Students say 'show about nothing' not much to watch

After months of patient waiting, the year's biggest event in television finally occurred last Thursday as "Seinfeld" signed off. As exciting as it was, the big finish didn't quite live up to the expectations of many students around campus

.Some students watched the big final "Seinfeld," some watched the Red Wings playoff game, and some didn't watch TV at all. But how the "Seinfeld" finale fared against the most viewed shows of all time is speculative.

According to Nielsen Media Research, the final episode of M*A*S*H* in 1983 still reigns supreme with a 60.2 market average and about 50 million households.

"Seinfeld" only took a 43.2 market average, which doesn't even put it in the top-30 most-watched TV shows, according to Nielsen Media Research. At the same time, 40.5 million households are estimated to have watched, which makes Seinfeld just short of #22, the "Cheers" series finale.

Regardless of how it ranks against other season finales, there is no question that the final "Seinfeld" was a huge television event, made even bigger by all the hype surrounding it.

LSA junior Abby Magid, an avid fan, was not satisfied. "I usually watch it every week," Magid said. "But I was a little disappointed [with the finale]'.

"I liked how the trial showed flashbacks ... I thought it was a little silly that they end up in prison, and it made them look like really bad people."

Engineering juniors Kristy Barefoot, Amy Baceault and Carolyn Tate were divided in their opinions.

"I already knew what the plot was gonna be. I heard it." Barefoot said, "The Boston Herald leaked what the plot was gonna be about. So it wasn't much of a surprise to me, and I was very disappointed with it."

Barefoot is referring to the front page story of The Boston Herald last Wednesday which scooped the plot of the last Seinfeld, getting information from a mysterious informant who used the pseudonym "Art Vandalay," the alias George Costanza often uses.

Baceault liked the way "Seinfeld" finished. "I thought it was pretty cool. They ended up going to jail. It was awesome," she said, laughing with Tate. "It was different. All the other shows that have ended in the past, they just all moved away. They're all teary-eyed, but I liked it."

Travis Maures, a pre-med student in LSA, didn't think the finale lived up to the hype. "It was kind of like I was expecting so much, and then it was kind of a letdown."

"All the shows are really about nothing and that one was about something. It was all about a trial." Maures said there were "spaces in it where there was nothing funny going on sometimes.

"But then some of it was funny," Maures continued. "The funny parts were looking back and seeing all the (old clips). When you've watched for about nine years, you remember everything, so it's cool. That was the funniest part, but that's a highlight reel basically."

LSA sophomore Sunita Doddamani taped the finale, but missed the last five minutes. My tape stopped and rewound so I didn't get to see the very end. But the parts that I did see were really good. I liked it because I love the recurring characters. They were so funny. Like the Soup Nazi. Oh my God, I was dying when the Soup Nazi came on."

Doddamani was not the only one who tuned her VCR in to NBC last Thursday. LSA senior Geoffrey Ream and his friends taped it.

Ream hadn't viewed the tape yet, but lowered his expectations after hearing repeadedly that the show was disappointing.

"If you liked Seinfeld all along, they said you're going to like the finale. And if you haven't liked Seinfeld all along, then you're not going to like the finale," Reams said.

But in the end, according to students, all the hype ended up hurting the show, which simply could not live up to the ridiculously high expectations.

05-18-98