‘Seinfeld’ is coming to Netflix, but some jokes have been trimmed

A classic ’90s sitcom Seinfeld just landed on Netflix after a six-year run on Hulu. Since the show was filmed years before HD was a thing, it was originally shown in 4: 3 on TV (and the DVD sets that came years later). But on Netflix, the show was cropped to a 16: 9 widescreen format to fit modern TVs. As Rolling Stone noted, that means some visual gags have literally been erased.

Twitter users @boriskarkov and @ Thatoneguy64 briefly pointed out the problem with a specific episode called “The Pothole”. In the episode, George Costanza and Jerry Seinfeld attempt to find George’s lost keys, which fell into a pothole that was later paved. In a crop where George is screaming wildly at the pothole, the Netflix crop completely removes the pothole. The 16: 9 aspect ratio probably removes other gags from the show as well – or at the very least, it could be a shocking experience for people used to the show’s original appearance.

Of course, this problem is not new. Cultures of Seinfeld have been on cable TV for years, and Hulu also broadcast the series in 16: 9. Given the popularity of Netflix, Seinfeld is getting a lot of extra attention right now, and so a bunch of new viewers are probably checking it out who may not have seen it on Hulu. A similar controversy arose in late 2019 when the entire series of The simpsons tap Disney +. After many complaints about the missed visual gags, Disney has finally released the seasons that aired in 4: 3 in their original format. Hopefully Netflix will do the same with Seinfeld – but until then, like many classic shows, the most authentic way to watch them is probably on DVD.