He almost ruined the episode for me.

9. The Dog (Season 3, Episode 4).

Overview: Jerry’s on a plane and a drunken man insists on talking to him. When the man falls ill, Jerry has to watch his dog, Farfle.

Reasoning: While I liked the fact that they never showed the dog, this episode wasn’t very funny. The only scene that made me laugh was when Kramer broke up with his girlfriend using some harsh words only to beg her to take him back. The rest of it seemed like filler material. Plus, since Elaine moved to NYC in 1987, she would never have seen Jerry throw up because it is revealed in the next season (The Masseuse) that Jerry hasn’t thrown up since June 29th, 1980; seven years before she could have met Jerry. Of course, this is not a continuity error if Jerry is lying. (I know, I have way too much free time.)

8. The Heart Attack (Season 2, Episode 8).

Overview: George thinks he suffered a heart attack, but it turns out that its enflamed tonsils. He decides to see a holistic healer named, Tor Eckman, who Kramer recommends.

Reasoning: I guess my real problem with this episode is that Seinfeld pulls the humor from normal situations. The crazy, New Age doctor is anything but normal, and to me seems a little beneath Seinfeld. I didn’t find much of the episode funny. It would have been higher on the list of worse episodes, but it was the first mention of Bob Sacamano, so it earns points for that.

7. and 6. The Trip (Season 4, Episodes 1,2).

Overview: Kramer moves to California to get into acting and is mistakenly accused of being a serial killer. Jerry gets free tickets to Hollywood to appear on the Tonight Show.  He and George  use the trip as an opportunity to go find Kramer.

Reasoning:  This two-parter* didn’t have a lot of laughs. I found Helena and Lt. Martel to be annoying with their over-the-top performances. The show had a couple of funny moments, but overall, it wasn’t as funny as most of the other episodes. It also felt like it was reaching for laughs. But, it was filled with a lot of cameos: Fred Savage, George Wendt, Corbin Bernsen, Clint Howard, and Peter Parros (from Adam 12 and Knight Rider).

* Technically this wasn’t a two-parter, it was a three-parter because it was a continuation of the Season 3 finale, where Jerry took his keys back from Kramer.
 
5. The Baby Shower (Season 2, Episode 10).

Overview: Kramer convinces Jerry to get illegal cable. Elaine hosts a baby shower at Jerry’s apartment for a woman who George went out with. During the date she poured chocolate sauce all over his shirt and humiliated him. George picks Jerry up from the airport so he can go to the shower and get revenge.

Reasoning: I can’t really explain why I don’t like this episode. It had funny moments, but the way the stories were all intertwined was too convenient for me. The fantasy scene where Jerry is gunned down because of getting illegal cable, and the one where he is told off by a former date are both funny. George also had some funny moments. But, Elaine and Kramer were just filler material in this episode and didn’t add much in terms of laughs. I think they were underutilized in this episode.

4. and 3. The Finale (Season 9, Episodes 23, 24).

Overview: Jerry and George are moving to California because NBC has picked up their TV show. NBC lets them use the network’s jet, so they decide to take a trip to France. The plane has trouble along the way, so they end up in Latham, MA. There they witness a crime, and make fun of the victim. They are arrested for doing nothing under the Good Samaritan Law. They go through a high-profile trial in which several people in their lives are brought in to testify about their character.

Reasoning: While I do have problems with the episodes themselves, my real problem is with the hype and secrecy surrounding the finale. I understand that Seinfeld is epic. And, it was virtually impossible for them to meet the expectations of fans. But, by making the whole thing so secret, they generated such a huge buzz that there was no way they could live up to the hype. And they didn’t. Re-hashing of old stories seemed more like a clips show (two of which aired in the weeks before the finale) and didn’t do the show justice in the end. I would have preferred the show to end with a random episode about nothing.
 
As for the episode itself, it did nothing but re-hash old laughs. It did have some laughs, but not enough to keep it from being among Seinfeld’s worst. Also, the law states, per the episode, that they must react if it is reasonable to do so. During the carjacking, the robber had his hand in pocket, presumably holding a gun. Would it be reasonable for them to try to do something if the guy had a gun? No. They couldn’t have known whether or not he actually had a gun. Thus, it would not be reasonable for them to react. Plus, Kramer video taped the whole thing, which they could have argued was helping the guy by providing video evidence of the robber to police. (Like I said, too much free time.)

Interesting cameo: James Pickens Jr, the chief from Grey’s Anatomy, as the detective who testifies about Jerry picking up a prostitute (actually his former maid/girlfriend from The Wig Master.) 

2. The Parking Garage (Season 3, Episode 6).

Overview: The gang goes to a mall in New Jersey. While there, they forget where they parked and spend the episode looking for the car.

Reasoning: I thought the idea was clever, and was something most of us have encountered. But, something about it felt contrived. I don’t know that any single aspect of it felt contrived, but collectively, everything did. It might have been better if they lost one element: Elaine’s fish, George’s parent’s anniversary, the peeing, or the Scientologist in the car. All together they were just too much.

1. The Chinese Restaurant (Season 2, Episode 11).

Overview: Jerry, George, and Elaine wait for a table at a Chinese restaurant.

Reasoning: While I recognize the creativity it took to make this episode, and how groundbreaking it was, I can’t say that this episode was funny. Sure, it was emblematic of the series’ trivial nature. But, it was low on laughs, and took the real-time format too far. NBC didn’t want to air it because they found it uninteresting. I have to say, I agree. I don’t have a problem with the format, I just wish they would have done something more with the situation. Bribing the maitre d and going and taking an egg roll off someone’s table were both misses. Keeping Kramer out of the episode also cost some laughs.

All in all, while I call these the worst Seinfeld episodes, they were still pretty good compared to other shows. I just think they were lacking when compared to other episodes in the series.