Master of My Domain

Seinfeld vs. 30 Rock---which is better?  

PCV's typically have to find something to amuse themselves in the endless hours of being in an isolating village, some of us very far away from civilization. So what do we do—we read a lot, we have lots of percolating thoughts bubbling and bouncing around about why on earth we are here, and we share media so we can cope with the long winter nights.

Somehow when I was home in the States, I never watched 30 Rock, so when a friend put all the episodes on my computer, nightly I watched one after the other, laughing a lot, and grew to love Tina Fey, who has struck comedic gold in creating her geeky, but lovable loser self with self-image issues, and the metamorphosis and brilliance of Alec Baldwin. The show is similar to Seinfeld in that it really is about nothing, and it isn't afraid to take wild chances, but there may be too many lead characters, and I don't like all of them like I do in Seinfeld. Nonetheless, it is the funniest and most brilliant show since the glory years of Seinfeld. Is that sacrilege? Oh my god, did I become a Seinfeld traitor---it just can't be. So after several months, I weaned away from 30 Rock, and started day one of Seinfeld to see how I would feel.

Watching Seinfeld again came at an excellent time---during the only slump of my service, my cat at home passing away, watching kids fail every class, losing my passport, and getting struck by lightning—but lived to tell about it. Even though I still find Jerry's voice a little gyrating, there's something just pleasanly spurious about the sitcom. It's not called the show about nothing for nothing---nothing serious ever goes on indeed, but perhaps it's Kramer's rubber like antics and scams to get rich by the episode, or George's constantly trying to hook up with a woman with the sole purpose of getting laid, or Jerry's nuances of Superman that I just find ever so endearing.

As I sit night after night, laughing so hard that the villagers must think I'm having a party, I thought that being a PCV is kind of like having a Seinfeld life---it has a lot of somethings, but eventually, they all result in a lot of nothings---yet over time, character builds and hilarity ensues!   So, yes, Seinfeld definitely wins out over 30 Rock for several reasons, but, the main reason is that we, as PCV's, are Masters of our own Domain!