why was the last episode of sienfeld not liked?

[nubly]

i didnt watch the show when it was popular but ive seen a lot of the re-runs. i like how they brought old small cast characters in the last episode. that part itself is what made me like the last episode so much. yet when i talk to someone about it, i usually get a negative response to it. why was it not liked?

[Michael P]

A downer ending. Plus, I think a lot of people didn't like the show acknowledging that its characters were reprehensible human beings not fit for civilized company.

[howyadoin]

why was it not liked?Personally, I found it kinda boring, which is the worst sin a comedy can commit.

[Dennis K]

For me it wasn't just the last episode, it was the last couple of seasons that were a disappointment.

[Dan Apodaca]

It just wasn't that funny. The show was really on its last stumpy legs at that point, and the clip-show style format felt like a rip-off.

[Valmore]

Personally, I found it kinda boring, which is the worst sin a comedy can commit.

Pretty much sums up my opinion on it. Too dull. The best moment was George confessing he cheated during the contest when the plane was going down.

[Forefinger]

Personally, I found it kinda boring, which is the worst sin a comedy can commit.
It just wasn't that funny. The show was really on its last stumpy legs at that point, and the clip-show style format felt like a rip-off.DING, DING, DING. We have a couple of winners!

[StoneGold]

Too much hype, both to the writers and the audience. There was no way the show could live up.



On the plus side, the Jerry in Oz sketch on SNL was hillarious!

[SteelTownr]

I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that it was the last one. I loved that show right up until the end. I was pretty bummed the whole time that I watched the last episode because I knew it was the last one.

Mark B.

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

It wasn't funny, and it was a clip show.

The funniest part was when the credits rolled - Jerry doing stand up in jail.

That and Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Curb Your Enthusiasm raised the bar too high for anyone to enjoy anything that isn't boarderline comic-genius.

[Expletive Deleted]

On the plus side, the Jerry in Oz sketch on SNL was hillarious!"You missed out on the make-up sodomy? The make-up sodomy's the best part of being nailed to the gym floor!"

[spoon_jenkins]

Yup. Boring plus unfunny. And it would've been nice if the minor characters were actually doing funny, interesting stuff in their cameos. Plus, the whole "show about nothing" was just about experiencing the craziness of the four leads. The finales whole deal about presenting a heavy-handed moral lesson not to be selfish was the antithesis of the way the show had been.

[dougputhoff]

I LOVE the last episode!

Those sociopaths got what they deserved.

The whole show jumped the shark after 9-11 except for the finale.

A show about nothing for a decade about nothing.

When al-Queda, the commies, or the Jesus Freaks take over, this will be the first show they ban.

[Conn Seanery]

I liked the last episode, but yeah, it suffered from clipshow-itis. I would've preferred something completely original instead of them rolling out all their favorite guest arch-nemeses. They could've easily done the story they went with without trying to force the viewer to remember everything that came before it. And I liked the ending where they go to jail for being a-holes (except Kramer, he should've gotten off, he was with them but he wasn't really like them).

Ah well. A disappointing finale to a stellar series that I enjoyed all the way through. I can live with that.

[KenK]

A downer ending. Plus, I think a lot of people didn't like the show acknowledging that its characters were reprehensible human beings not fit for civilized company.

That's what I LOVED about the episode it just brought everything back full circle for these characters. C'mon, when they called "The Virgin" as a witness and she had to give her testimony, I was dying!! And the whole court's reaction was just priceless. I don't think there was any other way to end the show. I can't imagine any other storyline that would have given the show closure. More often than not, series finales suffer from these tearkjerker cliches where everyone's "moving on" and whatnot. Rarely does a series end with the implication that the characters lives are going on as they did while the show was on. Must EVERY series end with people moving? Shit, switch things up and have them move into a new place during the course of the show. And they weren't going to do the emotional tearjerker type of stuff they do on just about EVERY OTHER SITCOM!! To all sitcoms, YOU'RE SITCOMS!! Can't you end on a joke instead of that dead silent moment where the last person to leave turns out the lights. Gimme a break!!

[Michael P]

The whole show jumped the shark after 9-11 except for the finale.

The show ended in 1998. Or are you referring to something else?

[darkkeeperjr]

It was a great way to end a series! the whole court room thing was priceless.

To see everybody who was on the show from years back was a nice touch.

[Magneto_X]

I liked the series finale.

[EZMOHR]

I liked the last episode. I think it was a shout-out to what people always seemed to say about the show...these people were sociopaths, shallow, and un-human, and they got there come-uppance at the end. I think that is why it is funny. These bad people who we all loved for the many years the show was on...turned out to be the least sympathetic characters ever on the show. And that is why people were bummed out watching the last episode.

[Neil]

For me it wasn't just the last episode, it was the last couple of seasons that were a disappointment.
I agree.

But even then the final episode was particularly obnoxious in its heavy-handedness and the way it handled its send-off in a very television kind of way instead of embuing it with what had made the show special, once upon a time.

[howyadoin]

Can't you end on a joke instead of that dead silent moment where the last person to leave turns out the lights.Like Cheers, for example?

Now that was a finale.

[dougputhoff]

The show ended in 1998. Or are you referring to something else?

No, because 9-11 made American wake up an realized there are still people who want to destroy our way of life--like al-Queda, the Jesus Freaks, and the Communists.

[Super Hero Guy]

I think the problem is that the four main characters ever got that evil to begin with. In the early (and good) seasons they were not sociopaths, they were just people who blew their small problems way out of proportion. They sometimes did bad things but they were realistic people.

Later on, it seems the writers got bored with doing a show about nothing, and it slowly shifted to the characters have huge adventures and not really caring. This made them seem like bastards and watching people being bastards is not funny. That's why I don't like the finale, because it continues with this bad interpretation of the characters.

[Ontir]

I think it was un-popular, because it wasn't funny! My friends and I all gathered to see the final episode, with memories of the end of the Mary Tyler-Moore Show, Cheers, and M.A.S.H., expecting something of similar quality. Instead, we got a horribly un-funny, torturous slog. I still cringe thinking about it!

[howyadoin]

No, because 9-11 made American wake up an realized there are still people who want to destroy our way of life--like al-Queda, the Jesus Freaks, and the Communists.But the show had been over for years by then. How could it jump the shark after it ended?

[Valmore]

Like Cheers, for example?

Now that was a finale.

The finale to Cheers was awesome. That simple last sentence where Sam Malone says, "Sorry, we're closed" sticks out in my mind as probably the single best way to close out that series.

[Headhunter]

The show was really on its last stumpy legs at that point, and the clip-show style format felt like a rip-off.
That's exactly it. Who ends one of the most successful television programs of all time with a clip show?

[JDogindy]

The finale was alright, and I enjoyed Newman's "omen".

The best scene was when they called Yev Kasem. When the doors open, we see the famed Soup Nazi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soup_Nazi) appearing.

The problem with it was three reasons.

Reason number 1 was the obvious one; the "New York Four" were shown as selfless beasts not fit for civilization. While making fun of the "Victim" was funny the first time; the moment it was used in court, it was used against them. Then all the witnesses tell of crimes.

Reason number 2 was the way it was made. "Jerry" was going to return, but several fans probably had forgotten about that sitcom-within-a-sticom. Larry David returned, but he couldn't give it that much steam to make it intresting.

Reason number 3 was that it was not a good ending for the show. Granted, several parts were intresting such as George admitting in "The Contest" that he had cheated and also Newman gaining schadenfruede, but it wasn't good.

I loved Seinfeld, but not The Finale. However, I learned it via syndication, so I didn't see Donald's testimony, Steinbrenner's testimony, and Kasem mentioning about how Elaine ruined his business.

[bannermanonemillion]

That's what I LOVED about the episode it just brought everything back full circle for these characters. C'mon, when they called "The Virgin" as a witness and she had to give her testimony, I was dying!! And the whole court's reaction was just priceless. I don't think there was any other way to end the show. I can't imagine any other storyline that would have given the show closure. More often than not, series finales suffer from these tearkjerker cliches where everyone's "moving on" and whatnot. Rarely does a series end with the implication that the characters lives are going on as they did while the show was on. Must EVERY series end with people moving? Shit, switch things up and have them move into a new place during the course of the show. And they weren't going to do the emotional tearjerker type of stuff they do on just about EVERY OTHER SITCOM!! To all sitcoms, YOU'RE SITCOMS!! Can't you end on a joke instead of that dead silent moment where the last person to leave turns out the lights. Gimme a break!!

Exactly, KenK!!

I loved the finale! I thought it was great how after like nine years of being selfish, greedy, uncaring human beings they were getting called on it! And it was funny!

I don't know why everyone else seemed so down on it, but I enjoyed it. It was a great way for the series to end. It wrapped up several things including the fact that this is the second time Jerry and George don't get to do a sitcom together.

[Astonishing X-Fan]

A clip show? A CLIP SHOW?!?!?!?!?!

THAT is how I felt when I saw the finale.

Inexcusable.

[Dr. Banner]

A clip show? A CLIP SHOW?!?!?!?!?!

THAT is how I felt when I saw the finale.

Inexcusable.

But it wasn't a clip show. The finale was the trial. They also showed a "retrospective" clip show, which was totally independant of the finale.

If I recall correctly, the clip show aired before the actual finale.

[Super Hero Guy]

I think another reason I didn't like it was that most of the testimonies making the Four out to be evil sociopaths were actually all wrong. Since when does making a contest about your masturbation make you unfit for society? The Soup Nazi was an evil bastard who deserved to be ruined. George WASN'T a communist. The "old bag" that Jerry stole the marble rye from was a bitch too. George never did anything to the bubble boy, he attacked him. George did not try to kill Susan. Jerry didn't send Elaine to find out if Sidra's breasts were real. Jerry honestly thought he had returned the library book. Kramer wasn't really a pimp. Elaine only wanted all those "sponges" because they were going off the market and she wanted enough for the rest of her life. Elaine had no idea her nipple was showing the christmas card. Elaine didn't try to kill Mr Pitt with a pillow, etc.

[saintjon]

I remember seinfeld saying they wanted to quite while they were ahead, so the way I see it the finale was a way of projecting onto the characters what happens when you don't do that, as the characters go for that last rush into all things good an unforeseen twist of brings everything back on them.

[Dan Apodaca]

But it wasn't a clip show. The finale was the trial. They also showed a "retrospective" clip show, which was totally independant of the finale.

If I recall correctly, the clip show aired before the actual finale.

It wasn't literally a clip show, but it was the same thing in execution and format. We got replays of famous scenes and episodes, with a lame, contrived skeleton of an episode plot to serve as a delivery system.

[howyadoin]

The finale to Cheers was awesome. That simple last sentence where Sam Malone says, "Sorry, we're closed" sticks out in my mind as probably the single best way to close out that series.Yeah, that was classic. The gang didn't split up, nobody died, the bar didn't get sold or burn down - you knew they'd still be there the next day; you just wouldn't get to see it.

I still wonder sometimes what Paul's big announcement - which he never got to make because somebody interrupted him - was, though.