Seinfeld
All 180 episodes of the 90s’ most misanthropic sitcom have arrived on Netflix, but not everyone is happy. Some viewers have complained that the new transfer puts Jerry Seinfeld’s show in a different aspect ratio: from an older square format to widescreen … yada-yada … now the picture crops out some sight gags and just seems slightly bizarro.
Motion impossible: fallout
It’s not the first time modern technology has caused problems. HD TVs can make even visually stunning films look like cheap soap operas, through motion smoothing – a process to reduce blurring (good for on-screen sport). But Tom Cruise was there to save the day: in a slightly awkward 2018 video, he explained how to adjust TV settings to undo this flat fiasco.
Tick-tock
Twenty years ago, celebrity-watchers gasped when Cruise and Nicole Kidman ended their decade-long marriage. But the Australian actor kicked on nicely – the following year she played Virginia Woolf in The Hours and won an Oscar (a feat TC is yet to manage). Also among its nine Oscar nominations was the film’s score by Philip Glass.
Boulanger-y
Prior to becoming one of the world’s most recognisable living composers, Glass studied under notoriously exacting music teacher Nadia Boulanger. Others taught by the Frenchwoman include Leonard Bernstein, Quincy Jones and Aaron Copland. Another was Errol Morris, the celebrated documentary-maker. Glass has made music for several of Morris’s films, notably 1988’s The Thin Blue Line.
American grifter
In 2018’s American Dharma, Morris profiled far-right rabble-rouser Steve Bannon. Long before helping Donald Trump, Bannon worked in investment banking: in the 90s, he grabbed a slice of a rights deal for Seinfeld, during the sale of its production company. Estimates vary on how much he made, but the two-shirt-wearing nationalist isn’t thought to be in on the profits from the reported $500m streaming deal with Netflix. Serenity now!
Watch Seinfeld co-creator Larry David has managed even more series of Curb Your Enthusiasm than his original endeavour, with season 11 now on Sky/Now. Pret-tay, pre-tay good.
Eat In The Soup Nazi episode, an exacting chef terrorises Jerry and co in the name of perfect soup: try making a jambalaya for the full effect. More soup for you!
