I’ve watched Seinfeld twenty times over. My all-time favorite sitcom. And I’m always surprised when people say Jerry himself was the weak link.
Saying Jerry was the weakest actor of the main four just seems obvious and he probably would have said it himself. But that’s not a knock to him. It just speaks to how great Alexander, Dreyfus, and Richards were. So I’m not questioning people saying he’s number 4 among the leads but I dispute the notion that he wasn’t a great part of the show.
Almost all the interactions between Jerry and George are priceless. And as funny as George is, Jerry egging him on, feeding his preoccupations and pettiness made it that much funnier.
“Well if he didn’t take the raisins, who did?
“That’s what I’m trying to find out..”
“imagine her taking credit for your Big Salad.
More than that, his delivery was often hilarious. Take one of my favorite of those George/Jerry moments. George is desperate to get out of his relationship with Susan while they are working on the NBC pilot..
“She has a huge crush on David Letterman. She talks about him all the time. He works for NBC. I work for NBC. Let’s say I bump into David Letterman. I tell him my situation. He agrees to meet Susan. They fall madly in love and Susan leaves me for David Letterman.”
“And this is your plan.”
“No, no im just thinking.”
“I don’t think you are.”- line deliveries like that were classic Jerry. And they always made me laugh.
Factor in that Kramer as zany and hilarious as he was often had great exchanges with Jerry, too. Honestly, I feel like 9/10 of Kramer’s scenes were with Jerry. Could you imagine that character working if Jerry wasn’t part of the series and it was just George, Elaine, Kramer and the supporting cast. The dynamic between Elaine and Jerry was great as well. The overall quality of the show benefited from that dynamic between characters and Jerry was integral in that regard.