The Community
General Category => Movies & TV => Topic started by: Zzzptm on May 31, 2018, 03:59:14 PM
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When tracking the greatness of Seinfeld episodes and seasons, I noticed a very strong correlation between how funny an episode was and how much criminal activity went down in it. I even went so far as to catalog as much of the activity as I could, most of it gathered from reading plot summaries. Here is my data, below:
S1e5: George - Insider trading; Elaine - catnapping (proposed)
S2e4: George, Jerry - petty theft
S2e5: Elaine - bribery
S2e6: Kramer - impersonating an officer, robbery
S2e7: George - poisons boss; Kramer, Jerry - destruction of property
S2e8: Jerry - attempted murder, but only as a joke
S2e10: Kramer - theft of cable
S2e12: Elaine - reckless driving
S3e1: Jerry, George, Elaine - insurance fraud
S3e2: Jerry - tax fraud
S3e5: Jerry - Overdue book; Kramer - trespassing
S3e6: Jerry, George - public urination
S3e9: Kramer, Elaine - misrepresentation, theft
S3e10: George - shoplifting; Jerry - soliciting
S3e11: George - reckless parking
S3e12: George - sexual harassment
S3e13: (Subway, crime happens to George, Kramer, Jerry)
S3e17/18: George - unemployment fraud
S3e19: George, Jerry - misrepresentation
S3e21: George - creating a public nuisance
S3e23: George, Jerry - illegal entry
S4e2: George, Jerry - illegally running police siren
S4e3: Crazy Joe Davola assaults Kramer
S4e4: Kramer - perjury (intended, but fails)
S4e7: George - reckless driving; Kramer - breaking and entering, arson
S4e8: Kramer - bribery, smuggling
S4e9: Kramer, George - scalping
S4e10: Elaine - jaywalking
S4e11: George, Kramer - fraud; Kramer - assault
S4e15: Kramer - assault
S4e16: Jerry, George - sexual harassment of a minor
S4e18: George, Jerry - elderly neglect; Kramer - theft, verbal assault
S4e19: George - fraud
S4e21: Jerry - abandons car with keys in it
S4e22: George - illegal parking; Kramer, George - gross negligence, fraud
S5e3: Kramer - threatening
S5e4: Kramer - stalking, indecency; George - sexual harassment
S5e5: Kramer - disturbing the peace
S5e7: Jerry - verbal assault; Kramer - evidence tampering
S5e9: Jerry - assault
S5e11: Jerry - theft
S5e12: George - criminal neglect; Elaine - petty theft
S5e13: George - double parking, destruction of property
S5e14: Kramer - littering, animal abuse
S5e15: Elaine - theft
S5e17: Jerry - fraud; George - public urination
S5e19: George - assault, battery, gross negligence, inciting a riot; Kramer - assault, operating city bus without license
S5e20: Kramer - theft from commercial lobster trap
S6e1: Jerry - animal abuse
S6e7: George - harassment
S6e8: Jerry - trespassing, vandalism
S6e9: George - sexual harassment
S6e11: Elaine - trespassing
S6e12: Kramer - illegal parking
S6e13: Jerry - fraud, negligence; Kramer - mugging
S6e19: Elaine - fraud
S6e20: Kramer - impersonation of a doctor
S6e21: Kramer - illegal gambling; George - stalking
S6e22: Kramer - assault (vs. a monkey)
S6e23: George - assault, mayhem
S7e1: Elaine, Kramer - dognapping
S7e3: Kramer - frivolous lawsuit
S7e4: Jerry - petty theft; Kramer - theft
S7e5: Kramer - criminal negligence
S7e5: Jerry - arson; Kramer - using a scanner
S7e6: Jerry - assault, criminal negligence
S7e11: Jerry - robbery
S7e12: George - abandonment of a motor vehicle; Kramer, Jerry - grand theft auto; Kramer - frivolous lawsuit
S7e14: Kramer - theft of cable
S7e16: Kramer - smuggling
S7e18: Jerry - robbery
S7e19: George - soliciting; Kramer - procuring
S7e20: George - theft
S7e21: Kramer - theft of government property
S8e1: Kramer - endangerment of a minor
S8e2: George - bugging
S8e3: Jerry - theft
S8e4: Jerry, Kramer, George - video piracy; George - reckless driving, littering; Elaine - assault
S8e5: Kramer - mail fraud
S8e6: George - fraud
S8e7: Kramer - illegal detention; Jerry - assault with a deadly weapon
S8e8: Elaine - embezzlement; George - theft
S8e9: Kramer - frivolous lawsuit
S8e10: Elaine - assault and battery; Jerry - theft of government property
S8e11: Jerry - check kiting; Kramer - cockfighting; George - aiding a fugitive
S8e12: Jerry - vagrancy
S8e13: George - verbal assault; Elaine - corruption of a minor
S8e14: George - mugging
S8e15: Kramer - illegal gambling; Jerry - battery, mayhem, illegal detention
S8e16: Kramer - illegal public works; Elaine - fraud; George - bribery
S8e17: Kramer - human trafficking, immigration fraud
S8e18: Jerry, George - terrorism
S8e19: George - destruction of property, creating a nuisance; Elaine, Kramer - destruction of property; Kramer - criminal negligence
S8e20: Elaine - illegal dumping; George - theft
S8e21: Kramer - fraud
S9e2: Kramer - assault, destruction of property
S9e3: George - fraud; Kramer - destruction of property
S9e4: Elaine - assault; Kramer - destruction of property
S9e6: George - cruelty to animals; Jerry, Elaine, George - illegal detention, assault
S9e7: George - theft; Kramer, Elaine - destruction of property; Kramer - impersonation of a doctor
S9e8: Elaine - public intoxication
S9e10: Kramer - destruction of property
S9e11: Elaine - destruction of property; Kramer - reckless driving
S9e14: Kramer - cruelty to animals; Jerry, Kramer - grave-robbing
S9e15: Kramer - fraud
S9e16: Elaine - theft
S9e17: George - fraud, shoplifting; Kramer - workforce violations
S9e18: Kramer - impersonating an officer; Elaine - grand theft cake, fraud; George - jaywalking
S9e19: Jerry - soliciting; Kramer - harassment
S9e20: Jerry - wrong-way driving, abandonment of a motor vehicle; Kramer - arson
S9 Finale: Jerry, George, Elaine, Kramer - duty to rescue violation
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In the drab season one, there's hardly a crime to be spotted. Season two was hit and miss, but the hits were guaranteed to come from criminal acts, such as Kramer loading cement into a washing machine or George poisoning his boss. Good times!
Once could even say that the true turning point of the series was when Kramer committed arson in S4e7. From that point onward, it was full of fun and felonies!
As a character, Kramer seemed to be the most likely to engage in the most daring of crimes. Who could forget the crazy hijinks of his human trafficking of the Dominicans? His involvement in a kooky cockfighting ring? Or that time he talked Jerry into doing some wacky grave-robbing?
Let's face it, we love to laugh along with the bad boys. So much so, people have even taken to putting Seinfeld laugh tracks and bass guitar intro/outros on top of Breaking Bad scenes, and they seem like they came straight out of a spinoff show based on the dentist Tim Watley.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKbO-MSNDSI