If You Like "Seinfeld", You'll Love "Life In Pieces"

About "Seinfeld"

"Seinfeld" is a sitcom created by actors/comedians Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”). It revolves around 4 friends whose should-be-mundane life experiences are somehow heightened to outlandish proportions in every episode. The star and the show’s namesake is Jerry Seinfeld. He, along with his besties, neighbor Cosmo Kramer (Michael Richards), former girlfriend Elaine Benes (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and longtime best friend George Costanza (Jason Alexander) are the backbone of the show often described as “a show about nothing”.

The show is really quite a phenomenon – it has been described as one of television’s most influential shows ever. Everything about it is stellar. The writing, acting, directing…even the editing could be used to teach a “how-to” class about television sitcom production. The show ran for 9 seasons and the cast and crew won numerous Golden Globe and Emmy Awards during their tenure. They were nominated for many more.

"Seinfeld" also made a tremendous influence on popular culture. Have you ever heard friends or co-workers talking about "man hands"? Being “Master of Your Domain”? "The Soup Nazi"? "Festivus" (for the rest of us)? A girl named "Mulva"? Heard someone say, “Maybe the dingo ate your baby” with an Aussie accent? Been accused of "double-dipping" at the office get together? You have "Seinfeld" to thank for these and many other tidbits of conversation!

One of my favorite episodes is “The Contest”. The basic premise of this episode is that after George’s mother catches him “in the act” (by himself), she throws her back out and has to be admitted to the hospital. Of course, George shares the story with his friends, and they decide to bet $100 each that they can refrain from doing “it” longer than the others. The things that makes this episode so hilarious are number one – George’s self-indulgence caused his mother to be hospitalized, number two - they never explicitly say what George was doing, yet they all know and all of the viewers know. Number three - refraining from indulging seems to cause them to experience all types of maladies from insomnia to anxiety. However, every time one of the friends loses the bet they cut to a shot of them sleeping soundly! To make matters worse, Jerry has a female neighbor who walks around her apartment naked and he can see it all from his window, further complicating his efforts to win the bet. One by one, his friends fall and Jerry wins.

How I Found The World's Best-Kept Secret (Well, I Had Never Heard of It)

From 2003 to 2020, I worked full-time as a video editor and website content creator. I worked long hours - late nights, early mornings…so I didn’t watch very much television. In 2020, I reduced my hours to part-time, and then further reduced them to working on a project basis – so now I have more time on my hands. I often watch show previews and even gauge by the title if I think a show may be interesting. I happened upon “Life in Pieces” on Hulu and thought, hmm…Dianne Wiest, James Brolin, Colin Hanks…there may be something to this. I saved it to “My Stuff” and forgot all about it.

If You Like "Seinfeld", You'll Love "Life In Pieces"

While scrolling through “My Stuff” one day, I came across “Life in Pieces” again and thought, well, I’ll check it out.

O.M.G. This. Show. Is. Everything.

I was blown away by the wit, the humor, the smart and snappy dialogue, the insane character development and how every word that is spoken is so purposeful – you can bet that whatever is said will make sense of something you’ve seen or are about to see.

The format is also unique. It’s set up in “pieces”. Each episode consists of four pieces, and the episode titles reflect the main theme of each piece (e.g. “Boxing Opinion Spider Beard”). The pieces concept is great because it keeps the show interesting – you don’t spend too much time on any one part of the family. Pieces 1-3 each tend to focus on a different part of the family and the 4th piece will bring them all together and sort of tie up the loose ends. The family members who are not featured in a particular piece often still appear in the piece, because, well…family.

Let me introduce you to the Short family. Mom and Dad are Joan and John Short (Wiest and Brolin). They have three adult children, Heather (husband Tim, daughters Samantha and Sophia, son Tyler and his wife Clementine), Matt (wife Colleen, adopted son Lucas) and Greg (Hanks) (wife Jen, daughters Lark and Talia). There is also Joan’s mom, Gigi, played by the late Ann Guilford.

One of my favorite episodes is “Eyebrow Anonymous Trapped Gem”. In this episode, Gigi has passed away and Joan receives a call from the senior living facility – they want her to come clean out Gigi’s room. Still in mourning, and feeling guilty for putting her mother in the facility in the first place, she tells John that she just can’t do it. He tells Joan that he will take care of it. While he is there at the facility, he locks himself out of the room and is mistaken for a resident by two orderlies – now he is “trapped” into living a day in the life of Gigi (which he thoroughly enjoys). The female residents enjoy it too – shooting their shot at the handsome new guy! He spends the day participating in various activities and loses track of time. His phone is locked in the room so Joan is unable to reach him. Finally, she shows up at the facility to see what is taking him so long – he is eating a popsicle and looking at some of the artwork created by the residents. He shows Joan a cheery painting that Gigi did and explains that if Gigi had been miserable, she could not have created such a joyful piece of art. Although it doesn’t change the fact that Gigi is gone, John’s revelation gives Joan some peace about her decision to put her mother in the facility.

I tried to think carefully about what I love so much about this show. I think it’s mainly that it feels like family. It feels like they could be my family. You become a member of this crazy, loving, bumbling family and you walk through life with them. They get under your skin – when they laugh, you laugh. When they cry, you cry. I have walked with them through miscarriages, breakups, reconciliations, overcoming fear of water, succumbing to fear of spiders, job loss, midlife crises, teenage angst, divorce, death of a loved one, priapism, new parenthood, head lice, adoption and more. I know why Clementine calls her uncle, “Uncle-Dad”. I know what Funeral Goose is. I know that John’s favorite drink is a Mai-Tai and Joan loves to scare Greg by exploiting one of his deepest fears. At any given time watching the show, I have gasped, physically cringed, laughed out loud, found my mouth hanging open in surprise, released an audible “Awwwwww…”, said, “Oh, no you didn’t”, cried, and the list goes on.

The outstanding thing about this family (yes, there’s more) is that they love each other. Fiercely, unreservedly, unconditionally. Oh yes, mistakes and misunderstandings abound in this family – but love makes everything alright. And that is alright with me.

So, if you like "Seinfeld", “a show about nothing”, you’ll love “Life in Pieces”. It’s definitely a show about something.