‘Seinfeld’ Conspiracy Theorist Claims ‘The Sopranos’ Is An Abstract Copy

Woke up this morning and got yourself some Ring Dings.

At first glance, the seminal sitcom superhit Seinfeld and the realist crime drama The Sopranos don’t appear to have too much in common besides an association with the 1990s and a setting in the New York/New Jersey area. But that was before we opened our third eye. While the two separate shows are each considered to be the apotheosis of their respective genres, perhaps the greatest work of art brought forth by the two franchises is hidden but omnipresent double image created by comparing the Seinfeld and The Sopranos shot-for-shot for hundreds of hours while hunkered down in a bunker eating canned beans and wearing nothing but a tinfoil hat.

At least, that’s what Redditor DrSatan420247 argued in an exhaustive, conspiratorial thread posted in the Seinfeld subreddit earlier this week, titled, “The Sopranos Is An Abstract Copy of Seinfeld (Detailed Evidence Inside).” In it, DrSatan made the case that “every scene, every plot, every line, name, set, wardrobe, hairdo, etc. — every inch of The Sopranos — represents an abstract copy of something from Seinfeld,” posting over 100 side-by-side comparisons where a plot point from a Seinfeld episode was abstracted into a nearly identical beat in a Sopranos one. If Keith Hernandez had DrSatan on his side during SpitGate, he would have been cleared of the crime in a single sleepless night. 

“The concept is that everything is the same, they just reshot all the scenes, reused all the plots, totally just recycled the Seinfeld script, but changed some minor details,” DrSatan wrote of their manifesto. “It’s incredibly complex, and detailed, and it seemingly just goes on forever. The amount of content to sift through is quite vast, to say the least.”

DrSatan’s examples of this secret coding seemingly just go on forever as well, so here’s a very small sample of the kind of evidence they used in the argument: In the Seinfeld Season Four episode “The Pilot” (not to be confused with the actual pilot), George accuses the actor playing Kramer (not to be confused with Michael Richards) of swiping George’s box of raisins off a table. In the Season Two Sopranos episode “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” Tony accuses Paulie of eating a box of Mallomars from the countertop in his home. “Table vs counter, and stole the whole box vs just ate them all and left the empty box. George suspects but Tony knows,” DrSatan writes of the minor changes obscuring the mirror image. 

“It’s not really plagiarism, in my opinion,” DrSatan judiciously states of David Chase’s scheme to recreate Seinfeld with the visage of a mob drama. “Although a healthy debate about that is key to understanding it.” 

They continue, “It’s almost like there are two images within each scene in The Sopranos. Sopranos is still its own thing, but technically it’s a copy of Seinfeld, too. Once you know the second image is there, you can see it. Like the abstract art poster in Mr. Pitt’s office. And it’s not even that covert, or hidden. It’s hiding in plain sight. Once you see it, you’re going to be amazed you didn’t spot it before.”

“I consider this thing to be the ultimate scavenger hunt, and as you’re about to read in the comments, I’m up a few hundred points on all of you,” DrSatan challenged the forum, “It’s huge, thousands, if not tens of thousands of details to find. Watching these shows now that you’re aware of what is baked into them, once you understand the concept, the formula, and get some practice spotting it, it will open up the ultimate television viewing experience. It is next f****** level. It doesn't get any better than this.”

(Cue synthesized bass riff, claps from the studio audience)