''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television
sitcom
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...
created by
Larry David
Lawrence Gene David (born July 2, 1947) is an American comedian, writer, actor, and television producer. He and Jerry Seinfeld created the television sitcom ''Seinfeld'', on which David was head writer and executive producer for the first seve ...
and
Jerry Seinfeld
Jerome Allen Seinfeld ( ; born April 29, 1954) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He is best known for playing a Jerry Seinfeld (character), semi-fictionalized version of himself in the sitcom ''Seinfeld'', which he ...
. It aired on
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, over nine seasons and
180 episodes. It stars Seinfeld as
a fictionalized version of himself and focuses on his personal life with three of his friends: best friend
George Costanza
George Louis Costanza is a fictional character in the American television sitcom ''Seinfeld'' (1989–1998), played by Jason Alexander. He is a short, stocky, balding man who struggles with numerous insecurities, often dooming his romantic rela ...
(
Jason Alexander
Jay Scott Greenspan (born September 23, 1959), known professionally as Jason Alexander, is an American actor, comedian, host and director. An Emmy and Tony winner, he is best known for his role as George Costanza in the television series '' Se ...
), former girlfriend
Elaine Benes
Elaine Marie Benes () is a fictional character on the American television sitcom ''Seinfeld'', played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Elaine's best friend in the sitcom is her ex-boyfriend Jerry Seinfeld, and she is also good friends with George Costanza ...
(
Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Scarlett Elizabeth Louis-Dreyfus ( ; born January 13, 1961) is an American actress, comedian, and producer who worked on the comedy television series ''Saturday Night Live'' (1982–1985), ''Seinfeld'' (1989–1998), ''The New Adventures ...
) and his neighbor from across the hall,
Cosmo Kramer
Cosmo Kramer, usually referred to as simply "Kramer", is a fictional character in the American television sitcom '' Seinfeld'' (1989–1998) played by Michael Richards.
The character is loosely based on comedian Kenny Kramer, Larry David's e ...
(
Michael Richards
Michael Anthony Richards (born July 24, 1949) is an American actor, writer, television producer, and comedian best known for playing Cosmo Kramer on the television sitcom '' Seinfeld''. He began his career as a stand-up comedian, first enterin ...
). It is set mostly in an apartment building in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
's
Upper West Side
The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. It has been described as "a show about nothing", often focusing on the
minutiae of daily life.
Interspersed in earlier episodes are moments of
stand-up comedy
Stand-up comedy is a comedy, comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up.
Stand-up comedy consists of One-line joke ...
from the fictional Jerry Seinfeld, frequently using the episode's events for material.
As a rising comedian in the late 1980s, Jerry Seinfeld was presented with an opportunity to create a show with NBC. He asked Larry David, a fellow comedian and friend, to help create a premise for a sitcom. The series was produced by West-Shapiro Productions and
Castle Rock Entertainment
Castle Rock Entertainment is an American film and television production company founded in 1987 by Martin Shafer, director Rob Reiner, Andrew Scheinman, Glenn Padnick and Alan Horn. It is a label of Warner Bros. Entertainment, itself a subsidiar ...
and distributed by
Columbia Pictures Television
Columbia Pictures Television, Inc. (abbreviated as CPT) was launched on May 6, 1974, by Columbia Pictures as an American television production and distribution studio. It is the second name of the Columbia Pictures television division Screen Gem ...
.
It was largely written by David and Seinfeld, with script writers who included
Larry Charles
Larry Charles (born ) is an American comedian, screenwriter, director, actor, and producer. He was a staff writer for the sitcom ''Seinfeld'' for its first five seasons. He has also directed the documentary film ''Religulous'' and the mockument ...
,
Peter Mehlman
Peter Mehlman (born ) is an American television writer, comedian, and producer, best known for serving as a writer and producer on the TV series ''Seinfeld'' through nearly all of the show's nine-year run from 1989–98.
He also created the 19 ...
,
Gregg Kavet
Gregg Kavet is a writer and director who worked on NBC's ''Seinfeld'' for several seasons with collaborator Andy Robin. The team wrote episodes including "The Jimmy", "The Hot Tub", "The Caddy", " The Bottle Deposit", "The Fatigues", " The Comebac ...
,
Carol Leifer
Carol Leifer ( ;
born July 27, 1956) is an American comedian, writer, producer, and actress whose career as a stand-up comedian started in the 1970s when she was in college. She has written many television scripts including ''The Larry Sanders ...
,
David Mandel
David Mandel (born ) is writer, actor, director, and producer. He was an executive producer and showrunner of ''Veep'', and was also an executive producer and director of ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'' and ''Seinfeld''. He is also a comedian, and on ...
,
Jeff Schaffer
Jeff Schaffer (born ) is an American film and television director, writer, and producer.
Early life and education
Schaffer and his brother Greg (also a film and TV writer and producer) were raised in the Warren–Howland, Ohio area, about east ...
,
Steve Koren
Steve Koren is an American writer/producer and screenwriter. Most notably, he has written for ''Saturday Night Live'', '' Seinfeld'', and ''Veep''. He also wrote or co-wrote the movies '' Bruce Almighty'', '' Click'', '' A Night at the Roxbury ...
,
Jennifer Crittenden
Jennifer Crittenden (born ) is an American screenwriter and producer. She started her writing career on the animated television series ''The Simpsons'', and has since written for several other television sitcoms including ''Everybody Loves Raymo ...
,
Tom Gammill
Tom or TOM may refer to:
* Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name)
Characters
* Tom Anderson, a character in '' Beavis and Butt-Head''
* Tom Beck, a character ...
,
Max Pross
Max or MAX may refer to:
Animals
* Max (dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog
* Max (English Springer Spaniel), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of OBE)
* Max (gorilla) (1 ...
,
Dan O'Keefe,
Charlie Rubin
Charlie Rubin is an American television comedy writer, producer, and humorist.
He has written for '' National Lampoon'', ''The Carol Burnett Show'', ''In Living Color'', ''The Jon Stewart Show'', ''Saturday Night Live'', '' Seinfeld'', and ''Law ...
,
Marjorie Gross
Marjorie Gross (April 18, 1956 – June 7, 1996) was a Canadian comedian best known for her work as a television writer and producer. She wrote for ''Seinfeld'', '' Newhart'', ''The Larry Sanders Show'', '' Get a Life'' and '' Square Pegs''.
Bi ...
,
Alec Berg
Alec Berg is an American television writer, director and executive producer. He wrote for the sitcom ''Seinfeld'' and is co-creator and executive producer of ''Barry Barry may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Barry (name), including ...
,
Elaine Pope
Elaine Pope is a Canadian writer and film producer. Born in Montreal, she began her career writing TV specials for Lily Tomlin, including the 1981 TV special ''Lily: Sold Out'', as well as the ABC-TV live sketch-comedy show '' Fridays'' (a rival ...
and
Spike Feresten
Spike Feresten (born ) is an American television writer, screenwriter, comedian and television personality, who is best known for his work on ''Seinfeld'', writing for David Letterman, and hosting the late night ''Talkshow with Spike Feresten'' ...
. A favorite among critics, the series led the
Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...
in Seasons 6 and 9 and finished among the top two (with NBC's ''
ER'') every year from 1994 to 1998. Only two other shows – ''
I Love Lucy
''I Love Lucy'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on CBS from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes, spanning six seasons. The show starred Lucille Ball, her husband, Desi Arnaz, along with ...
'' and ''
The Andy Griffith Show
''The Andy Griffith Show '' is an American situation comedy television series that aired on CBS from October 3, 1960, to April 1, 1968, with a total of 249 half-hour episodes spanning eight seasons—159 in black and white and 90 in color.
The ...
–'' have finished their runs at the top of the ratings.
''Seinfeld'' is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential sitcoms of all time. It has been ranked among television's best shows in publications such as ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
'', ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' and ''
TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...
''.
Its most renowned episodes include "
The Chinese Restaurant
"The Chinese Restaurant" is the 11th episode of the sitcom ''Seinfeld''s second season on NBC, and is the show's 16th episode overall. The episode revolves around protagonist Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld) and his friends Elaine Benes (Julia Louis-Drey ...
," "
The Soup Nazi
"The Soup Nazi" is the 116th episode of the NBC sitcom ''Seinfeld'', which was the sixth episode of the seventh season. It first aired in the United States on November 2, 1995.
The Soup Nazi is also the nickname of the eponymous character, Yev Ka ...
," "
The Parking Garage
"The Parking Garage" is the 23rd episode of the situation comedy ''Seinfeld''. It was the sixth episode of the show's third season. It aired on October 30, 1991 on NBC.
Written by Larry David and directed by Tom Cherones, the episode takes place ...
," "
The Marine Biologist
"The Marine Biologist" is the 78th episode of the American sitcom ''Seinfeld''. It is the 14th episode of the fifth season. It was originally broadcast on NBC on February 10, 1994. In the episode, George pretends to be a marine biologist in order ...
" and "
The Contest
"The Contest" is the 51st episode of the NBC sitcom ''Seinfeld''. The eleventh episode of the fourth season, it aired on November 18, 1992. In the episode, Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer hold a contest to determine who can go for the longest ...
."
["TV's Top 100 Episodes of All Time and over 6.5 billion different people have watched an episode". '']TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...
''; June 15, 2009; pp. 34–49. In 2013, the
Writers Guild of America
The Writers Guild of America is the joint efforts of two different US labor unions representing TV and film writers:
* The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), headquartered in New York City and affiliated with the AFL–CIO
* The Writers Guil ...
voted it the No. 2 Best-Written TV Series of All Time (second to ''
The Sopranos
''The Sopranos'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime drama television series created by David Chase. The story revolves around Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey-based American Mafia, Italian-American mobster, portraying h ...
'').
E! named it the "Number 1 reason the '90s ruled",
["Reasons the '90s Ruled 101 – 81"](_blank)
TV.com and quotes from numerous episodes have become catchphrases in popular culture.
Cast
Main
![Seinfeld actors montage](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Seinfeld_actors_montage.jpg)
*
Jerry Seinfeld
Jerome Allen Seinfeld ( ; born April 29, 1954) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He is best known for playing a Jerry Seinfeld (character), semi-fictionalized version of himself in the sitcom ''Seinfeld'', which he ...
(
Jerry Seinfeld
Jerome Allen Seinfeld ( ; born April 29, 1954) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He is best known for playing a Jerry Seinfeld (character), semi-fictionalized version of himself in the sitcom ''Seinfeld'', which he ...
) – Jerry is a "minor
celeb
Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...
"
stand-up comedian
Stand-up comedy is a comedy, comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up.
Stand-up comedy consists of One-line joke ...
who is often depicted as "
the voice of reason" amid the general insanity generated by the people in his world. The in-show character is a mild
germophobe
Mysophobia, also known as verminophobia, germophobia, germaphobia, bacillophobia and bacteriophobia, is a pathological fear of contamination and germs. The term was coined by William A. Hammond in 1879 when describing a case of obsessive–com ...
and
neat freak as well as an avid
Superman
Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...
,
New York Mets
The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...
, and
breakfast cereal
Cereal, formally termed breakfast cereal (and further categorized as cold cereal or warm cereal), is a traditional breakfast food made from processed cereal grains. It is traditionally eaten as part of breakfast, or a snack food, primarily in ...
fan. Jerry's apartment is the center of a world visited by his eccentric friends and a focus of the show.
*
George Costanza
George Louis Costanza is a fictional character in the American television sitcom ''Seinfeld'' (1989–1998), played by Jason Alexander. He is a short, stocky, balding man who struggles with numerous insecurities, often dooming his romantic rela ...
(
Jason Alexander
Jay Scott Greenspan (born September 23, 1959), known professionally as Jason Alexander, is an American actor, comedian, host and director. An Emmy and Tony winner, he is best known for his role as George Costanza in the television series '' Se ...
) – George is Jerry's best friend since high school. He is stingy, conniving, pedantic, and jealous of others' achievements. He is depicted as a loser who is perpetually lacking confidence about his capabilities. He rants and lies easily about his profession, relationships, and almost everything else, which usually creates trouble for him later. He often uses the alias Art Vandelay when lying or concocting a cover story. Despite these shortcomings, George is very reliable to his friends and has success in dating women, and he eventually secures a steady career as assistant to the traveling secretary for the
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...
. The character of George was based on Larry David himself.
*
Elaine Benes
Elaine Marie Benes () is a fictional character on the American television sitcom ''Seinfeld'', played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Elaine's best friend in the sitcom is her ex-boyfriend Jerry Seinfeld, and she is also good friends with George Costanza ...
(
Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Scarlett Elizabeth Louis-Dreyfus ( ; born January 13, 1961) is an American actress, comedian, and producer who worked on the comedy television series ''Saturday Night Live'' (1982–1985), ''Seinfeld'' (1989–1998), ''The New Adventures ...
) – Elaine is Jerry's ex-girlfriend and later friend. She is friendly, while also being sarcastic, selfish, and unorganized. She sometimes tends to be too honest with people (usually by losing her temper), which often gets her into trouble. She usually gets caught up in her boyfriends' quirks, eccentric employers' unusual behaviors and idiosyncrasies, and the maladjustment of total strangers. She tends to make poor choices in men she dates and is often overly reactive. She works for a time at Pendant Publishing with Mr. Lippman and is later hired as a personal assistant for Mr. Pitt. She eventually works for the J. Peterman catalog as a writer. Elaine is popularly described as an amalgamation of David's and Seinfeld's girlfriends during their early days in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
as struggling comedians.
*
Cosmo Kramer
Cosmo Kramer, usually referred to as simply "Kramer", is a fictional character in the American television sitcom '' Seinfeld'' (1989–1998) played by Michael Richards.
The character is loosely based on comedian Kenny Kramer, Larry David's e ...
(
Michael Richards
Michael Anthony Richards (born July 24, 1949) is an American actor, writer, television producer, and comedian best known for playing Cosmo Kramer on the television sitcom '' Seinfeld''. He began his career as a stand-up comedian, first enterin ...
) – Kramer is Jerry's
slacker
A slacker is someone who habitually avoids work or lacks work ethic.
Origin
According to different sources, the term ''slacker'' dates back to about 1790 or 1898. "Slacker" gained some recognition during the British Gezira Scheme in the early t ...
neighbor. His trademarks include his humorous upright
pompadour hairstyle, vintage clothes, and energetic sliding bursts through Jerry's apartment door. Kramer was heavily based on a neighbor of David's during his amateur comedic years in Manhattan. At times, he appears
naïve
Naivety (also spelled naïvety), naiveness, or naïveté is the state of being naive. It refers to an apparent or actual lack of experience and sophistication, often describing a neglect of pragmatism in favor of moral idealism. A ''naïve'' may b ...
, uneducated, and impulsive, and at other times, quick-witted, helpful, and empathetic; similarly, he is exaggeratedly successful, socially, with his charisma and laid-back personality. This is seen in his success with women and employers. He has been described as a "hipster doofus". Although he never holds a steady job, he is rarely short of money and frequently invents wacky schemes that often work at first but eventually fail. Kramer is friends with
Newman
Newman is a surname of English origin and may refer to many people:
The surname Newman is widespread in the core Anglosphere.
A
*Abram Newman (1736–1799), British grocer
*Adrian Newman (disambiguation), multiple people
*Al Newman (born 1960) ...
, and they work well together despite their differences.
Recurring
Many characters have made multiple appearances, notably Jerry's parents, Morty and Helen Seinfeld, who reside in Florida; George's parents, the overbearing Frank and Estelle Costanza; George's on-again, off-again fiancée Susan Ross; Jerry's
Uncle Leo
Uncle Leo is a fictional character portrayed by Len Lesser in the American sitcom ''Seinfeld''. Leo is the character Jerry Seinfeld's uncle. Uncle Leo made his debut in the second-season episode "The Pony Remark" and appeared in at least one epi ...
; Elaine's variety of bosses, Mr. Lippman, Mr. Pitt and J. Peterman; Elaine's on-again, off-again boyfriend David Puddy; and Kramer's friend,
Newman
Newman is a surname of English origin and may refer to many people:
The surname Newman is widespread in the core Anglosphere.
A
*Abram Newman (1736–1799), British grocer
*Adrian Newman (disambiguation), multiple people
*Al Newman (born 1960) ...
, a mail carrier who lives in the same building and is Jerry's nemesis.
In addition to recurring characters, ''Seinfeld'' features numerous celebrities who appear as themselves or girlfriends, boyfriends, bosses and other acquaintances. Many actors who made guest appearances became household names later in their careers or were already well known.
; Seinfeld's girlfriends
A number of actresses made guest appearances as Seinfeld's love interests in single episodes:
* Isabel (
Tawny Kitaen
Julie Ellen "Tawny" Kitaen (August 5, 1961 – May 7, 2021) was an American actress, model, and media personality. She began her career as a television actress, appearing in the television films ''Malibu (film), Malibu'' (1983) and ''California ...
) – "
The Nose Job
"The Nose Job" is the 26th episode of '' Seinfeld''. It is the ninth episode of the show's third season. It first aired on November 20, 1991. The episode was written by Peter Mehlman and was directed by Tom Cherones.
Plot
Kramer wants a jacket b ...
" (season 3, episode 9)
* Nina (
Catherine Keener
Catherine Ann Keener (born March 26, 1959) is an American actress. She has portrayed disgruntled and melancholic yet sympathetic women in independent films, as well as supporting roles in studio films. She has been nominated twice for the Acad ...
) – "
The Letter" (season 3, episode 20)
* Marla (
Jane Leeves
Jane Elizabeth Leeves (born 18 April 1961) is an English actress. Leeves played Daphne Moon on the NBC television sitcom ''Frasier'' from 1993 until 2004, for which she was nominated for an Emmy Awards, Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Awards, Gold ...
) – "
The Virgin" (season 4, episode 10)
* Sidra (
Teri Hatcher
Teri Lynn Hatcher (born December 8, 1964) is an American actress best known for her portrayals of Lois Lane on the television series '' Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman'' (1993–1997); Paris Carver in the ''James Bond'' film ''Tomor ...
) – "
The Implant
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
" (season 4, episode 19)
* Amy (
Anna Gunn
Anna Gunn (born August 11, 1968) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Skyler White on the AMC drama series ''Breaking Bad'' (2008–2013), for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a D ...
) – "
The Glasses
"The Glasses" is the third episode of the fifth season of the American sitcom ''Seinfeld''. The 67th episode of the series overall, it was written by the writing team Tom Gammill and Max Pross, their respective debuts for the series, and directe ...
" (season 5, episode 3)
* Jody (
Jennifer Coolidge
Jennifer Audrey Coolidge (born August 28, 1961) is an American actress known for her roles in comedic film and television particularly in American Pie (series), ''American Pie'' film series (1999–2012), Legally Blonde (franchise), ''Legally Bl ...
) – "
The Masseuse
''The Masseuse'' is a pornographic film made in 1990 and starring Randy Spears and Hyapatia Lee.
Sequels and remakes
A sequel, The ''Masseuse 2'' was released in 1994 and also won awards.
Another sequel, ''Masseuse 3'' was released in 1998 and ...
" (season 5, episode 9)
* Jane (
Jami Gertz
Jami Beth Gertz (born October 28, 1965) is an American actress. Gertz is known for her early roles in the films ''Crossroads'', ''The Lost Boys'', '' Less than Zero'' and '' Quicksilver'', the 1980s TV series ''Square Pegs'' and 1996's ''Twister ...
) – "
The Stall
"The Stall" is the 76th episode of the NBC sitcom '' Seinfeld''. It is the 12th episode of the fifth season, and first aired on January 6, 1994.
Plot
In a movie theater restroom, Elaine, realizing her stall does not have any toilet paper, asks th ...
" (season 5, episode 12)
* Meryl (
Courteney Cox
Courteney Bass Cox (previously Courteney Cox Arquette; born June 15, 1964) is an American actress and filmmaker. She gained international recognition for her starring role as Monica Geller on the NBC sitcom '' Friends'', which aired from 1994 ...
) – "
The Wife" (season 5, episode 17)
* Jeannie (
Janeane Garofalo
Janeane Marie Garofalo ( ; born September 28, 1964) is an American comedian, actress, and former co-host on the now-defunct Air America Radio's ''The Majority Report''.
Garofalo began her career as a stand-up comedian and became a cast member on ...
) – "
The Invitations
"The Invitations" is the 24th and final episode of the seventh season of ''Seinfeld'' and the 134th overall episode. It originally aired on May 16, 1996, and was the last episode written by co-creator Larry David before he left the writing staff ...
" (season 7, episode 24)
* Ellen (
Christine Taylor
Christine Joan Taylor Stiller (born July 30, 1971) is an American actress. She is known for playing Marcia Brady in ''The Brady Bunch Movie'' and ''A Very Brady Sequel'', as well as roles in films like '' The Craft'', ''The Wedding Singer'', ''Z ...
) – "
The Van Buren Boys
"The Van Buren Boys" is the 148th episode of the sitcom ''Seinfeld''. This was the 14th episode for the 8th season, originally airing on February 6, 1997. In this episode, everyone is convinced Jerry Seinfeld (character), Jerry's new girlfriend is ...
" (season 8, episode 14)
* Jenna (
Kristin Davis
Kristin Landen Davis (also listed as Kristin Lee Davis; born February 23, 1965) is an American actress and producer. She is known for playing Charlotte York Goldenblatt in the HBO romantic comedy series ''Sex and the City'' (1998–2004). She ...
) – "
The Pothole
"The Pothole" is the 150th episode of the sitcom '' Seinfeld''. This was the 16th episode for the eighth season. It aired on February 20, 1997. In the episode, Jerry is unwilling to kiss his girlfriend after she unknowingly brushes her teeth with ...
" (season 8, episode 16)
* Beth (
Debra Messing
Debra Lynn Messing (born August 15, 1968) is an American actress. After graduating from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, Messing received short-lived roles on television series such as ''Ned and Stacey'' on Fox (1995–1997) and ...
) – "
The Yada Yada
"The Yada Yada" is the 153rd episode of the American NBC sitcom ''Seinfeld''. The 19th episode of the eighth season, it aired on April 24, 1997. Peter Mehlman and Jill Franklyn were nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Ser ...
" (season 8, episode 19)
* Valerie (
Lauren Graham
Lauren Graham (born March 16, 1967) is an American actress and author. She is best known for her roles as Lorelai Gilmore on The WB/ CW television series ''Gilmore Girls'' (2000–2007), for which she received nominations for Screen Actors Guild ...
) – "
The Millenium" (season 8, episode 20)
* Lanette (
Amanda Peet
Amanda Peet (born January 11, 1972) is an American actress. She began her career with small parts on television, and made her feature film debut in ''Animal Room'' (1995). Her portrayal of Jill St. Claire in ''The Whole Nine Yards'' (2000) broug ...
) – "
The Summer of George
"The Summer of George" is the 156th episode of the sitcom '' Seinfeld''. It was also the 22nd and final episode of the eighth season. It originally aired on May 15, 1997 on NBC. In this episode, after being fired from the New York Yankees, George ...
" (season 8, episode 22)
* Patty (
Lori Loughlin
Lori Anne Loughlin (; born July 28, 1964) is an American actress. From 1988 to 1995, she played Rebecca Donaldson Katsopolis on the ABC sitcom ''Full House'', and reprised the role for its Netflix sequel '' Fuller House'' (2016–2018). Loughlin ...
) – "
The Serenity Now
"The Serenity Now" is the 159th episode of the NBC sitcom ''Seinfeld''. This was the third episode of the ninth and final season. It aired in the U.S. on October 9, 1997.Marcia Cross
Marcia Anne Cross (born March 25, 1962) is an American actress. She acted in daytime soap operas such as ''The Edge of Night'', '' Another World'', and ''One Life to Live'' before moving to primetime television with a recurring role on ''Knots ...
) – "
The Slicer
"The Slicer" is the 163rd episode of the NBC sitcom '' Seinfeld''. This was the seventh episode of the ninth and final season. It first aired on November 13, 1997. " (season 9, episode 7)
Plotlines
Many ''Seinfeld'' episodes are based on the writers' real-life experiences, with the experiences reinterpreted for the characters' storylines. For example, George's storyline in "
The Revenge" is based on Larry David's experience at ''
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...
''. "
The Contest
"The Contest" is the 51st episode of the NBC sitcom ''Seinfeld''. The eleventh episode of the fourth season, it aired on November 18, 1992. In the episode, Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer hold a contest to determine who can go for the longest ...
" is also based on David's experiences. "
The Smelly Car
"The Smelly Car" is the 61st episode of the sitcom ''Seinfeld''. The episode is the 20th episode of the fourth season. It aired on April 15, 1993 on NBC. In this episode, the body odor left by a restaurant valet in Jerry's car further transfers i ...
" storyline is based on Peter Mehlman's lawyer friend, who could not get a bad smell out of his car. "
The Strike
''The Strike'' (also known as ''Strike!'', although this is more properly the title of the fictitious Hollywood movie featured in the episode) is one of the short comedy films – written by Peter Richardson and Pete Richens, and directed by Ric ...
" is based on Dan O'Keefe's dad, who made up his own holiday:
Festivus
Festivus () is a secular holiday celebrated on December 23 as an alternative to the pressures and commercialism of the Christmas season. Originally created by author Daniel O'Keefe, Festivus entered popular culture after it was made the focu ...
. Other stories take a variety of turns. "
The Chinese Restaurant
"The Chinese Restaurant" is the 11th episode of the sitcom ''Seinfeld''s second season on NBC, and is the show's 16th episode overall. The episode revolves around protagonist Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld) and his friends Elaine Benes (Julia Louis-Drey ...
" consists of George, Jerry and Elaine waiting for a table throughout the entire episode. "
The Boyfriend," revolving around
Keith Hernandez
Keith Hernandez (born October 20, 1953) is an American former Major League Baseball first baseman who played the majority of his career with the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets. Hernandez was a five-time All-Star who shared the 1979 NL MVP ...
, extends through two episodes. "
The Betrayal
"The Betrayal" is the 164th episode of the NBC sitcom '' Seinfeld''. This was the eighth episode for the ninth and final season. It aired on November 20, 1997. In this episode, Jerry betrays George by having sex with his girlfriend Nina, right be ...
" is famous for using
reverse chronology
Reverse chronology is a narrative structure and method of storytelling whereby the Plot (narrative), plot is revealed in reverse order.
In a story employing this technique, the first Scene (fiction), scene shown is actually the conclusion to the ...
and was inspired by a similar plot device in a
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that spanne ...
play,
''Betrayal''. Some stories were inspired by headlines and rumors, as explained in the DVD features "Notes About Nothing," "Inside Look" and "Audio Commentary." In "
The Maestro," Kramer's lawsuit is roughly similar to the
McDonald's coffee case
''Liebeck v. McDonald's Restaurants'', also known as the McDonald's coffee case and the hot coffee lawsuit, was a highly publicized 1994 product liability lawsuit in the United States against the McDonald's restaurant chain.
The plaintiff, Ste ...
. "
The Outing" is based primarily on rumors that Larry Charles heard about Jerry Seinfeld's sexuality.
Themes
The series was often described as "a show about nothing."
However, in 2014, Seinfeld stated: "The pitch for the show, the real pitch, when Larry and I went to NBC in 1988, was we want to show how a comedian gets his material. The show about nothing was just a joke in an episode many years later, and Larry and I to this day are surprised that it caught on as a way that people describe the show, because to us it's the opposite of that." David similarly commented: "I like taking the worst qualities that a person has and trying to make something funny out of it. Doesn’t everybody do terrible things and have terrible thoughts? Just by trying to be as funny, you’re going to deal with a lot of things that are real, so the show’s really about something. The whole thing about the show being about nothing is ridiculous." Much of the show's humor is based upon repeated use of irony, incongruity and (oftentimes unfortunate) coincidences.
''Seinfeld'' broke several conventions of mainstream television. David is credited with refusing to follow the predictable sitcom formula that would have a blossoming romantic relationship develop between Jerry and Elaine. The show offers no growth or reconciliation to its characters and eschews sentimentality.
An episode is typically driven by humor interspersed with the superficial conflicts of characters with peculiar dispositions. Many episodes revolve around the characters' involvement in the lives of others with typically disastrous results. On the set, the notion that the characters should not develop or improve throughout the series was expressed as the "no hugging, no learning" rule.
Also unlike most sitcoms, there are no moments of
pathos
Pathos (, ; plural: ''pathea'' or ''pathê''; , for "suffering" or "experience") appeals to the emotions and ideals of the audience and elicits feelings that already reside in them. Pathos is a term used most often in rhetoric (in which it is c ...
; the audience is never made to feel sorry for any of the characters. Even Susan's death in "
The Invitations
"The Invitations" is the 24th and final episode of the seventh season of ''Seinfeld'' and the 134th overall episode. It originally aired on May 16, 1996, and was the last episode written by co-creator Larry David before he left the writing staff ...
" elicits no genuine emotions from anybody in the show. ''Seinfeld'' does not shy away from making light of tough topics, from death to illness to disability.
The characters are "thirty-something singles with vague identities, no roots, and conscious indifference to morals." Usual conventions were broken, like isolating the characters from the actors playing them and separating the characters' world from that of the actors and audience. One such example is the
story arc
A story arc (also narrative arc) is the chronological construction of plot in a novel or story. It can also mean an extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strips, board games, vide ...
where the characters promote a TV sitcom series named ''Jerry''. The
show within a show
A story within a story, also referred to as an embedded narrative, is a literary device in which a character within a story becomes the narrator of a second story (within the first one). Multiple layers of stories within stories are sometimes c ...
, ''Jerry'' was much like ''Seinfeld'' in that it was "about nothing" and Seinfeld played himself. The fictional ''Jerry'' was launched in the Season 4 finale, but unlike ''Seinfeld'', it wasn't picked up as a series. ''Jerry'' is one of many examples of
metafiction
Metafiction is a form of fiction which emphasises its own narrative structure in a way that continually reminds the audience that they are reading or viewing a fictional work. Metafiction is self-conscious about language, literary form, and story ...
in the show. There are no fewer than 22 fictional movies featured, like ''Rochelle, Rochelle''. Because of these several elements, ''Seinfeld'' became the first TV series since ''
Monty Python's Flying Circus
''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' (also known as simply ''Monty Python'') is a British surreal sketch comedy series created by and starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam, who became known ...
'' to be widely described as
postmodern
Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of moderni ...
.
Seinfeld is an avid
Abbott and Costello
Abbott may refer to:
People
*Abbott (surname)
*Abbott Handerson Thayer (1849–1921), American painter and naturalist
* Abbott and Costello, famous American vaudeville act
Places Argentina
* Abbott, Buenos Aires United States
* Abbott, Arkansas ...
fan, and has cited ''
The Abbott and Costello Show
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'' as an influence on ''Seinfeld'': "Everybody on the show knows I'm a fan. We're always joking about how we do stuff from their show. George and I will often get into a riff that has the rhythm from the old Abbott and Costello shows. And sometimes I'll hit George in the chest the way Abbott would hit Costello." The series includes numerous references to the team. George Costanza's middle name is "Louis," after Costello. "
The Old Man" episode features a cantankerous character named "Sid Fields" as a tribute to the landlord on the team's TV show. Kramer's friend is named Mickey Abbott. A copywriter for the J. Peterman catalog is named Eddie Sherman, after the team's longtime agent. In Episode 30, Kramer hears the famous Abbott and Costello line, "His father was a mudder. His mother was a mudder."
Catchphrases
Many terms were coined, popularized or re-popularized in the series' run and have become part of popular culture, including "
Yada, yada, yada", "
No soup for you!", "
Master of my domain
"The Contest" is the 51st episode of the NBC sitcom ''Seinfeld''. The eleventh episode of the fourth season, it aired on November 18, 1992. In the episode, Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer hold a contest to determine who can go for the longest ...
”, and "
Not that there's anything wrong with that."
The lexicon of Seinfeldian code words and recurring phrases that evolved around particular episodes is referred to as
Seinlanguage
''SeinLanguage'' is a 1993 book written by Jerry Seinfeld.
''SeinLanguage'' was critically acclaimed and scored a spot on the ''New York Times'' Best Seller list.
The title is a pun on "sign language
Sign languages (also known as signed l ...
, which is also the title of Jerry Seinfeld's best-selling book on humor.
These terms include "
man hands", "
shrinkage", "
regift Regifting or regiving is the act of taking a gift that has been received and giving it to somebody else, sometimes in the guise of a new gift.
Concept
Regifting differs from straightforward giving in that goods are not acquired specifically for ...
", and "
double dip".
Music
A signature of ''Seinfeld'' is its theme music. Composed by
Jonathan Wolff, it consists of distinct solo
sampled
Sample or samples may refer to:
Base meaning
* Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set
* Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal
* Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of so ...
electric bass
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck
The ...
riffs that open the show and connect the scenes, often accompanied by
beatboxing
Beatboxing (also beat boxing) is a form of vocal percussion primarily involving the art of mimicking drum machines (typically a TR-808), using one's mouth, lips, tongue, and voice. . The bass music eventually replaced the original piano/synth music by Jep Epstein when it was played again after the first broadcast of
the pilot episode. The show lacked a traditional title track and the riffs were played over the first moments of dialogue or action. They vary throughout each episode and are played in an improvised funk style, matching the timing of Seinfeld's stand-up comedy delivery or transitions in the editing. An additional musical theme with an ensemble, led by a synthesized mid-range brass instrument, ends each episode.
In "
The Note", the first episode of Season 3, the bumper music featured a
scatting
In vocal jazz, scat singing is vocal improvisation with wordless vocables, nonsense syllables or without words at all. In scat singing, the singer improvises melodies and rhythms using the voice as an instrument rather than a speaking medium. ...
female jazz singer who sang a phrase that sounded like "easy to beat". Jerry Seinfeld and executive producer Larry David both liked Wolff's additions, and three episodes were produced with this new style of music. However, they had neglected to inform NBC and Castle Rock executives of the change, and when the season premiere aired, the executives were surprised and unimpressed and requested that they return to the original style. The subsequent two episodes were redone, leaving this episode as the only one with additional music elements. In the commentary of "The Note", Louis-Dreyfus facetiously suggests it was removed because the perceived lyric related closely to the low ratings at the time.
In the final three seasons, the bits were tweaked slightly with more frantic rhythms; a bass guitar was added in addition to the sampled bass from earlier seasons. Throughout the show, the main theme could be restyled in different ways depending on the episode. For instance, in "The Betrayal", part of which takes place in India, the theme is heard played on a
sitar
The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in ...
.
The soundtrack was given a digital release on July 2, 2021.
Episodes
''Seinfeld'' stood out from family and group
sitcoms
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use new ...
of its time. The principal characters are not related by family or work connections but remain distinctly close friends throughout the series.
![Tom's Restaurant, Seinfeld](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/Tom%27s_Restaurant%2C_Seinfeld.jpg)
Many characters were based primarily on Seinfeld's and David's real-life acquaintances. Two prominent recurring characters were based on well-known people:
Jacopo Peterman
This is a list of characters who appeared on ''Seinfeld''. This list features only characters who appeared in multiple episodes; those that appeared in only one are not included here.
Primary characters Jerry Seinfeld
George Costanza
Elaine ...
of the
J. Peterman catalog (based on
John Peterman
John Peterman (born 1941) is an American catalog and retail entrepreneur from Lexington, Kentucky, who operates the J. Peterman Company. He grew up in West Nyack, New York as the son of a banker and secretary. He is known for founding the J. Pete ...
) and
George Steinbrenner
George Michael Steinbrenner III (July 4, 1930July 13, 2010) was an American businessman who was the principal owner and managing partner of Major League Baseball's New York Yankees from 1973 until his death in 2010. He was the longest-serving own ...
, owner of the
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...
. Many characters were introduced as new writers got involved with ''Seinfeld''. Other characters based on real people include the
Soup Nazi
"The Soup Nazi" is the 116th episode of the NBC sitcom '' Seinfeld'', which was the sixth episode of the seventh season. It first aired in the United States on November 2, 1995.
The Soup Nazi is also the nickname of the eponymous character, Yev K ...
and
Jackie Chiles
Jackie Chiles is a fictional character portrayed by American actor Phil Morris in the NBC sitcom ''Seinfeld''. He appears in the series' seventh through ninth seasons as Cosmo Kramer's lawyer.
Character
Chiles is a parody of famed attorney Joh ...
, who was based on
Johnnie Cochran
Johnnie Lee Cochran Jr.Adam Bernstei ''The Washington Post'', March 30, 2005; retrieved April 17, 2006. (; October 2, 1937 – March 29, 2005) was an American lawyer best known for his leadership role in the defense and criminal acquittal ...
.
''Seinfeld'' follows a story structure: story thread is presented at the beginning of every episode, which involves the characters starting in their situations, and rapid scene shifts between plot lines bring the stories together. Even though it does not follow a pattern as other sitcoms, the characters' stories variously intertwine in each episode. Despite the separate plot strands, the narratives reveal the creators' "consistent efforts to maintain the intimacy" among the small cast of characters.
The show maintains a strong sense of
continuity, as characters and plots from past episodes are often referenced or expanded on. Occasionally, story arcs span multiple episodes and even entire seasons, the most memorable being
Season 4 Season 4 may refer to:
* "Season 4" (''30 Rock'' episode), an episode of ''30 Rock''
See also
*
* Season One (disambiguation) Season One may refer to:
Albums
* ''Season One'' (Suburban Legends album), 2004
* ''Season One'' (All Sons & Daughte ...
, which revolved around the
pilot
An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...
pitch to NBC by Jerry and George. Another example is Jerry's girlfriend Vanessa, who appears in "
The Stake Out" and with whom he ends the relationship when things do not work out in "
The Stock Tip
"The Stock Tip" is the fifth episode (and season finale) of the first season of the NBC sitcom '' Seinfeld''.
It aired on June 21, 1990. In the episode, George Costanza ( Jason Alexander) tells Jerry Seinfeld and Elaine Benes (Julia Louis-Dreyfu ...
". Other examples are Kramer getting his jacket back and Elaine heading the "Peterman catalog".
Larry David
Lawrence Gene David (born July 2, 1947) is an American comedian, writer, actor, and television producer. He and Jerry Seinfeld created the television sitcom ''Seinfeld'', on which David was head writer and executive producer for the first seve ...
, the head writer and executive producer for the first seven seasons, was praised for keeping a close eye on minor details and making sure the main characters' lives remained consistent and believable. ''
Curb Your Enthusiasm
''Curb Your Enthusiasm'' is an American television sitcom produced and broadcast by HBO since October 15, 2000, and created by Larry David, who stars as a semi-fictionalized version of himself. It follows David's life as a semi-retired televisio ...
'', David's later comedy series, expanded on this idea by following a specific theme for all but one season in the series.
A major difference between ''Seinfeld'' and sitcoms that preceded it is that the principal characters never learn from their mistakes. In effect, they are indifferent and even callous toward the outside world and sometimes one another. A
mantra
A mantra (Pali: ''manta'') or mantram (मन्त्रम्) is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words in Sanskrit, Pali and other languages believed by practitioners to have religious, ma ...
of the show's producers was "No hugging, no learning." ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
''s TV critic
Ken Tucker
Kenneth Tucker is an American arts, music and television critic, magazine editor, and non-fiction book writer.
Early life and education
Tucker was born in Manhattan, New York City, New York, and raised in Stamford, Connecticut. He earned a ...
has described them as "a group dynamic rooted in jealousy, rage, insecurity, despair, hopelessness, and a touching lack of faith in one's fellow human beings." This leads to very few happy endings, except at somebody else's expense. More often in every episode, situations resolve with characters getting a justly deserved
comeuppance
Comeuppance may refer to:
* ''Comeuppance'' (film), a 2000 Hong Kong film
*"Comeuppance", a 2014 episode of the TV series ''House of Lies''
*Comeuppance, a record label of Steve Harley
Steve Harley (born Stephen Malcolm Ronald Nice; 27 Febru ...
.
Seasons 1–3
The show premiered as ''
The Seinfeld Chronicles
"The Seinfeld Chronicles" (also known as "Good News, Bad News", "Pilot", "The Premiere", or simply "Seinfeld") is the Television pilot, pilot episode of the American sitcom ''Seinfeld'', which first aired on NBC on July 5, 1989.
The first of Li ...
'' on July 5, 1989. After it aired, a pickup by NBC seemed unlikely and the show was offered to
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
, which declined to pick it up.
Rick Ludwin
Richard Adam Ludwin (May 27, 1948 – November 10, 2019) was an American television executive and former vice president at NBC Television. He is notable as the executive who backed Jerry Seinfeld's series ''Seinfeld'', which went on to become one ...
, head of late night and special events for NBC, however, diverted money from his budget by canceling a
Bob Hope television special, and the next four episodes were filmed.
These episodes were highly rated as they followed summer re-runs of ''
Cheers
''Cheers'' is an American sitcom television series that ran on NBC from September 30, 1982, to May 20, 1993, with a total of 275 half-hour episodes across 11 seasons. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions in association w ...
'' on Thursdays at 9:30 p.m., and the series was finally picked up. At one point NBC considered airing these episodes on Saturdays at 10:30 p.m. but gave the slot to a short-lived sitcom called ''
FM'' instead. The series was renamed simply ''Seinfeld'' after the failure of short-lived 1990
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
series ''The Marshall Chronicles''. After airing the remaining four episodes of its first season the summer of 1990, NBC ordered 13 more episodes. David believed that he and Seinfeld had no more stories to tell, and advised Seinfeld to turn down the order, but Seinfeld agreed to the additional episodes.
Season 2 was bumped off its scheduled premiere of January 16, 1991, due to the outbreak of the
Persian Gulf War
The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...
. It settled into a regular time slot on Wednesdays at 9:30 p.m. and eventually flipped with veteran series ''
Night Court
''Night Court'' is an American television sitcom that aired on NBC from January 4, 1984 to May 31, 1992. The setting was the night shift of a Manhattan municipal court presided over by a young, unorthodox judge, Harold "Harry" T. Stone (portray ...
'' to 9 p.m.
TV critics championed ''Seinfeld'' in its early seasons, even as it was slow to cultivate a substantial audience. For the first three seasons, Jerry's stand-up comedy act would bookend an episode, even functioning as transitions during the show. A few episodes set a benchmark for later seasons. "
The Deal" establishes Jerry and Elaine's relationship by setting rules about sleeping together and remaining friends. "
The Parking Garage
"The Parking Garage" is the 23rd episode of the situation comedy ''Seinfeld''. It was the sixth episode of the show's third season. It aired on October 30, 1991 on NBC.
Written by Larry David and directed by Tom Cherones, the episode takes place ...
" was the first episode shot with no audience for the episode and, after "
The Chinese Restaurant
"The Chinese Restaurant" is the 11th episode of the sitcom ''Seinfeld''s second season on NBC, and is the show's 16th episode overall. The episode revolves around protagonist Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld) and his friends Elaine Benes (Julia Louis-Drey ...
," to not show Jerry's apartment. "
The Keys" contains a crossover to
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
show ''
Murphy Brown
''Murphy Brown'' is an American television sitcom created by Diane English that premiered on November 14, 1988, on CBS. The series stars Candice Bergen as the eponymous Murphy Brown, a famous investigative journalist and news anchor for ''FYI'', a ...
'', marking the first such cooperation between rival networks. "
The Busboy
"The Busboy" is the 17th episode of '' Seinfeld'' to air, despite being the eighth produced. The episode was the 12th and final episode of the show's second season. It aired on June 26, 1991.
Plot
Jerry, George, and Elaine are at dinner when a ...
" introduces George, Kramer and Elaine as having their own storylines for the first time. Although Castle Rock Entertainment's Glenn Padnick thought Seinfeld was too generous, showcasing his co-stars' comedic talent became a trademark throughout the series.
Larry Charles wrote an episode for Season 2, "The Bet," in which Elaine buys a gun from Kramer's friend. This episode was not filmed because the content was deemed unacceptable and was replaced by the episode "
The Phone Message
"The Phone Message" is the ninth episode of the NBC sitcom ''Seinfeld'', and the fourth of the show's second season. The episode concerns protagonist Jerry Seinfeld (Jerry Seinfeld) dating a woman who likes a commercial for cotton Dockers he disl ...
." "
The Stranded," which aired during Season 3, was initially intended for Season 2. In the beginning of this episode, Jerry clears up the continuity error over George's real estate job.
Seasons 4–5
Season 4 marked the sitcom's entry into the
Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...
Top 30, coinciding with several popular episodes, such as "
The Bubble Boy" in which George and the bubble boy argue over ''
Trivial Pursuit
''Trivial Pursuit'' is a board game in which winning is determined by a player's ability to answer trivia and popular culture questions. Players move their pieces around a board, the squares they land on determining the subject of a question t ...
'', and "
The Junior Mint
"The Junior Mint" is the 60th episode of the NBC sitcom ''Seinfeld''. It is the 20th episode of the fourth season. It aired on March 18, 1993. In the episode, Jerry cannot remember the name of the woman he is dating and learns that it rhymes with a ...
" in which Jerry and Kramer accidentally fumble a mint in the operating room. This was the first season to use a story arc of Jerry and George creating their own sitcom, ''Jerry''. Also at this time, the use of Jerry's stand-up act slowly declined, and the stand-up segment in the middle of ''Seinfeld'' episodes was cut.
Much publicity followed the controversial episode, "
The Contest
"The Contest" is the 51st episode of the NBC sitcom ''Seinfeld''. The eleventh episode of the fourth season, it aired on November 18, 1992. In the episode, Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer hold a contest to determine who can go for the longest ...
", an
Emmy Award
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
-winning episode written by David, whose subject matter was considered inappropriate for prime time network TV. To circumvent this taboo, the word "
masturbation
Masturbation is the sexual stimulation of one's own genitals for sexual arousal or other sexual pleasure, usually to the point of orgasm. The stimulation may involve hands, fingers, everyday objects, sex toys such as vibrators, or combinatio ...
" was never used in the script, instead substituted for by a variety of oblique references. Midway through that season, ''Seinfeld'' was moved from its original 9:00 p.m. time slot on Wednesdays to 9:30 p.m. on Thursdays, following ''
Cheers
''Cheers'' is an American sitcom television series that ran on NBC from September 30, 1982, to May 20, 1993, with a total of 275 half-hour episodes across 11 seasons. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions in association w ...
'' again, which gave the show even more popularity. Ratings also sparked the move, as
Tim Allen
Timothy Alan Dick (born June 13, 1953), known professionally as Tim Allen, is an American actor and comedian. He is known for playing Tim "The Toolman" Taylor on the ABC sitcom ''Home Improvement'' (1991–1999) and Mike Baxter on the ABC/Fo ...
's sitcom ''
Home Improvement
The concept of home improvement, home renovation, or remodeling is the process of renovating or making additions to one's home. Home improvement can consist of projects that upgrade an existing home interior (such as electrical and plumbing), ...
'' on ABC had aired at the same time and ''Improvement'' kept beating ''Seinfeld'' in the ratings. NBC moved the series after
Ted Danson
Edward Bridge "Ted" Danson III (born December 29, 1947) is an American actor. He achieved stardom playing the lead character Sam Malone on the NBC sitcom ''Cheers'', for which he received two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. He ...
announced the end of ''Cheers'' and ''Seinfeld'' quickly surpassed the ratings of the 9:00 p.m. ''Cheers'' reruns that spring. The show won an Emmy Award for ''Outstanding Comedy Series'' in 1993, beating out its family-oriented, time-slot competitor ''Home Improvement'', which was only in its second season on rival network ABC.
Season 5 was an even bigger ratings hit, consisting of popular episodes, such as "
The Puffy Shirt
"The Puffy Shirt" is the second episode of the fifth season of the American NBC sitcom ''Seinfeld''. It was the 66th episode and originally aired on September 23, 1993. The episode centers on Jerry having to wear an ostentatious "puffy" shirt on ...
" in which Jerry feels embarrassed wearing a "pirate" shirt on ''
The Today Show
''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was ...
'', "
The Non-Fat Yogurt
"The Non-Fat Yogurt" is the 71st episode of the National Broadcasting Company, NBC sitcom ''Seinfeld''. It is the seventh episode of the fifth season, and first aired on November 4, 1993. The episode is a fictionalized portrayal of the 1993 New Yo ...
" featuring
Rudy Giuliani
Rudolph William Louis Giuliani (, ; born May 28, 1944) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 107th Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney General from 1981 to 198 ...
, the
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
then-mayor-elect of New York, and "
The Opposite
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
" in which George, doing the opposite of what his instincts tell him he should do, lands a job with the New York Yankees and Elaine leaves "Pendant Publishing" because of a comedy of errors that led to its demise. Another story arc has George returning to live with his parents. In the midst of the story arc, Kramer creates and promotes his
coffee table book
A coffee table book, also known as a cocktail table book, is an oversized, usually hard-covered book whose purpose is for display on a table intended for use in an area in which one entertains guests and from which it can serve to inspire convers ...
. The show was again nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series, but lost to the ''Cheers'' spin-off ''
Frasier
''Frasier'' () is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for 11 seasons. It premiered on September 16, 1993, and ended on May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey (screenwriter), Peter Case ...
'', then in its first season. ''Seinfeld'' was nominated for the same award every year for its entire run but, after its win at the
45th Primetime Emmy Awards
The 45th Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, September 19, 1993. The ceremony was broadcast on ABC and was hosted by Angela Lansbury. MTV received its first major nomination at this ceremony.
For its fourth season, ''Seinfeld'' won its f ...
in 1994, always lost to ''Frasier'', which went on to win a record 39 Emmy Awards in its 11-season run.
Seasons 6–7
In Season 6,
Andy Ackerman
Robert Andrew Ackerman (born September 19, 1956) is an American director, producer, and script editor who is best known for his work on '' Seinfeld'', ''The New Adventures of Old Christine'' and the HBO series '' Curb Your Enthusiasm''. He i ...
replaced
Tom Cherones
Tom or TOM may refer to:
* Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name)
Characters
* Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head''
* Tom Beck, a character ...
as director of the show. The series remained well regarded and produced some of its most famous episodes, such as "
The Beard
"The Beard" is the 102nd episode of the NBC situation comedy '' Seinfeld''. This is the 16th episode for the sixth season. It aired on February 9, 1995. In this episode, Elaine falls in love with a gay friend while serving as a beard for him, ...
", in which Jerry is put through a lie detector test to make him admit that he watched ''
Melrose Place
''Melrose Place'' is an American prime time television soap opera that aired on Fox from July 8, 1992, to May 24, 1999, for seven seasons. The show follows the lives of a group of young adults living in an apartment complex on Melrose Place, in ...
;'' "
The Switch", in which Kramer's mom, Babs, reveals that his first name is Cosmo; and "
The Understudy", in which Elaine meets J. Peterman for the first time. Story arcs used in this season were Elaine working as a personal assistant to her eccentric boss Justin Pitt and George's parents' temporary separation. This was the first season in which ''Seinfeld'' reached No. 1 in the Nielsen Ratings. The use of Jerry's stand-up act declined with the end stand-up segment no longer appearing because the storylines for all four characters grew denser.
In Season 7, a story arc involved George getting engaged to his ex-girlfriend, Susan Ross, after the pilot ''Jerry'' proved unsuccessful. In it, George spends most of the season regretting and trying to get out of the engagement. Along with the regular half-hour episodes, two notable one-hour episodes were "
The Cadillac
"The Cadillac" is an hour-long, two-part episode of NBC sitcom ''Seinfeld''. It was the 124th and 125th episode and 14th and 15th episode for the seventh season. It aired on February 8, 1996. This was the last episode to be co-written by Jerry Sei ...
", in which George plans to date award-winning actress
Marisa Tomei
Marisa Tomei ( , ; born December 4, 1964) is an American actress. She came to prominence as a cast member on ''The Cosby Show'' spin-off ''A Different World'' in 1987. After having minor roles in a few films, she came to international attention ...
, and "
The Bottle Deposit
"The Bottle Deposit" is a two-part episode, the 131st and 132nd episodes, and 21st and 22nd episodes of the seventh season, of the NBC sitcom ''Seinfeld'', first aired on May 2, 1996. It was originally an hour-long episode, but was split into two ...
", with Elaine and Sue Ellen participating in a bidding war to buy JFK's golf clubs in an auction.
Seasons 8–9
''Seinfeld’s'' final two seasons were regarded as being distinct from the earlier seasons. Most noticeably, David left the writing crew (but returned to write "
The Finale The Finale may refer to:
* "The Finale" (''Everybody Loves Raymond''), the final episode of ''Everybody Loves Raymond''
* "The Finale" (''Seinfeld''), the final two episodes of ''Seinfeld''
* "The Finale" (''Will & Grace''), the final episode of '' ...
" in 1998), resulting in Seinfeld taking over David's duties as
showrunner
A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also th ...
, and, under the direction of a new writing staff, ''Seinfeld'' became a faster-paced show. The show no longer contained extracts of Jerry performing stand-up comedy—Jerry had no time or energy for this with his new responsibilities—and storylines occasionally delved into fantasy and broad humor. For example, in "
The Bizarro Jerry
"The Bizarro Jerry" is the 137th episode of the American television sitcom ''Seinfeld''. This was the third episode of the eighth season, originally airing on the NBC network on October 3, 1996. The title and plot extensively reference Bizarro Sup ...
", Elaine is torn between exact opposites of her friends and Jerry dates a woman who has the now-famous "man hands". Some notable episodes from Season 8 include "
The Little Kicks
"The Little Kicks" is the 138th episode of the American television sitcom '' Seinfeld''. This was the fourth episode for the eighth season, originally broadcast on the NBC network on October 10, 1996. In this episode, Jerry inadvertently becomes a ...
" showing Elaine's horrible dancing, and "
The Chicken Roaster
"The Chicken Roaster" is the 142nd episode of the sitcom ''Seinfeld''. This was the eighth episode for the eighth season, originally airing on November 14, 1996. The episode's story follows the mishaps which follow when Kenny Rogers Roasters opens ...
" which portrays the ''
Kenny Rogers Roasters
Kenny Rogers Roasters is a chain of chicken-based restaurants founded in 1991 by country musician Kenny Rogers and former KFC CEO John Y. Brown Jr., who was a former governor of the U.S. state of Kentucky. Brown had been an early investor in Ken ...
'' chicken restaurant which opened during that time. A story arc in this season involves Peterman going to
Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
in "
The Foundation" until he recovered from a nervous breakdown in "
The Money
"The Money" is the 146th episode of the sitcom ''Seinfeld''. This was the 12th episode for the eighth season, originally airing on NBC on January 16, 1997. In a follow-up to the episode "The Cadillac", the story has Jerry traveling to Florida to ...
", followed by Elaine writing Peterman's biography in "
The Van Buren Boys
"The Van Buren Boys" is the 148th episode of the sitcom ''Seinfeld''. This was the 14th episode for the 8th season, originally airing on February 6, 1997. In this episode, everyone is convinced Jerry Seinfeld (character), Jerry's new girlfriend is ...
", which leads to Kramer's parody of Kenny Kramer's Reality Tour seen in "
The Muffin Tops
"The Muffin Tops" is the 155th episode of the sitcom ''Seinfeld''. This was the 21st episode of the eighth season. It aired on May 8, 1997. In this episode, George dates a woman while pretending to be a tourist from Arkansas, Kramer starts runni ...
".
The final season included episodes like "
The Merv Griffin Show
''The Merv Griffin Show'' is an American television talk show starring Merv Griffin. The series ran from October 1, 1962 to March 29, 1963 on NBC, May 10, 1965 to July 4, 1969 in first-run syndication, from August 18, 1969 to February 11, 1972 a ...
" in which Kramer converts his apartment into a talk-show studio and plays the character of talk-show host, "
The Betrayal
"The Betrayal" is the 164th episode of the NBC sitcom '' Seinfeld''. This was the eighth episode for the ninth and final season. It aired on November 20, 1997. In this episode, Jerry betrays George by having sex with his girlfriend Nina, right be ...
" that presents in reverse chronological order what happened to Sue Ellen's wedding in India, and "
The Frogger
"The Frogger" is the 174th episode of the NBC sitcom ''Seinfeld''. It is the 18th episode for the ninth and final season. It first aired on April 23, 1998. In this episode, Elaine eats a vintage cake from King Edward VIII's wedding, Jerry mainta ...
" in which George pushes a ''
Frogger
is a 1981 arcade action game developed by Konami and manufactured by Sega. In North America, it was released by Sega/Gremlin. The object of the game is to direct a series of frogs to their homes by crossing a busy road and a hazardous rive ...
'' machine across the street, mimicking the action of the game itself. The last season included a story arc in which Elaine has an on/off relationship with
Puddy. Despite the enormous popularity and willingness of the cast to return for a tenth season, Seinfeld decided to end the show after Season 9, believing he would thereby be able to ensure the show would maintain its quality and go out on top. NBC offered him over $100 million for a tenth season, but Seinfeld declined.
A major controversy caused in this final season was the accidental burning of a
Puerto Rican flag
The flag of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Bandera de Puerto Rico) represents and symbolizes Puerto Rico and its people.
The origins of the current flag of Puerto Rico, adopted by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in 1952, can be traced to 1868, whe ...
by Kramer in "
The Puerto Rican Day
"The Puerto Rican Day" is the 176th episode of the NBC sitcom ''Seinfeld''. It aired on May 7, 1998, and was the 20th episode of the ninth and final season. It was the show's second-highest-rated episode of all time, with 38.8 million viewers, on ...
". This scene caused a furor among Puerto Ricans, and as a result, NBC showed this episode only once. Seinfeld defused the protestors by not letting this episode continue in syndication, as revealed in "Inside Look" on DVD. However, the episode would be added to the syndicated rerun package several years later uncut.
Series finale
After nine years on the air, NBC and Seinfeld announced on December 25, 1997, that the series would end production the following spring in 1998. The announcement made the front page of the major New York newspapers, including ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''. Seinfeld was featured on the cover of ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine's first issue of 1998. The series ended with a 75-minute episode (cut to 60 minutes in
syndication
Syndication may refer to:
* Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system
* Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips
* Web syndication, ...
, in two parts) written by co-creator and ex-executive producer Larry David, which aired on May 14, 1998. Before the finale, a 45-minute retrospective clip show, "
The Chronicle", was aired. The retrospective was expanded to an hour after the original airing and aired again on NBC as an hour-long episode, and has since aired in syndication.
It was the first episode since the finale of Season 7, "
The Invitations
"The Invitations" is the 24th and final episode of the seventh season of ''Seinfeld'' and the 134th overall episode. It originally aired on May 16, 1996, and was the last episode written by co-creator Larry David before he left the writing staff ...
", to feature opening and closing stand-up comedy acts by Seinfeld. The finale was filmed before an audience of NBC executives and friends of the show. The press and public were shut out of the taping to keep its plot secret; those who attended the shoot of the final episode were required to sign written "vows of silence". The secrecy only seemed to increase speculation about how the series would end. The producers of the episode tweaked the media about the hype, spreading a false rumor about Newman ending up in the hospital and Jerry and Elaine sitting in a chapel, presumably to marry.
The final episode enjoyed a historic audience, estimated at 76.3 million viewers (58% of all viewers that night) making it the fourth-most watched regular series finale in U.S. TV history, behind ''
M*A*S*H
''M*A*S*H'' (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) is an American media franchise consisting of a series of novels, a film, several television series, plays, and other properties, and based on the semi-autobiographical fiction of Richard Hooker.
The ...
'', ''Cheers'', and ''
The Fugitive''. However, the finale received mixed reviews from critics and fans of the show. The finale poked fun at the many rumors that were circulating, seeming to move into multiple supposed plots before settling on its true storyline—a lengthy trial where the gang is prosecuted for violating a "
Duty to Rescue
A duty to rescue is a concept in tort law that arises in a number of cases, describing a circumstance in which a party can be held liable for failing to come to the rescue of another party who could face potential injury or death without being res ...
" law and sentenced to prison terms.
According to ''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
'' magazine, Seinfeld's earnings from the show in 1998 came to US$267 million, including syndication earnings. He refused NBC's offer of $5 million per episode, or over $100 million total, to continue into a tenth season. The offer NBC made to Seinfeld was over three times higher per episode than anyone on TV had ever been offered before. Seinfeld told the network that he was not married nor had children, and wished to focus on his personal life.
As reported in July 2007, he was the second-highest earner in the TV industry, earning at the time $60 million a year. The episode became the first to command over $1 million a minute for advertising—a mark previously attained only by the
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...
.
Syndication
According to
Barry Meyer
Barry M. Meyer (born November 28, 1946) is an American television producer who served as Chairman of Warner Bros. Entertainment.
Early life
Born to a Jewish family in New York City, the son of Perry Meyer and Lillian Katz Meyer. Meyer holds a ba ...
, chairman of
Warner Bros. Entertainment
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...
(parent company of Castle Rock), ''Seinfeld'' made $2.7 billion through June 2010. the show had made an estimated $4.06 billion in syndication.
Steve Bannon
Stephen Kevin Bannon (born November 27, 1953) is an American media executive, political strategist, and former investment banker. He served as the White House's chief strategist in the administration of U.S. president Donald Trump during t ...
, who invested in the show, later said, "We calculated what it would get us if it made it to syndication. We were wrong by a factor of five".
In September 2019, it was announced that
Viacom Viacom, an abbreviation of Video and Audio Communications, may refer to:
* Viacom (1952–2006), a former American media conglomerate
* Viacom (2005–2019), a former company spun off from the original Viacom
* Viacom18, a joint venture between Par ...
(now
Paramount Global
Paramount Global (doing business as Paramount) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned and operated by National Amusements (79.4%) and headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York. I ...
) had acquired cable syndication rights to the series from
TBS, with it airing on
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...
beginning in October 2021 and
Nick at Nite
Nick at Nite (stylized as nick@nite) is an American nighttime basic cable television channel that broadcasts over the channel space of Nickelodeon. It typically broadcasts Mondays to Thursday nights from 9 p.m. - 6:30 a.m. Eastern Time Zone, ET/Pac ...
in May 2022.
Production
''Seinfeld'' began as a 23-minute pilot titled ''
The Seinfeld Chronicles
"The Seinfeld Chronicles" (also known as "Good News, Bad News", "Pilot", "The Premiere", or simply "Seinfeld") is the Television pilot, pilot episode of the American sitcom ''Seinfeld'', which first aired on NBC on July 5, 1989.
The first of Li ...
''. Created by
Jerry Seinfeld
Jerome Allen Seinfeld ( ; born April 29, 1954) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He is best known for playing a Jerry Seinfeld (character), semi-fictionalized version of himself in the sitcom ''Seinfeld'', which he ...
and
Larry David
Lawrence Gene David (born July 2, 1947) is an American comedian, writer, actor, and television producer. He and Jerry Seinfeld created the television sitcom ''Seinfeld'', on which David was head writer and executive producer for the first seve ...
, developed by NBC executive Rick Ludwin, and produced by
Castle Rock Entertainment
Castle Rock Entertainment is an American film and television production company founded in 1987 by Martin Shafer, director Rob Reiner, Andrew Scheinman, Glenn Padnick and Alan Horn. It is a label of Warner Bros. Entertainment, itself a subsidiar ...
, it was a mix of Seinfeld's stand-up comedy routines and idiosyncratic, conversational scenes focusing on mundane aspects of everyday life like laundry, the buttoning of the top button on one's shirt, and the effort by men to interpret the intent of women spending the night in Seinfeld's apartment.
[Battaglio, Stephen (June 30, 2014). "'Annoying' 'Disorienting' 'Boring': On ''Seinfeld's'' 25th anniversary an exclusive look at the memo that almost killed the show". '']TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...
''. pp. 18–19.
The pilot was filmed at Stage 8 of
Desilu Cahuenga studios, the same studio where ''
The Dick Van Dyke Show
''The Dick Van Dyke Show'' is an American television sitcom created by Carl Reiner that initially aired on CBS from October 3, 1961 to June 1, 1966, with a total of 158 half-hour episodes spanning five seasons. It was produced by Calvada Product ...
'' was filmed (seen by the crew as a good omen), and was recorded at Ren-Mar Studios in
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood, ...
.
The pilot was first screened to a group of two dozen NBC executives in
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank has a population of 107,337. The city was named after David Burbank, w ...
, in early 1989. It did not yield the explosion of laughter garnered by the pilots for the decade's previous NBC successes like ''
The Cosby Show
''The Cosby Show'' is an American television sitcom co-created by and starring Bill Cosby, which aired Thursday nights for eight seasons on NBC between September 20, 1984, until April 30, 1992. The show focuses on an upper middle-class African- ...
'' and ''
The Golden Girls
''The Golden Girls'' is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris that aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes, spanning seven seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Bea Arthur, Betty White ...
.''
Brandon Tartikoff
Brandon Tartikoff (January 13, 1949 – August 27, 1997) was an American television executive who was the president of NBC from 1981 to 1991. He was credited with turning around NBC's low prime time reputation with such hit series as ''Hill Stre ...
was not convinced the show would work. A Jewish man from New York himself, Tartikoff characterized it as "Too New York, too Jewish" (a sentiment which would also lead to the Cosmo character's later surname change from the more Jewish-sounding Kessler to Kramer). Test audiences were even harsher. NBC's practice at the time was to recruit 400 households by phone to ask them to evaluate pilots it aired on an unused channel on its cable system. An NBC research department memo summarized the pilot's performance among the respondents as "weak", which
Warren Littlefield
Warren W. Littlefield (born May 11, 1952) is an American television executive.
Born in Montclair, New Jersey, Littlefield attended Montclair High School and graduated from Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York, where he was award ...
, then second-in-command in NBC's entertainment division, called "a dagger to the heart".
[ Comments included, "You can't get too excited about two guys going to the laundromat"; "Jerry's loser friend George isn't a forceful character"; "Jerry needs a stronger supporting cast"; and "Why are they interrupting the stand-up for these stupid stories?"][ Seinfeld and David did not see the memo for several years, but after they became aware of it, they hung it in a bathroom on the set. Seinfeld comments, "We thought, if someone goes in to use this bathroom, this is something they should see. It fits that moment."][
Around the time the show's pilot was filmed, Castle Rock Entertainment, which produced the show, had also produced another pilot for NBC that featured ]Ann Jillian
Ann Jillian (born Ann Jura Nauseda; January 29, 1950) is a retired American actress and singer whose career began as a child actress in 1960. She is best known for her role as the sultry Cassie Cranston on the 1980s sitcom ''It's a Living''.
Ea ...
in her almost-similarly eponymous TV series
A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed betw ...
. When ''The Seinfeld Chronicles'' tested poorly with audiences, Castle Rock focused on Jillian's series, which tested better with audiences and received a full-season order. ''Ann Jillian'' lasted only a single season of 13 episodes and was off the air by the end of 1990.
When NBC announced its 1989–90 (primetime) schedule in May 1989, ''The Seinfeld Chronicles'' was not included, but the show's supporters did not give up. The pilot first aired on July 5, 1989, and finished second in its time slot against the CBS police drama ''Jake and the Fatman
''Jake and the Fatman'' is an American crime drama television series starring William Conrad as prosecutor J. L. (Jason Lochinvar) "Fatman" McCabe and Joe Penny as investigator Jake Styles. The series ran on CBS for five seasons from September ...
'',[ receiving a ]Nielsen rating
Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rati ...
of 10.9/19.[ The ratings did not exhibit the regional skew Tartikoff predicted, much to the encouragement of the show's supporters. Ludwin canceled one of the ]Bob Hope
Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in more than 70 short and feature films, with 5 ...
specials budgeted for that season so the entertainment division had the money to order four more episodes of ''The Seinfeld Chronicles'', which formed the rest of the show's first season (the series was by then retitled to ''Seinfeld'')[—a move without which '']Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
'' columnist Phil Rosenthal
Philip Rosenthal (born January 27, 1960) is an American television writer and producer who is the creator, writer, and executive producer of the CBS sitcom ''Everybody Loves Raymond'' (1996–2005). In recent years, he has presented food and t ...
later said there "would be no ''Seinfeld"''. Although this was a very low order number for a new series—and the smallest sitcom order in TV history[—Castle Rock failed to find any other buyers when it shopped the show to other networks, and accepted the order.][ ''Seinfeld'' did not return to the airwaves until May 30, 1990, and it was another three years before it became a Top 5-rated show. Preston Beckman, in charge of NBC's research department at the time, reminisced, "The show was different. Nobody had seen anything like it. It wasn't unusual for poor-testing shows to get on the air, but it was very rare that they became hits."
When it was first repeated on July 5, 1990, it received a rating of 13.9/26. These ratings were high enough to secure a second season.] NBC research showed that the show was popular with young male adults, a demographic sought after by advertisers. This gave NBC an incentive to keep broadcasting the show. One DVD reviewer, Britt Gillette, wrote that "this initial episode exhibits the flashes of brilliance that made ''Seinfeld'' a cultural phenomenon."
Other than the pilot, the series was filmed at CBS Studio Center
Radford Studio Center, alternatively CBS Studio Center, is a television and film studio located in the Studio City district of Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley. The lot has 18 sound stages from , of office space, and 223 dressing rooms. T ...
, in Studio City, California
Studio City is a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California, in the southeast San Fernando Valley, just west of the Cahuenga Pass. It is named after the studio lot that was established in the area by film producer Mack Sennett in 1927, ...
. The first three seasons were filmed on soundstage 19; it then moved to the larger Stage 9 for the remainder of its production. Despite numerous establishing shots taken in New York City, all scenes of the actors walking in New York were also filmed at CBS Studio Center, on their New York Street backlot
A backlot is an area behind or adjoining a movie studio containing permanent exterior buildings for outdoor scenes in filmmaking or television productions, or space for temporary set construction.
Uses
Some movie studios build a wide variety of ...
. Other locations on the CBS lot were also used, as well as scenes filmed at Paramount Studios
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production and distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldest film studio in the world, the second-oldest ...
and Warner Brothers Studios Hollywood.
A source of problems for the cast was the small sets, especially that of Jerry's apartment; Alexander noted "If you knew you were doing a series for nine years, you would never build that set". Adding to the problem was that the scripts contained only minimal physical direction, leaving the actors struggling to come up with actions to perform while speaking. Eventually, they got into a routine of directing each other on how to make their movements look natural. Alexander said this helped them build chemistry with each other.[
Filming usually went long, as the cast and David were perfectionists. If a joke didn't elicit the reaction they hoped for, they rewrote it and performed it again. In at least one case, "The Marine Biologist", this led to David writing an entirely new scene requiring Alexander to memorize a monologue in only a matter of minutes.] Laugh tracks were used only for matching shots, not for artificially adding laughter.[
]
High-definition versions
There are two high-definition versions of ''Seinfeld''. The first is that of the network TV (non-syndicated) versions in the original aspect ratio of 4:3 that were downscaled for the DVD releases. Clips from this high-definition version in its upscale were seen on NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
during ''The Seinfeld Story'' special. Syndicated broadcast stations and the cable networks TBS and Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...
began airing the syndicated version of ''Seinfeld'' in HD. Unlike the version used for the DVD, Sony Pictures cropped the top and bottom parts of the frame, while restoring previously cropped images on the sides, from the 35mm film 35 mm may refer to:
* 135 film, a type of still photography format commonly referred to as 35 mm film
* 35 mm movie film, a type of motion picture film stock
* 35MM 35 mm may refer to:
* 135 film, a type of still photography format ...
source, to use the entire 16:9 frame.
Reception and legacy
Elizabeth Magnotta and Alexandra Strohl analyze the success of ''Seinfeld'' with recourse to the incongruity theory of humor: "The Incongruity Theory claims that humor is created out of a violation of an expectation. For humor to result from this unexpected result, the event must have an appropriate emotional climate, the setting, characters, prior discourse, relationships of the characters, and the topic." Specifically, Magnotta and Strohl focus on "The Marine Biologist
"The Marine Biologist" is the 78th episode of the American sitcom ''Seinfeld''. It is the 14th episode of the fifth season. It was originally broadcast on NBC on February 10, 1994. In the episode, George pretends to be a marine biologist in order ...
", where George is embroiled in yet another lie, and on " The Red Dot", where George tries to save a few dollars at Elaine's expense by giving her a marked-down cashmere sweater.
In "Translating ''Seinfeld''", Jennifer Armstrong notes that ''Seinfeld'' is less popular among non-English speakers as its unique style of humor is "too cultural and word-based to make for easy translation". Carol Iannone sums up the legacy of this American hit in her ''Modern Age'' article "''Seinfeld'': The Politically Incorrect Comedy" when she says, "It may be the first situation comedy truly to achieve the status of art".
Nod Miller, of the University of East London
, mottoeng = Knowledge and the fulfilment of vows
, established = 1898 – West Ham Technical Institute1952 – West Ham College of Technology1970 – North East London Polytechnic1989 – Polytechnic of East London ...
, has discussed the self-referential qualities of the show:
William Irwin has edited an anthology of scholarly essays on philosophy in ''Seinfeld and Philosophy: A Book about Everything and Nothing''. Some entries include "The Jerry Problem and the Socratic Problem
In historical scholarship, the Socratic problem (or Socratic question) concerns attempts at reconstructing a historical and philosophical image of Socrates based on the variable, and sometimes contradictory, nature of the existing sources on his l ...
", "George's Failed Quest for Happiness
Happiness, in the context of Mental health, mental or emotional states, is positive or Pleasure, pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. Other forms include life satisfaction, well-being, subjective well-being, flourishin ...
: An Aristotelian Analysis", "Elaine's Moral Character", "Kramer the 'Seducer, "Making Something Out of Nothing: Seinfeld, Sophistry
A sophist ( el, σοφιστής, sophistes) was a teacher in ancient Greece in the fifth and fourth centuries BC. Sophists specialized in one or more subject areas, such as philosophy, rhetoric, music, athletics, and mathematics. They taught ' ...
and the Tao", "Seinfeld, Subjectivity
Subjectivity in a philosophical context has to do with a lack of objective reality. Subjectivity has been given various and ambiguous definitions by differing sources as it is not often the focal point of philosophical discourse.Bykova, Marina F ...
, and Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and litera ...
", "Mr. Peterman, the Wicked Witch of the West
The Wicked Witch of the West is a fictional character who appears in the classic children's novel ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' (1900), created by American author L. Frank Baum. In Baum's subsequent ''Oz'' novels, it is the Nome King who is ...
, and Me", and "Minimally Decent Samaritans and Uncommon Law".
U.S. television ratings
Awards and nominations
''Seinfeld'' has received awards and nominations in various categories throughout the mid-1990s. It was awarded the Emmy
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
for Outstanding Comedy Series in 1993, Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...
for Best TV-Series (Comedy) in 1994 and Screen Actors Guild Award
Screen Actors Guild Awards (also known as SAG Awards) are accolades given by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA). The award was founded in 1952 to recognize outstanding performances in movie an ...
for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series in 1995, 1997 and 1998.[1st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards – "Seinfeld" ](_blank)
Retrieved on March 14, 2008[3rd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards – Official Site](_blank)
"Seinfeld" Screen Actors Guild Awards. Retrieved on March 14, 2008,[Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards – "Seinfeld" ](_blank)
Retrieved on March 14, 2008, Apart from these, the show was also nominated for an Emmy award from 1992 to 1998 for Outstanding Comedy Series, Golden Globe award from 1994 to 1998 for Best TV-Series (Comedy), and Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series from 1995 to 1998. The show even received the Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...
in 1993.
''TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...
'' named it the greatest TV show of all time in 2002.[ and in 2013, the magazine ranked it as the second-greatest TV show.] A 2015 ''The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'' survey of 2,800 actors, producers, directors, and other industry people named ''Seinfeld'' as their #5 favorite show. In 2022, ''Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' ranked ''Seinfeld'' as the sixth-greatest TV show of all time.
Consumer products
A recurring feature of ''Seinfeld'' was its inclusion of specific products, especially candy
Candy, also called sweets (British English) or lollies (Australian English
Australian English (AusE, AusEng, AuE, AuEng, en-AU) is the set of varieties of the English language native to Australia. It is the country's common language an ...
, as plot points. These might be a central feature of a plot (e.g., Junior Mints
Junior or Juniors may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959
* ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009
* ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010
* ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019
Films
* ''Junior'' (1994 ...
, Twix
Twix is a caramel shortbread chocolate bar made by Mars, Inc., consisting of a biscuit applied with other confectionery toppings and coatings (most frequently caramel and milk chocolate).The biscuit is typically topped with caramel and then coa ...
, Chuckles
Chuckles are jelly candies coated with a light layer of sugar. They come in five flavors: cherry, lemon, lime, orange, and licorice. Each package of Chuckles contains one piece of each flavor. The candies are made with corn syrup, sugar, modi ...
, Jujyfruits
Jujyfruits are a chewy, gumdrop-like starch-based candy, manufactured by Heide Candy Company, a subsidiary of Ferrara Candy Company. Jujyfruits began production in 1920. They were popular in movie houses along with Heide's other gummy candy, Juj ...
, bite-size Three Musketeers
3 is a number, numeral, and glyph.
3, three, or III may also refer to:
* AD 3, the third year of the AD era
* 3 BC, the third year before the AD era
* March, the third month
Books
* ''Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 n ...
, Snickers
Snickers is a chocolate bar made by the American company Mars, Incorporated, consisting of nougat topped with caramel and peanuts that is encased in milk chocolate. The annual global sales of Snickers was over $3 billion .
In the United Ki ...
, Chunky, Oh Henry!
Oh Henry! is an American candy bar containing peanuts, caramel, and fudge coated in chocolate.
History
There are multiple versions of the Oh Henry! bar origin story. The manufacturer Nestlé says that the bar was introduced by George Willia ...
, Drake's Coffee Cake and PEZ
Pez (, ; stylised as PEZ) is the brand name of an Austrian candy and associated manual candy dispensers. The candy is a pressed, dry, straight-edged, curved-corner block 15 mm ( inch) long, 8 mm ( inch) wide and 5 mm ...
), or an association of candy with a guest character (e.g. Oh Henry!
Oh Henry! is an American candy bar containing peanuts, caramel, and fudge coated in chocolate.
History
There are multiple versions of the Oh Henry! bar origin story. The manufacturer Nestlé says that the bar was introduced by George Willia ...
bars) or simply a conversational aside (e.g., Chuckles
Chuckles are jelly candies coated with a light layer of sugar. They come in five flavors: cherry, lemon, lime, orange, and licorice. Each package of Chuckles contains one piece of each flavor. The candies are made with corn syrup, sugar, modi ...
, Clark Bar
The Clark Bar is a candy bar consisting of a crispy peanut butter/spun taffy core (originally with a caramel center) and coated in milk chocolate. It was the first American "combination" candy bar to achieve nationwide success. Two similar can ...
, Twinkies
A Twinkie is an American snack cake, described as "golden sponge cake with a creamy filling". It was formerly made and distributed by Hostess Brands. The brand is currently owned by Hostess Brands, Inc. (), having been formerly owned by privat ...
). A large number of non-candy products were also featured throughout the series.
The show's creators claim that they weren't engaging in a product placement strategy for commercial gain. One motivation for the use of real-world products, quite unrelated to commercial considerations, is the comedy value of funny-sounding phrases and words. "I knew I wanted Kramer to think of watching the operation like going to see a movie", explained ''Seinfeld'' writer/producer Andy Robin in an interview published in ''The Hollywood Reporter''. "At first, I thought maybe a piece of popcorn falls into the patient. I ran that by my brother, and he said, 'No, Junior Mints are just funnier.'"
Many advertisers capitalized on the popularity of ''Seinfeld''. American Express
American Express Company (Amex) is an American multinational corporation specialized in payment card services headquartered at 200 Vesey Street in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The company was found ...
created a webisode
A webisode (portmanteau of "web" and "episode") is an episode of a series that is distributed as part of a web series or on streaming television. It is available as either for download or in streaming, as opposed to first airing on broadcast or c ...
where Jerry Seinfeld and an animated Superman
Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...
(voiced by Patrick Warburton
Patrick Warburton (born November 14, 1964) is an American actor.
On television, he has played David Puddy on '' Seinfeld'', the title character on '' The Tick'', Jeb Denton on ''Less Than Perfect'', Jeff Bingham on ''Rules of Engagement'' and Lem ...
, who played the role of Puddy) starred in its commercial. The makers of the Today Sponge created the "Spongeworthy" game, on their website, inspired by "The Sponge
"The Sponge" is the 119th episode of the NBC sitcom '' Seinfeld''. This was the ninth episode for the seventh season. It aired on December 7, 1995. In this episode, George and Elaine face sexual crises when the Today brand of contraceptive sponge ...
". An advertisement featured Jason Alexander in a Chrysler
Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automoti ...
commercial. In this, Alexander acts much like his character George, and his relationship with Lee Iacocca
Lido Anthony "Lee" Iacocca ( ; October 15, 1924 – July 2, 2019) was an American automobile executive best known for the development of the Ford Mustang, Continental Mark III, and Ford Pinto cars while at the Ford Motor Company in the 1960s, an ...
plays on George's relationship with Steinbrenner. Similarly, Michael Richards was the focus of a series of advertisements for Vodafone
Vodafone Group Public limited company, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It ...
which ran in Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
where he dressed and acted exactly like Kramer, including the trademark bumbling pratfalls.
In addition, the show occasionally incorporated fictional products like a Scotch
Scotch most commonly refers to:
* Scotch (adjective), a largely obsolescent adjective meaning "of or from Scotland"
**Scotch, old-fashioned name for the indigenous languages of the Scottish people:
***Scots language ("Broad Scotch")
*** Scottish G ...
brand called "Hennigan's" (a blend of "Hennessy
Jas Hennessy & Co., commonly known simply as Hennessy (), is a French producer of cognac, which has its headquarters in Cognac, France.
It is one of the "big four" cognac houses, along with Martell, Courvoisier, and Rémy Martin, who together ma ...
" and "Brannigans
KP Snacks is a British producer of branded and own-label maize-, potato-, and nut-based snacks, "Choc Dips" and nuts. The ''KP'' stands for “Kenyon Produce”. The company is based in Slough, England, UK.
History
The company was founded in ...
") and a canned meat
Potted meat is a form of traditional food preservation in which hot cooked meat is placed in a pot, tightly packed to exclude air, and then covered with hot fat. As the fat cools, it hardens and forms an airtight seal, preventing some spoilage by ...
product called "Beef-a-reeno" (a parody of " Beef-a-roni").
Home media
VHS release
The hour-long, two-part clip show
A clip show is an episode of a television series that consists primarily of excerpts from previous episodes. Most clip shows feature the format of a frame story in which cast members recall past events from past installments of the show, depicte ...
episode "The Highlights of 100
"The Highlights of 100" is an hour-long, two-part episode of the NBC sitcom '' Seinfeld''. This is the 14th and 15th episodes for the sixth season, and the 100th and 101st overall episode. It aired on February 2, 1995. It is a clip show with no ne ...
" became the first ''Seinfeld'' episode available on home video when it was released on VHS in 1995.
DVD releases
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (abbreviated as SPHE) is the home video distribution division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation.
Background
SPHE is responsible for the distribution of the Sony Pictures lib ...
released all nine seasons of ''Seinfeld'' on DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
in Regions 1, 2, and 4 between 2004 and 2007. On November 6, 2007, ''Seinfeld: The Complete Series'' was released on DVD. The complete series box set includes a 2007 "roundtable" reunion of the four main cast members and Larry David; only highlights of this were also included in the Season 9 set.
In Australia (Region 4), the first complete series boxset was released on October 24, 2007. This set contained "The Coffee Table Book" and slipcase packaging and was a Limited Edition. In late 2007/2008, all the individual seasons were re-released in a single Amaray style case. The second boxset was released on December 2, 2008, and was a Collectible Fridge design packaging. On August 5, 2009, another Limited Edition boxset was released, similar to the first boxset but does not include the book and the packaging was slightly different. On November 23, 2011, another Limited Edition boxset was released, appearing to be almost identical to the 2009 version with some minor differences. On November 14, 2018, a Festivus Celebration Edition was released which contained napkins and cups, playing cards and thumb wrestle gadgets. On August 12, 2020, another The Complete Series boxset was released, this time the box is blue and contains 8 Amaray style cases.
Streaming
All 4 (UK)
Free streaming service All 4
All 4 is a video on demand service from the Channel Four Television Corporation, free of charge for most content and funded by advertising. The service is available in the UK and Ireland; viewers are not required to have a TV licence—required ...
has been running ''Seinfeld'' in its original 4:3 format since February 2020.
Crave (Canada)
In Canada, the series streamed on Crave __NOTOC__
Crave or Craving may refer to:
Entertainment and media Companies and services
* Crave (streaming service), a Canadian video-on-demand streaming service
* Crave (TV network), a Canadian linear pay TV service operated in conjunction with ...
, having left on September 30, 2021.
Hulu (US)
On April 29, 2015, it was officially announced, during Hulu
Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...
's upfronts
In the television industry, an upfront is a gathering at the start of important advertising sales periods, held by television network executives and attended by major advertisers and the media. It is so named because of its main purpose, to allow ...
presentation in New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
, that all nine seasons of ''Seinfeld'' would stream
A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream ...
on the platform starting in June 2015. The deal was for around $130 million to $180 million. On May 20, 2015, Hulu
Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...
announced that every episode would be available starting June 24, 2015. Hulu's streaming rights for the series expired on June 23, 2021.
Prime Video (UK)
In January 2017, Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...
acquired the UK rights to all seasons of ''Seinfeld'' for its Amazon Prime Video
Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming and Renting, rental service of Amazon (c ...
streaming service.
Stan (Australia)
On November 8, 2016, the Australian streaming service Stan
Stan or STAN may refer to:
People
* Stan (given name), a list of people with the given name
** Stan Laurel (1890–1965), English comic actor, part of duo Laurel and Hardy
* Stan (surname), a Romanian surname
* Stan! (born 1964), American author ...
announced via Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
that later in the week all episodes would be available to stream for the first time in Australia. All episodes were available from November 11, 2016, with the remastered versions of all episodes on the service featuring HD and Widescreen enhancements. The widescreen offered was cropped from the original 4:3 format negatives, thus resulting in better visual quality than the previously available DVD version, however, the top and bottom portions of the frame were cut out to achieve the widescreen aspect ratio. In April 2020, all seasons of ''Seinfeld'' were also made available on-demand via pay television service Foxtel
Foxtel is an Australian pay television company—operating in cable television, direct broadcast satellite television, and IPTV streaming services. It was formed in April 2018, superseding an earlier company from 1995. The service was establi ...
, as well as its internet-based alternative Foxtel Now
Foxtel Now (Formerly Foxtel Play) is an Australian internet television service which offers subscriptions to over 50 live channels and hundreds of video on-demand titles. The service is owned by Foxtel, and officially launched on 11 August 2013 ...
.
Netflix
In September 2019, Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
and Sony Pictures
Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio Conglomerate (company), conglom ...
announced that Netflix had acquired the exclusive global streaming rights for ''Seinfeld'', starting on October 1, 2021, superseding the above Hulu and Amazon rights. As of October 1, 2021, Netflix's version of ''Seinfeld'' is available in 4K resolution
4K resolution refers to a horizontal display resolution of approximately 4,000 pixels. Digital television and digital cinematography commonly use several different 4K resolutions. In television and consumer media, 38402160 (4K Ultra-high-definitio ...
. The transition was criticized as the show, initially displayed in 4:3 aspect ratio, had been converted to 16:9, resulting in some gags getting cropped, similarly to how ''The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...
'' was initially rendered on Disney+
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment
Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and deligh ...
. Netflix has yet to comment on this situation.
After ''Seinfeld''
Another scene
On the November 1, 2007, episode of ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'', Jerry Seinfeld mentioned the possibility of shooting one last scene, after the characters leave jail. He mentioned that he was too busy to do it at the time, but didn't announce what the scene would entail, as its production isn't a certainty.
In a commentary from the final season DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
, Seinfeld outlines that he and Jason Alexander spoke about this scene being in Monk's Cafe, with George saying "That was brutal" about the foursome's stint in prison.
On an episode of ''Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...
'' that Jerry Seinfeld hosted on October 2, 1999, a sketch was produced that showed what life was like for Jerry behind bars after being transferred to the fictional prison portrayed on the HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
series '' Oz''. The roughly four-minute sketch shows the opening credits for the HBO series with clips of Jerry mixed in doing various activities around the prison. The sketch continues and mixes in different storylines from both ''Oz'' and ''Seinfeld'' and has Jerry interacting with various characters from the show in his typical quick-witted, sarcastic way.
The ''Seinfeld'' "curse"
Louis-Dreyfus, Alexander, and Richards have all tried to launch new sitcoms as title-role characters. Almost every show was canceled quickly, usually within the first season. This gave rise to the term ''Seinfeld curse'': the failure of a sitcom starring one of the three, despite the conventional wisdom that each person's ''Seinfeld'' popularity should almost guarantee a strong, built-in audience for the actor's new show. Shows specifically cited regarding the ''Seinfeld curse'' are Julia Louis-Dreyfus's ''Watching Ellie
''Watching Ellie'' is an American television sitcom that stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus and was created by her husband, Brad Hall and aired on NBC from February 26, 2002 to May 20, 2003. Sixteen episodes were broadcast before it was canceled due to low ...
'', Jason Alexander's '' Bob Patterson'' and '' Listen Up!'', and Michael Richards' ''The Michael Richards Show
''The Michael Richards Show'' is an American television sitcom created by Spike Feresten, Gregg Kavet, Andy Robin and Richards, that debuted on NBC from October 24 to December 19, 2000. The show starred Michael Richards as socially awkward but t ...
''.
This phenomenon was mentioned throughout the second season of Larry David
Lawrence Gene David (born July 2, 1947) is an American comedian, writer, actor, and television producer. He and Jerry Seinfeld created the television sitcom ''Seinfeld'', on which David was head writer and executive producer for the first seve ...
's HBO program ''Curb Your Enthusiasm
''Curb Your Enthusiasm'' is an American television sitcom produced and broadcast by HBO since October 15, 2000, and created by Larry David, who stars as a semi-fictionalized version of himself. It follows David's life as a semi-retired televisio ...
'', which aired in 2001. In real life, David has repeatedly dismissed the idea of a curse, saying, "It's so completely idiotic. It's very hard to have a successful sitcom."
The success of Louis-Dreyfus in the 2006–2010 CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
sitcom ''The New Adventures of Old Christine
''The New Adventures of Old Christine'' (often shortened to simply ''Old Christine'') is an American sitcom television series starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Christine Campbell, a divorced mother doing her best to keep pace with those around her ...
'', which included winning the in 2006, led many to believe that she had broken the curse. In her acceptance speech, Louis-Dreyfus held up her award and exclaimed, "I'm not somebody who really believes in curses, but curse this, baby!" The show produced enough episodes to air in rerun
A rerun or repeat is a rebroadcast of an episode of a radio or television program. There are two types of reruns – those that occur during a hiatus, and those that occur when a program is syndicated.
Variations
In the United Kingdom, the word ...
s in syndication
Syndication may refer to:
* Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system
* Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips
* Web syndication, ...
for several years, something the other shows did not achieve. The ''Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...
'' episode hosted by Louis-Dreyfus made references to the curse. Nevertheless, the series ratings declined soon after and it was cancelled after the fifth season. She went on to win six further Emmys (for Lead Actress in a Comedy Series) for her acclaimed performance as Vice President Selina Meyer
Selina Catherine Meyer ( ; née Eaton) is a fictional character portrayed by Julia Louis-Dreyfus on the HBO television comedy series ''Veep''. Louis-Dreyfus has been critically acclaimed for the role, earning a record-breaking six consecutive P ...
in the HBO comedy series ''Veep
''Veep'' is an American political satire comedy television series that aired on HBO from April 22, 2012, to May 12, 2019. The series was created by Armando Iannucci as an adaptation of his sitcom ''The Thick of It''. The protagonist of ''Veep'' ...
''. After ''Veep'' ended, Louis-Dreyfus officially joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appear in American comic books published by ...
in 2021 as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine
Valentina may refer to:
Entertainment Film
* ''Valentina'' (1950 film), a 1950 Argentine film
* ''Valentina'' (2008 film), a 2008 Argentine film
Television
* ''Valentina'' (1993 telenovela), a 1993 Mexican telenovela
* Valentina (2013 telenov ...
.
''Curb Your Enthusiasm''
Early in March 2009, it was announced that the ''Seinfeld'' cast would reunite for season seven of ''Curb Your Enthusiasm
''Curb Your Enthusiasm'' is an American television sitcom produced and broadcast by HBO since October 15, 2000, and created by Larry David, who stars as a semi-fictionalized version of himself. It follows David's life as a semi-retired televisio ...
''. The cast first appeared in the third episode of the season, all playing fictional versions of themselves. The season-long story is that Larry David tries to initiate a ''Seinfeld'' reunion show as a ploy to win back his ex-wife, Cheryl. Along with the four main characters, some ''Seinfeld'' supporting actors like Wayne Knight
Wayne Elliot Knight (born August 7, 1955) is an American actor. In television, he played Newman on '' Seinfeld'' (1992–1998) and Officer Don Orville on '' 3rd Rock from the Sun'' (1996–2001). He also voiced Igor on ''Toonsylvania'' (199 ...
, Estelle Harris
Estelle Harris (''née'' Nussbaum; April 22, 1928 – April 2, 2022) was an American actress and comedienne, known for her exaggerated shrill, grating voice. She was best known for her role as Estelle Costanza on ''Seinfeld''. Her other roles in ...
and Steve Hytner
Steve Hytner (; born September 28, 1959) is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as Kenny Bania on the NBC series ''Seinfeld''.
Hytner is a native of Long Island, New York. He appeared as a regular in ''The 100 Lives of Bl ...
appeared in the ninth episode at a table read for the reunion show. Although much dialogue in ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'' is improvised, the plot was scripted, and the ''Seinfeld'' special that aired within the show was scripted and directed by ''Seinfeld'' regular Andy Ackerman
Robert Andrew Ackerman (born September 19, 1956) is an American director, producer, and script editor who is best known for his work on '' Seinfeld'', ''The New Adventures of Old Christine'' and the HBO series '' Curb Your Enthusiasm''. He i ...
, making this the first time since ''Seinfeld'' went off the air that the central cast appeared together in a scripted show.
''Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee''
Jerry Seinfeld
Jerome Allen Seinfeld ( ; born April 29, 1954) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He is best known for playing a Jerry Seinfeld (character), semi-fictionalized version of himself in the sitcom ''Seinfeld'', which he ...
, Jason Alexander, and Wayne Knight, playing their respective ''Seinfeld'' characters, appeared in a spot presented during halftime of Super Bowl XLVIII
Super Bowl XLVIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos and National Football Conference (NFC) champion Seattle Seahawks to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for th ...
on February 2, 2014. FOX
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
came up with the idea of doing such a spot, due in part to the Super Bowl's location being New York City adjacent that year. An uncut version appeared on Crackle.com
Crackle, formerly called Grouper and Sony Crackle, is a free video streaming service supported by advertisements that was founded in 2004. The service was purchased by Sony Pictures in 2006 and renamed Crackle. In 2018 the name was changed to S ...
immediately afterward, as an episode of ''Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee
''Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee'' is an American talk-show web series directed and hosted by comedian Jerry Seinfeld. The series premiered on digital network Crackle on July 19, 2012. As of May 2015, it had been streamed nearly 100 million tim ...
'' titled "The Over-Cheer", establishing Seinfeld's character on the series as an older version of his ''Seinfeld'' character. Although the spot was used to advertise Seinfeld's web series, it was not considered a commercial, as Sony, which produces the series, did not pay for it. While Seinfeld indicated that the webisode would probably be the last cast reunion, saying, "I have a feeling you've seen the final coda on that very unique experience", since then, Michael Richards
Michael Anthony Richards (born July 24, 1949) is an American actor, writer, television producer, and comedian best known for playing Cosmo Kramer on the television sitcom '' Seinfeld''. He began his career as a stand-up comedian, first enterin ...
and Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Scarlett Elizabeth Louis-Dreyfus ( ; born January 13, 1961) is an American actress, comedian, and producer who worked on the comedy television series ''Saturday Night Live'' (1982–1985), ''Seinfeld'' (1989–1998), ''The New Adventures ...
have also appeared in episodes.
Notes
References
General references
* Mirzoeff, Nicholas. "Seinfeld". British Film Institute
The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...
, TV Classics. 2007. .
*
* Dawson, Ryan (2006).
"Seinfeld: a show about something"
' Cambridge University
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
.
* .
* Gantz, Katherine. ''"Not That There's Anything Wrong with That": Reading the Queer in Seinfeld''. In Calvin Thomas (Ed.). ''Straight with a Twist: Queer Theory and the Subject of Heterosexuality''. Champaign. Illinois: University of Illinois Press
The University of Illinois Press (UIP) is an American university press and is part of the University of Illinois system. Founded in 1918, the press publishes some 120 new books each year, plus 33 scholarly journals, and several electronic project ...
. .
* .
* Murphy, Noah. ''Seinfeld: A Beginner's Guide''. Brisbane: Penguin Books. 2011.
* .
* Weaver, D.T. & Oliver, M.B. (2000) Summary of the paper
"Television Programs and Advertising: Measuring the Effectiveness of Product Placement Within Seinfeld".
External links
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''Seinfeld'' Emmys
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