A random invitation popped through to the inbox the other day, tempting me with free beer and soup in return to turning up at a cinema in central London to do one thing; Watch the top 10 episodes of the acclaimed television series, Seinfeld as voted for on Den of Geek.

By all accounts, it was the 25th anniversary or something like that and HMV had another box set to sell to diehard fans who hadn’t bought it the other few times they had released it. Gotta make money somehow, right kids?

The thing is, it was yet another one of those things which had passed me by so long ago that when this was reaching the heights of popular culture, I was attempting not to go into a general rage at school over the fact I couldn’t understand what the hell Manga was all about and getting my ass handed to me by various cool kids.

So basically what better way to see what the fuss is about than to have the fans choose the episodes which best captured what it was all about, and you get free beer and you don’t have to clean up after yourself?

Before we even begin about anything else to do with the show which apparently is about nothing from the research i have completed since watching, there is something which just has to be gotten off my chest;

It’s about the theme music and the little stings which are based on it which you hear throughout an episode.

Hearing it a little bit is ok, it seems to be something which is bizarre, funky and you never hear it for anything else, so it becomes very easy to identify it with the show which of course is the hallmark of a good theme tune….however, after two episodes in a row it really starts getting on your nerves. By the end of the of forth episode, I was getting ready to scream and burn the place to the ground.

The main reason for this is that it never goes away for long as it seems during the vast majority of the show, scenes last about 12 seconds and then you hear the damned music again. Thanks to the bass, it sounds like someone is trying to recreate the brown noise to make everyone sh*t themselves. It’s a piece of musical Marmite. You will either love it or hate it.

Awwwww, aren’t they cuddly?

There was no real introduction to each one as they were played on the big screen and therefore it was difficult until afterwards to find out what each one was and when they fit during the show’s run, but regardless, it actually wasn’t that hard to see what roles everyone had to play and how they interacted with each other.

With only watching a few of the episodes and not truly knowing any context to characters actions or how they are beforehand, let’s just recap a few of the little exciting tidbits I learned during the evening about the show in general;

• George has rage issues which kick in at a moment’s notice.
• George also always seems to be in relationships that he no longer wants to be in. Come to think of it, so does Jerry.
• Kramer needs medication and padded wallpaper in his home.
• Jerry wears really bright white trainers all the time. Mind you, it was the 90s and dress sense is meh regardless.
• When dating a virgin and living across from someone who is always naked, it is hard not to fire off some knuckle children.
• You can be shocked by gay behaviour, but as long as you state “not that there’s anything wrong with that sort of thing.”, you’re all good!
• Bubble boys are evil little pricks.
• Elaine is perfectly happy to ruin other people’s lives and doesn’t seem to be very good at her job either.
• Saving a whale is still not good enough to be liked for who you are. OK, granted, lying to a woman about being a marine biologist in the first place doesn’t help….
• No one ever learns from their mistakes and just carry on regardless. This is not a bad thing!

Yeah, I know, his head is so shiny.

There were a few which actually were worthy of praise from someone with no clue; We start with the episode which revolves around Jerry, Elaine and George basically spending the entire show waiting for a table at a Chinese restaurant, on their way to see a crappy b-movie from the 50s.

During this time, various little things happen such as another rage attack by George about not being able to use the phone to call yet another woman he was involved with, and Elaine not really being able to pull off the art of giving money to someone to get a tablet sooner. For a starters the theme music was nowhere to be heard so much better, and it was a situation which everyone could identify with which made it all the more funny.

Best puppet show ever…..

The very best of the lot was simply the masturbation episode, of which I can only imagine caused trouble for the US television network at the time, because it was about naughty. After everyone having a nice chat about getting caught chucking custard, we then witness a bet being made in which George, Jerry, Elaine, and Kramer will see who can go for the longest period of time without giving their private parts a little tickle.

Probably because of the social lies, treachery and deceit with the word “masturbation” at the time (it was on network television which made that a no no), it’s instead described using a series of euphemisms, without any misunderstanding of what they were really on about. This gave birth to being “master of my domain” and the moment when Kramer is out about two minutes after seeing a naked woman wandering round, is nothing short of priceless.

With something like this, I could very much see why Seinfeld was popular. Since then of course Larry David, one of the main producing guys associated with the show back then, just went to HBO and just did what he wanted in Curb Your Enthusiasm.

No soup for anyone, even Tiny Tim.

Other highlights which also shows the sparks of brilliance include when Jerry, George and Elaine wander down to a new soup stand Kramer has been praising; its owner is referred to as the “Soup Nazi,” due to his rules of behaviour it appears while getting soup. “No soup for you!” is probably something which has been on a t-shirt for years now.

The show where Jerry and George are mistaken for being in a relationship with each other over and over again, It’s been very well done and remarkably seems to also be a play on over the top political correctness as you basically say what you think and then add “not that there’s anything wrong with that sort of thing” to avoid p*ssing everyone off!

But that is where the highlights end. In a strange sort of way, the few that was worth watching clearly was in this small selection, and I have not been gripped enough to want to see what else happens to our wild bunch of witty naughty people. It seems to be something in which “you had to be there” and looking back on it now, the nostalgia factor cannot be understated in how everyone present was reacting.

It’s not an overly bad show from what little has been shown, but you would be easily forgiven for not giving it another thought and going to eat pie instead. Just as long as they don’t play that damned theme music while you eat.