The INSIDER summary:
- People remember Seinfeld as a historically funny show. But it was also historically innovative.
- Unlike sitcoms that came before, Seinfeld episodes didn't have little moral lessons.
- Seinfeld also stuffed WAY more scenes into a half hour than shows had before.
This week on "Showrunners," our podcast about the people who run TV's most important shows, we interviewed Alec Berg.
Berg is one of the head writers for HBO's "Silicon Valley." Before that, he spent much of his career working with Larry David – the creator of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "Seinfeld."
Berg says that David changed TV history with two key innovations.
"Seinfeld" didn't try to teach viewers a lesson.
Berg says that prior to Seinfeld, almost every sitcom was "essentially a morality play." A character is faced with the right choice or the easy choice, and he or she takes the easy choice. Something bad happens, hilarity ensues, and the character ultimately learns a lesson and apologizes for making the wrong choice.
"They make amends with whomever they've wronged, and there's a learning moment, and then there's a joke," says Berg.
At "Seinfeld," says Berg "there was no sappiness. There was no sentiment."
That's because head writer Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld had a rule: "No hugging, no learning."
The characters would always act on their "basest most petty instincts for self gain," says Berg. Then they would get caught and lie and dig themselves in deeper. They would get caught again, lie again, or blame someone else.
"In the end the entire thing blows up and they're miserable," says Berg.
"Seinfeld" crammed way more scenes into every episode.
Berg says that before "Seinfeld," shows like "Cheers" would do four scenes in the first act and another three in the second act, and that was it.
The way David, Seinfeld, and Berg wrote "Seinfeld," it would sometimes have 26 or 27 scenes in a half hour.
It was "a new style of storytelling," says Berg.
When Berg or another writer wrote their first draft, they would come up with four stories, one for each of the four characters.
"Then you'd start the comedy geometry of trying to weave those stories together," says Berg. "Then you'd try and combine and thicken the stories."
"Oh, George is fighting with a guy, and Elaine is dating a guy. Maybe that could be the same guy. Oh, that could give us a scene where George and Elaine are at each other because George wants this and Elaine wants that."
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Or listen to our whole interview with Berg here:
