Fans upset as AI Seinfeld returns to Twitch without Seinfeld

This endless show parodying the ’90s sitcom His field use of machine-generated content, Nothing foreverShe’s back on Twitch afterwards Temporarily taken offline in early February for some transphobic jokes. Unfortunately, this revival, which the creators of Mismatch Media have dubbed season two, isn’t quite like the original, with the biggest disappointment being the series’ main cast and Larry Feinberg (lo-fi Jerry Seinfeld) to be replaced. Now, viewers on Discord and Twitch are clamoring and lamenting that Larry return to AI standup Nothing forever is not the same without its off-brand His field-isms.

Nothing forever took the live streaming platform by storm in February. A 24/7/365 “TV show” utilizing machine learning technologies such as DALL-E, OpenAI GPT-3 and various other automated content generation tools, Mismatch Media’s continuous broadcast piqued the curiosity of the internet due to its apparent resemblance to Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David’s popular 90’s comedy His field.

It was awkward and spooky, but it still found an audience thanks to the bizarre humor, fuzzy visuals, and odd camera placement. I and many other viewers couldn’t look away, and the show won nearly 20,000 concurrent viewers at peak on January 31st. That popularity was washed down the drain when Larry went rogue and started making transphobic jokes, resulting in Twitch being temporarily banned the channel hosting Nothing forever two weeks long. The show is back now, but things are noticeably different in this newly revamped “second season.” Like, much different.

Continue reading: Twitch’s popular AI-based His field Show is banned due to transphobia

Larry is now Leo and he is a blogger

One of the most important changes to Nothing forever is that Larry as we knew him is gone. Now we have Leo Borges, a glasses wearer who still sort of looks like Seinfeld. But instead of being a standup comedian, Leo appears to be a blogger who begins each “episode” by writing a post on his website, Borges’s Boredom Board, about a completely random topic. He once blogged about the philosophical meaning of “The early bird gets the worm.” (As you can imagine, it wasn’t that deep.) Another time, he posted about his craving for crispy bacon (which was making me damn hungry). It’s a complete mood shift from the Seinfeldian standup routines that launched each episode previously, and signals that nothing is ever the same Nothing forever.

It’s not just Larry that’s different, as Mismatch Media essentially recast the entire show. Season 1 Kramer (Zoltan Kakler) is now Nick Sterling and Elaine (Yvonne Torres) has become Kelly Coffee. George (Fred Kastopolous), now called Manfred Freeman, has not appeared in season two. The laugh tracks are still there and the characters are still strolling through their New York apartment, but a lot has worked Nothing forever Entertaining ones—like the nonsensical jokes and the hilarious conversations—were eliminated. Now they not only seem to be standing around, but also talking about a pizzeria they never actually visit.

That’s not to say Nothing forever sucks. Some jokes occasionally land, and because the technology is a bit shaky, characters sit in the same chair and overlap as if trying to fuse into one AI entity. They also move much faster, often get stuck running into each other, and attempt physical comedy (like magic tricks) without doing anything. It’s funny to see the tools adjust in real-time, but the meta-humor that came with parodying it His field not there anymore. It feels neutered, or like the show was canceled only to be picked up by a whole different network.

Viewers really want AI Larry to come back

Viewership just hasn’t been the same since returning to Twitch on March 8th. Earlier today, about 2,600 people watched with me, a noticeable decrease from the numbers the show had in February. And it seems primarily because everyone’s favorite AI comic Larry is gone. Viewers on Discord and Twitch are making it clear they want him to come back.

“[IDK] Man it feels like the soul has been sucked dry,” said one Discord chatter. “And that’s a cheap imitation.”

“The magic is gone,” said a viewer in the Twitch chat. “I’m out.”

“Part of the humor [in Nothing, Forever] came from the contrast between the characterization of Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer versus their AI counterparts if you were familiar with the actual His field” said a Discord user about the second season. “But now they seem to be [nondescript] you lose that meta humor.”

While the makers of Mismatch Media are present in the Nothing forever Discord servers haven’t posted much since they announced the show’s return to Twitch on March 8th. However, a moderator who was reportedly in touch with Mismatch Media said that the team will both “keep evolving the show to bring the best to the community” and “very well understand everyone’s sadness at the legacy characters.” Still, people watching this new season think it “sucks” that Larry isn’t around anymore.

“Larry is missing,” said a Discord observer.

“This really is the worst schedule,” said one Twitch viewer. “Larry is gone.”

Continue reading: AI generated His field– Like Twitch, ‘TV Show’ is the pinnacle of absurdity

kotaku reached out to Mismatch Media for comment.

Machine learning technologies like this power Nothing forever are adaptable. It’s possible that season two will be as entertaining as season one, or even surpass it. That remains to be seen. But right now everyone wants Larry. Not lion.

“Larry, you have to come back,” said a chatter on Twitch. “Just please don’t get banned again.”