Washington Post headline – How Julia Louis-Dreyfus quietly became the most successful sitcom star ever
JLD getting Mark Twain prize, she is really great, but best ever is a bold statement. I personally think Ted Danson has had an amazing long run and with some really iconic and long running. Others?
There should just be a separate category for Seinfeld’s lead actors. Just not even fair!
Am i crazy, or am i so sane i just blew your mind?
Cheers, and what, Becker versus Seinfeld and Veep?
That’s… not even a contest. And I like the first two.
Why not give it to Jerry? He’s sort of a douche, but on a weighted basis, his contribution to popular culture is surely bigger than Elaine’s, even with her other show.
Having only thought about it for about 45 seconds, that makes sense. Not only Veep and Seinfeld but the show she did in between, New Adventures of Old Christine, ran for 5 years and was nominated for awards too.
I’m trying to think of anyone that’s strung together a similar career and no one comes to mind. Even Ted Danson wasn’t the most successful from Cheers. That would have to go to Kelsey Grammer with Cheers, Fraiser, and The Simpsons under his belt.
We can’t just give all cast members in the show the same credit. Let’s say “Cheers” is worth 10,000 culture points. Ted Danson maybe deserves 30% of those points and Kelsey Grammer might have been worth 5%. You have to do a weighted sum of all culture points by show an the actor’s role to get an unbiased ranking for the person’s cultural contribution. Of course, shows like “Seinfeld” are so huge and so culturally relevant that even Jerry’s incrementally higher percentage contribution to that show have the potential to outweigh the supporting casts’ entire outside body of work.
What this award signifies, in addition to contribution to art, is who they want to be symbolic of the awarding organization. Most people have a positive perception of Julia and her experience or personality, and that is what introduces subjectivity into the choice.
The Washington Post = fake news
agreed. JLD maybe gets 15% contribution towards Seinfeld’s greatness. i personally think Kramer and George get well over 50% given their characters’ contribution to the show. show would’ve been so much less without Kramer and George.
i’d go:
JLD: 15%
Jerry: 20%
George: 35%
Kramer: 25%
Newman: 5%
that said, JLD would get nearly 100% culture points for all subsequent shows while the other characters have nothing to show after seinfeld.
Imagine leaving Larry David out of that analysis while claiming to like analysis.
Larry David for best sitcom actor ever? Seinfeld wouldn’t apply unless you count his role as the back of George Steinbrenner’s head.
Clearly my post was specific to the one above it, but yeah.
i still fail to see the point. larry david isn’t much of an actor. one of the top writers though.
See now I’m concerned. If you were basing that entirely on acting, then putting Jerry above JLD is the worst take I’ve ever seen. Seinfeld was a horrible actor.
It’s not an acting award - it is a comedy award. Other winners like Letterman and Ellen are not even actors, and to me, they completely deserve the award. Jerry was the main character and foil, and drove the show, like it or not.
I agree on JLD. From playing Rachel in the Family Ties spinoff The Art of Being Nick to to her role as Rochelle in the animated hit Planes, she has played many characters starting with the letter “R” that have become touchstones of modern life.
^whoa, totally forgot about Art of Being Nick. You are dismissing Danson too easily. He’s got memorable roles in Cheers, Becker, CSI, Damages, Bored to Death, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. What’s even more amazing is that he was working some of these shows at the same time. That’s something. Statistically speaking, Sam in Cheers contribution > Elaine in Seinfeld contribution although close. Selena in Veep > than any Danson character. But Danson maybe wins by hair on entire body of work.
I would find 1% for the character who gets in a fight with George over a parking spot and then calls Jerry a phony. When Jerry confronts him, he trys to explain it away by saying he meant it in a good way, and gives the the example that Michael Jordan is so good, he’s phony… That joke dominated my office for months after, and still comes up.
Maybe. My sense is she’s winning this for her performance on Veep which is tour de force. Who knew she had that in her…?
I think people are confused by OP’s original comment. There are two things going on here. The Mark Twain award for being an outstanding humorist, and, separately, the Washington Post’s claim that JLD is the most successful sitcom actor ever. Those are two entirely different topics.
Using Ted Danson as our example, he’s been in some great shows and is certainly a good comedic actor, but the Mark Twain award is way above his pay grade. Check out this list of prior recipients:
Ted Danson does not belong on that list. I think JLD is worthy.