Originally published at: Take a look at why The Michael Richards Show failed to take off | Boing Boing
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The curse is real, for a reason I can’t right now divulge.
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“Joey” was a thing too
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I know, that’s just hurtful.
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Maybe cause that was a pre-existing idiom. I don’t think it’s originally Yiddish but does seem to be closely associated with New York area Jews.
It was insanely common growing in the New York Metro Area, well before Seinfeld.
Though to be fair I did grow up with a non-Jewish Great Grandmother who for some reason spoke Yiddish. And my Grandmother still calls us all Bubala.
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Especially if we include non-sitcom spin-offs.
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I would argue that the hugely successful Mork and Mindy qualifies as having gone in an “experimental direction” that wasn’t especially similar to Happy Days where Mork first appeared.
(People tend to forget that the Fonz had an encounter with an actual alien but this was the year after he literally jumped the shark so it was perhaps less memorable than you would expect.)
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I’m sorry but when did this prevailing wisdom change? Sequels and spinoffs always suck.
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Tell us you haven’t read the thread without telling us you haven’t read the thread.
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Could it be that… even forgetting all of the Michard Richards ugliness that came to the fore after the end of Seinfeld, the “Kramer” character was pretty damn annoying on his own? Like, Jerry and Elaine were objectively bad people but they both had some charisma. But who would want to hang out just with Kramer?
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Um, what? I’m from a small town in the Midwest and I said that all the time prior to Seinfeld.
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Looks like the current theory is it’s from Scots.
But origins and the fact that it’s just generally a thing in English doesn’t really impact that it’s for whatever reason associated with NY Jews. Even before Seinfeld I remember people assuming it was Yiddish.
Hell. Chinese food is closely associated with NY Jews.
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Maude was also a comedy spin-off from All in the Family that was successful.
Mary Tyler Moore Show spun off Rhoda, as well as the Lou Grant newspaper drama - a drama spun off a comedy - ever seen that?
But this Richards detective show wasn’t a spin-off, any more than Curb Your Enthusiasm is. It was just ruined with lame network oversight, as so many programs are.
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I would much rather watch a comedy spin off from a drama. A wacky madcap comedy spun off from a dark brooding drama, using the same actors as the same characters, and even the same storylines. Just to fuck with people.
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I think this analysis makes sense. I also think it didn’t work with Richards acting like Kramer because Kramer is the quintessential supporting character, a foil for the lead. His eccentricities and slapstick are too intensely silly to be the main focus of the show, but do add flavor to the mix in small quantities. It’s like trying to make a meal with salt the main focus, or a cake made out of 90% sugar. It’s too much. But it seems like Richards probably did have the chops to be a true leading character if they had let him use his skills in more subtle ways.
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Good ole Slippin’ Jimmy!
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Newman.
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