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Friday has proven to be a good day for new content to consume at home and in the cinema. The eagerly awaited Venom: let there be carnage the sequel hit theaters, expanding Sony’s Spider-Man story universe. Then there’s Apple TV Plus, which has released new episodes for Ted lasso, The morning show, and Foundation. Elsewhere you will find the Soprano prequel on HBO Max and in theaters. But Netflix had the most anticipated release this weekend. It is the whole Seinfeld series that is available to stream immediately in 4K quality.
But if you’re dying to force-feed me Seinfeld on Netflix, and if you’ve seen the original years ago, you might not necessarily appreciate what the streamer did to the TV series.
Some Seinfeld fans quickly discovered that Netflix’s 4K remaster altered the original aspect ratio of the TV show. Instead of the original 4: 3 crop, you get a 16: 9 ratio that’s more like you’re used to in 2021. Most devices that play video content support this aspect ratio. And most TV shows and movies are in 16: 9 aspect ratio. This is the new normal. To note, Seinfeld broadcast in 16: 9 elsewhere before Netflix.
But that wasn’t the way they made movies and TV shows back then Seinfeld. In the pre-HD era, TVs didn’t look like smaller versions of a movie screen. The 4: 3 TV aspect ratio was king, and they filmed TV shows accordingly.
Did netflix ruin Seinfeld?
If you have seen Seinfeld in the original 4: 3 cut on a mid-90s TV for the first time, you probably know very well what the series looked like. And you’ll quickly realize that Netflix’s version of Seinfeld looks different. You get less vertical content since the 4K remaster is available in 16: 9 aspect ratio.
Again, some Seinfeld might not even be aware of what’s going on for most of the show. You still get the same great episode featuring the four iconic characters you love. The jokes will land like they did the first time around, and you’ll love seeing it all again.
If you’ve never seen Seinfeld, you will experience it in a 16: 9 aspect ratio for the first time, so you will never know what the 4: 3 aspect looked like. But some of the hardliners Seinfeld fans can tell the difference, especially when it comes to certain episodes, like the one with the pothole:
to emphasize, the titular pothole of the episode of season 8 The Pothole is cropped on Netflix https://t.co/gH4l5V8HfS pic.twitter.com/6G35eZQymW
– Brandon (scary version) (@ Thatoneguy64) October 1, 2021
Even so, the jokes still land, as the same Twitter user explains later in the thread. You will see the pothole in the following photo:
it’s honestly good if you have no other way to watch it. as jokes always work – they immediately cut to a close-up of the pothole after that, so it’s not like you miss it completely – but I really don’t like the crop over the original . i hate shit like that
– Brandon (scary version) (@ Thatoneguy64) October 1, 2021
It’s not a real problem
Seinfeld is not the first to have this “problem”. Disney did the same with The simpsons on Disney Plus. But the streaming service allows users to choose between 4: 3 and 16: 9 formats. Netflix doesn’t do the same with Seinfeld, Nevertheless.
Then there is the Zack Snyder Justice League cut that stream to 4: 3 on HBO Max because that’s how the director originally envisioned it. He wanted to take advantage of the vertical space to include more detail in some shots, which would not be possible in 16: 9. This is why 4: 3 is much more important for the Sinner’s Cup that for some Seinfeld jokes that require a visual hook.
In other words, Netflix didn’t ruin Seinfeld. It’s just a different experience with most of the same amazing content that you’ll love. Think of it this way, if Seinfeld had had this idea of “showing for nothing” these days, they would have shot everything in 16: 9. Then, in the future, a different format could have “ruined” the 2021 standard.
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