Seinfeld

Seinfeld is an an American sitcom television series that aired for nine season from 1989-1998. The main characters are Jerry Seinfeld, Elaine, George Costanza, and Cosmo Kramer. The show is described as "a show about nothing". It has no real central premise. The plots of many episodes are often about small, mundane things. The most notable example is the episode "The Chinese Restaurant". The whole episode is the main characters waiting for a table at a Chinese restaurant.

The characters are examples of a character type called an unsympathetic comedic protagonist. An unsympathetic comedic protagonist is a protagonist who is after nothing more than self gain, and their attempts at self gain are the source of comedy. The main characters are Jerry Seinfeld (played by Jerry Seinfeld), Elaine (played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus), George Costanza (played by Jason Alexander), and Cosmo Kramer (Michael Richards). Seinfeld himself is a bit more passive, just responding to things that happen to him. Costanza is active is doing anything for personal gain, often lying and manipulating women. Kramer is active at all types of bizarre entrepreneurial plans to make money.

The unsympathetic comedic protagonist is not completely unsympathetic. In fact, they are a highly relatable character. They are funny because we relate to their attempts to produce life for themselves. The Word shows us that self centered desires are desires to see life. At times the lie that we lack life will tell us to manipulate others. There is nothing wrong with these feelings. The important thing is that the Word guards your heart from the lie that you are lacking.

It should also be known that things don't work out for the characters. In "The Café", Jerry gives a café owner advice, motivated at making himself feel good. The restaurant closes. Also in that episode, George gets caught cheating at an IQ test. In "The Pie", George manages to hide a suit so that no one will find it when it goes on sale. After he gets the suit, it turns out to be terrible quality.

This pattern finally comes to full circle on the last episode when the characters end up in jail. Something in us does not think it right when someone's attempt at selfish gain actually works. We want to see people fail at their foolishness. This will happen on the day of judgement. Those who seek life apart from God will not get eternal life. Their foolishness will be their downfall.

The mundane nature of the plots points out how we can really feel the death in the world come against us in the small ways. Have you ever gotten frustrated by having to look to see where you parked? Have you ever had to pee but not be near a restroom? That's basically the plot to "The Parking Garage". It's another episode centered around a small, mundane problem.

On a side note, Greg Henry occasionally references Seinfeld in his sermons.