also brought a lot of people to his restaurant / made him money and he seemed to come off as angry that it was able to boost his business a bit. i don't know how i'd react if there was a character on a TV show based off of me, but it's not like the character is hated or despised. Soup Nazi is one of the most beloved in the series. he's certainly entitled to be angry, and Kenny Kramer is certainly entitled to make a living off of being "the real Kramer". i'd probably be somewhere in the middle.
I can sympathize with opposing a nickname with the word Nazi in it, but it portrayed him as the best soup maker. Not only did it raise his profile but it got to the point where I see his soups at my grocery store http://www.thespicybananas.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/SoupMan2.jpg
It goes to show how good Jerry & Larry were at creating and writing for these minor characters. They'd give you just enough of them so there's familiarity, they would put them in scenarios with the main cast so you see how significant they factor into their lives; however, they never wear out the welcome -- you only see the exhaustion through the main casts' eyes. We, as the audience, always want more Bania, more Newman, more Puddy, etc. But Jerry and Larry gave us morsels at a time so we felt like we saw them more often and wanted them to be around more than they were. That's a neat trick they were able to pull on us, and that idea could potentially lend evidence to the fact that the last episode let people down and had negative buzz for so long (I think hindsight has shown us the finale worked better than it was given credit for at the time, with the audiences who connected with this show understanding the joke in context with syndication).
The one that really got ruined was Puddy in the last season. He became almost the fifth character and went from being endearing to obnoxious.
"Don't you even care? This is your company. It's your name on the outside of the building. Speaking of which, the R fell off and all it says now is K-UGER." "K-UGER. That sounds like one of those old time car horns, huh? K-UGER! K-UGER!" "You are too much, Mr. Kruger. Too much!" "Thank you George, you've been great. That's it for me!" "What? No, no, you're not going out on a high note with me, Mr. Kruger." "It's K-UGER!"
It doesn't really come as a surprise that the guy who inspired a character like the Soup Nazi is in fact an unpleasant person
Can't believe how few episodes some of these characters were in. Think I'm gonna pick up the book and do a full rewatch soon.
Puddy was overused and exaggerated to an even more obnoxious level. It is very typical of the post-David seasons.
The best use of Puddy was in the finale when Elaine says, "Don't wait for me" and his response is a simple, "ok". Although the devils episode was rather hilarious.
I don't know, man, he's always been a bit of a dullard/numbskull kind of guy. I still find him hysterically funny.
Sometimes I wish I never found out that Larry David left. Every time I watch the last two seasons I can't help but be overly critical due to his absence. The show is still funny, just in a less intelligent way.
Some of my favorites are in those last two seasons. Yeah, it's different, but not radically, in my opinion.
I'm due for a rewatch, which is really what it comes down to. I've seen seasons 1-7 at least 15 times each, and seasons 8 and 9 only maybe like 3 or 4 times. It's still better than a lot of other shows out there, that's for sure.
Season 7's finale is a proper ending to the whole thing. It is always fine to stop there when watching the series.