Season four of ''

Seinfeld ''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld. It aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, over nine seasons and List of Seinfeld episodes, 180 episodes. It stars Seinfeld as Jerry Seinfeld ( ...

'', an American

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

television 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 television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...

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 ...

, began airing on August 12, 1992, and concluded on May 20, 1993, 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 ...

Production

''Seinfeld'' was 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 ...

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 ...

and

Columbia TriStar Television Columbia TriStar Television, Inc. (abbreviated as CTT) was an American television production and distribution company that was active from 1994 to 2002. It was operated as the third name of the early television studio Screen Gems and the fourth ...

and was aired on

in the US. The executive producers were

George Shapiro George Shapiro (May 18, 1931 – May 26, 2022) was an American talent manager and television producer. He was among the most successful managers in show business in the United States, best known for representing Jerry Seinfeld, Carl Reiner and A ...

, and Howard West with

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 ...

and

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 ...

as supervising producers. Bruce Kirschbaum was the executive consultant. This season was directed by

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 ...

and was largely written by

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 ...

and

Andy Robin Andy Robin is a writer who worked on NBC's ''Seinfeld'', alone and with collaborator Gregg Kavet. Their episode "The Fatigues" won the 1997 Writers Guild of America Award. Robin and Kavet wrote and directed the feature film ''Live Free or Die'' ...

. The series was set predominantly in an apartment block on

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 ...

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 ...

; however, the fourth season was shot and filmed predominantly in CBS Studio Center in Studio City, California. The show features

himself A reflexive pronoun is a pronoun that refers to another noun or pronoun (its antecedent) within the same sentence. In the English language specifically, a reflexive pronoun will end in ''-self'' or ''-selves'', and refer to a previously n ...

, and a host of Jerry's friends and acquaintances, which include

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 ...

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 ...

, and Kramer, portrayed by

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 ...

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

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 ...

, respectively.

Story arcs

The season had numerous story arcs. One that spanned the whole season involved Jerry and George trying to make a TV pilot for NBC. Another was George having a relationship with former NBC executive Susan Ross. In another, Joe Davola stalked and attacked the show's principal characters.

Reception

Critical reception

The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reported a 100% approval rating with an average rating of 9/10, based on 13 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "The show about nothing tries on an overarching plot for a change and yields a riotous satire on television in the process, further solidifying its claim as master of the sitcom domain with observant humor mined from the mundane and uncomfortable."

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 #1 on their list of the greatest TV seasons. Jamie Malanowski 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 ...

named it the best season of the series saying "A mix of high and low, of the self-referential and the hip, of things underfoot and out of left field."

Nielsen ratings

Season four was ranked No. 25 according to 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 ...

system, with 12,754,700 estimated audience.

Awards and nominations

Season four received eleven Emmy nominations, three of which were won. The show won its first and only Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series. Larry David won the Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series for the episode "The Contest". Michael Richards won his first out of three Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. Jerry Seinfeld was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. Jason Alexander was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. Julia Louis-Dreyfus was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Tom Cherones was nominated for Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series for "The Contest". Larry Charles was nominated for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series. Other nominees where Outstanding Achievement in Editing for a Comedy Series for The Airport. Jason Alexander was nominated in the Golden Globe Award in the category for Best Performance by a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture for TV. This season won a Directors Guild of America (Tom Cherones) for "The Contest", and a Writers Guild of America (Larry David) for "The Contest".

Crossover

In the seventh episode of the first season of ''

Mad About You ''Mad About You'' is an American television sitcom starring Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt as a married couple in New York City. It initially aired on NBC from September 23, 1992, to May 24, 1999, winning numerous awards including four Golden Glob ...

'', which aired on November 11, 1992, Kramer sublets his apartment from a main character. When he asks about Jerry, Kramer tells him about the NBC show.

Episodes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Seinfeld (Season 4) 4 1992 American television seasons 1993 American television seasons