About
Modern Seinfeld (@SeinfeldToday[1]) is a novelty Twitter account that offers hypothetical plot lines for modern-day episodes of the 1990s American TV sitcom Seinfeld[2] if the series was still running to this day.
Origin
The Twitter account @SeinfeldToday was created in December 2012 by Los Angeles-based writer Jack Moore[3] and New York-based comedian Josh Gondelman.[4] The tweets typically keep in line with Seinfeld’s “postmodern” elements and the main characters’ strange quirks, however, with a unique twist of various technological advancements that were made after the finale of the series in 1998. The account’s first tweet (shown below) projects that Cosmo Kramer, the main character’s eccentric neighbor, would find someone with his name on Twitter and become preoccupied with their life. Additionally, Newman, the main character’s arch-nemesis, would get weight loss surgery that fails. As of September 2013, the account has made more than 420 tweets and has gained more than 644,000 followers.
Kramer becomes obsessed with another Cosmo Kramer on Twitter who has thousands of followers. Newman Gets lap band surgery. It fails.
— Modern Seinfeld (@SeinfeldToday) December 9, 2012
Spread
On December 10th, the Twitter account was featured on dozens of internet culture blogs and news media sites including Gothamist[6], Mashable[7], the Atlantic[8], Wired[9]ABC News[10], Laughing Squid[11], Entertainment Weekly[12], Uproxx[13], Boing Boing[14] and the Huffington Post.[15] The following day, The Hollywood Reporter[16] noted the account had broken 120,000 followers. Also on December 11th, Moore and Gondelman began crossposting their tweets to a Facebook fan page[5], which has gained more than 3,800 likes as of September 2013. On December 24th, a screenshot of one of the tweets was posted to /r/Funny[17], where it gained 14,237 upvotes, 2,038 points overall and 254 comments prior to being archived. In March 2013, TIME[18] named @SeinfeldToday one of the 140 Best Twitter Feeds of 2013.
Jack Moore’s Job Offer
On August 1st, 2013, former Buzzfeed writer Jack Moore revealed that the Twitter account had helped him land a staff writing gig on the upcoming Fox comedy Us & Them[20], an American spin on the award-winning BBC series Gavin & Stacey. Moore told The Hollywood Reporter[19] that the Modern Seinfeld Twitter account was a huge help to him, as it was a way for him to publicly pitch storylines, which is a necessary skill for a television writing job. The show is set to premiere sometime in 2014.
Notable Examples
Derivative Accounts
On December 12th, New York-based screenwriter Matt Grasso launched the Twitter account @BCSeinfeld[21], placing the show’s characters in a prehistoric time period. Sometime in 2013, the account @Seinfeld2000[22] was created, using spelling errors and Weird Twitter-style absurd comedy to poke fun at people laughing at @SeinfeldToday’s tweets. The account gained more than 3,700 followers before temporarily closing in February.[23] The account was eventually reactivated, gaining more than 16,000 followers. On September 16th, 2013, the creators of @Seinfeld2000 collaborated with Chris Baker and Mike Lacher to release SeinQuest2000[24], a short film based on the account’s tweets.
Search Interest
External References
[1]Twitter – @SeinfeldToday
[3]Twitter – @JackPMoore
[4]Twitter – @JoshGondelman
[5]Facebook – Modern Seinfeld
[6]Gothamist – Modern Seinfeld Yada Yada Yada Your New Favorite Twitter Feed
[7]Mashable – Seinfeld Twitter Account Shows Hilarious Modern-Day Plot Lines
[8]The Atlantic – Behind the New Modern Seinfeld Twitter Account, Which Is Not About Nothing
[9]Wired – ‘Modern Seinfeld‘ Twitter Imagines Sitcom With Contemporary Tech Problems
[10]ABC News – New Twitter Account Takes On ‘Modern’ Seinfeld
[11]Laughing Squid – Modern Seinfeld Imagines Modern Day Seinfeld Episodes on Twitter
[12]Entertainment Weekly – ‘Modern Seinfeld’ Twitter account imagines Jerry and co. in the digital age
[13]Uproxx – 10 ‘Modern Seinfeld’ Episodes We’d Set Our DVRs For
[14]BoingBoing – Modern Seinfeld Twitter account pitches episodes for the Facebook age
[15]Huffington Post – SeinfeldToday Twitter Imagines What The Sitcom Would Be Like If It Were Still On The Air (TWEETS)
[16]The Hollywood Reporter – Modern Seinfeld Twitter Feed Imagining New Episodes Goes Viral
[17]Reddit – /r/funny: Modern Seinfeld
[18]TIME– The 140 Best Twitter Feeds of 2013: Seinfeld Today
[19]The Hollywood Reporter – Modern Seinfeld Twitter Account Lands Creator a Sitcom Job
[21]Twitter – @BCSeinfeld
[22]Twitter – @Seinfeld2000
[23]The Daily Dot – A final tribute to @Seinfeld2000, Weird Twitter’s parody about nothing