Microsoft To Announce Jerry Seinfeld Ads Cancelled

An anonymous reader writes "Valleywag says the Jerry Seinfeld ads are over — In a phone call, Frank Shaw confirms that Microsoft is not going on with Seinfeld, and echoes his underlings' spin that the move was planned. There is the 'potential to do other things' with Seinfeld, which Shaw says is still 'possible.' He adds: 'People would have been happier if everyone loved the ads, but this was not unexpected.'"

Comments

I enjoyed them!

[Solokron]

I for one actually enjoyed those ads! To see those two together in a commercial was uncanny.

Sadly expected

[David Gerard]

I toldja - they shoulda gone with a real comedian.

I was looking for them working their way back through the comedic genius of history ... perhaps W.C. Fields next. All the way back to Aristophanes.

Or, in a more famous joke:

"Vista's slow, it's fat, I can't get drivers, my network grinds to a crawl when I play an mp3! What do you call that?"

"... The Aristocrats!"

Clearly I'm weird.

[Angostura]

I thought the first ad was limp, but I actually enjoyed the second one and was looking forward to more. Not that it would have made any difference to my OS-buying proclivities, but I thought they were at least interesting.

Am I missing something?

[MarkKB]

I must be missing something. Cancelled?

Cancelled is what happens when a contract is revoked. As far as I know, Microsoft is continuing with Crispin Porter + Bogusky.

Cancelled is what happens if they were planning to make more of the same vein. I see no indication of that, but of the expectant bloggers.

Microsoft had always said that the Bill & Seinfield ads were not a campaign unto itself, but an icebreaker, or rather, "phase one". Indeed, it would not surprise me if Microsoft's announcement was all about the new ads, and didn't mention Bill & Seinfield at all.

Me thinks Valleywag focused on what they wanted to hear, not what was actually said overall.

Re:Penny Arcade called it

[Daengbo]

That's because the first few seasons were his comedy routine written into skits. Really. If you watched his stand-up before the show aired, nothing in the first season was new at all.

Re:Penny Arcade called it

[Fozzyuw]

I've never got the Seinfeld thing. [...]

I'd have to say, don't bother. His show was based off his stand-up. Simply put, it's comedy by observation. He see's something odd and then mentions it. For example, He see's sky divers wearing helmets and asks: "What's the point? Is a helmet going to save your life when falling out of the sky? Really?" Then he turns that into an even funnier (by some people's tastes) simple comment. It's sort of a "funny because it's true" scenario.

Most of the TV show was based off this premise then expanded by the writing crew. Perhaps something you might find more interesting is not Jerry Seinfeld's comedy but how incredibly tough the guy has it and how he's become the victim of his own success. There's a great documentary showing this called Comedian. You see Jerry get up on stage just after the end of his series and people laugh at every stupid thing he says (even when it's not a joke). Then you see him sweat bullets as he totally fails at remembering any of his jokes and the crowd just gets sort of shocked.

The documentary is a little dull (particularly considering when it's about comedians) but there are some pretty true parts in it.

Here is the joke

[mcmonkey]

And here is your head. *woosh*

His show was based off his stand-up. Simply put, it's comedy by observation. He see's something odd and then mentions it.

There's a show called 'Seinfeld' with a character named 'Jerry Seinfeld'. That show is not about that character.

I'm sure there's some formal term in literary criticism, perhaps in latin, for the use of a narrator to give us a peek into a world when the focus of that world is not the narrator, but some other character the narrator observes.

I don't know the term, but that is what we have here. In this case, Jerry is just a vehicle to transport into the world of George.

The show originated and was written primary (in the beginning) by Larry David. George is Larry's alter ego. The show is about George.

The show had very little to do with Seinfeld's comedy. The bits of stand up at the start and end of the shows was time filler.

[Comedian] is a little dull (particularly considering when it's about comedians) but there are some pretty true parts in it.

That sort of like saying a documentary about weight room workouts isn't as entertaining as a football game. Comedian, like The Aristocrats, is not a comedy. It is about the business of comedy. If you're only interested in what comedians do on stage, both these movies are dull. If you're interested in what happens before (and after) the short period of time comedians are on stage, they are not dull at all.

Re:Penny Arcade called it

[Hoi Polloi]

Let me take a guess, you don't like "Jewish" style humor in general, e.g. comedians like (early) Woody Allen, Gary Shandling, and Larry David? Much of the show was based on picking at social awkwardness and standards of behavior. The Office (especially the BBC original) takes it even further with the violation of codes of conduct taken to painful levels. Common themes were people lying and having to then keep that lie alive, obsessive thoughts and behavior, and being caught in petty selfish acts.

I found the acting, especially from Julia Dryfuss, to be great. Her body language was instinctive. George's neuroses were great and his parents were perfect foils for him. Michael Richards could be hit or miss. Sometimes I felt he was overacting but usually he was very good in a slapstick, cartoonish way. Jerry was, of course, the straight man but he also indulged in a well done theme of pretty selfishness.

The writing was also excellent with multiple plot threads all being tried together in clever, unexpected ways at the last second. The show's frequent use of established standup comedians (Sarah Silverman, Brian Posehn, Larry Miller, etc) as character actors was also an excellent move.