Seinfeld

Seinfeld is an American sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld for NBC. The show stars Seinfeld as a fictional version of himself, and focuses primarily on his personal life with a handful of friends and acquaintances, including his best friend George Costanza (Jason Alexander), his friend and ex-girlfriend Elaine Benes (Julia Louis -Dreyfus), and the neighbor across the hall Cosmo Kramer (Michael Richards). Seinfeld is predominantly located in an apartment building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. It is often described as "a show about nothing", as many of its episodes are about the minutiae of everyday life.

Seinfeld was produced by West-Shapiro Productions and Castle Rock Entertainment and ran from 1989 to 1998. In reruns, the series is distributed by Sony Pictures Television. It was largely written by David and Seinfeld with writers including Larry Charles, Peter Mehlman, Gregg Kavet, Carol Leifer, David Mandel, Jeff Schaffer, Steve Koren, Jennifer Crittenden, Tom Gammill, Max Pross, Dan O'Keefe, Charlie Rubin, Marjorie Gross, Alec Berg, Elaine Pope and Spike Feresten. A favorite among critics, the series led the Nielsen ratings in seasons six and nine, finishing in the top two (with NBC's ER) every year from 1994 to 1998.

Seinfeld is widely considered one of the biggest and most influential sitcoms of all time. It has been ranked among the greatest television shows of all time in publications such as Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, and TV Guide. Famous episodes of the show include "The Chinese Restaurant", "The Parking Garage", and "The Contest". In 2013, the Writers Guild of America voted it the 2nd best written television series of all time (after The Sopranos). E! he called the series the "#1 reason the '90s ruled", and quotes from numerous episodes have become catchphrases in popular culture.

Premise

Characters

Principal

Jerry Seinfeld (up on the left); Jason Alexander (up on the right); Michael Richards (down on the right); Julia Louis-Dreyfus (down on the left).

• Jerry Seinfeld (Jerry Seinfeld) - Jerry is a stand up comedian and a minor celebrity that is often portrayed as "the voice of reason" in the midst of the general madness generated by people in their world. The character of the program has a soft germphobe and a roasted fanatic, as well as a fanatic avide of Superman, the Mets of New York and breakfast cereals. Jerry's apartment is the center of a world visited by his eccentric friends and a focus of the show.
• Elaine Benes (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) - Elaine is Jerry's ex-girlfriend and then friend. She is attractive and great, while she is humorous, arrogant and occasionally impulsive. Sometimes it tends to be too honest with people (usually losing their tempers), which often puts them in trouble. It is usually caught in the peculiarities of her boyfriends, unusual behaviors and idiosyncrasies of eccentric employers, and the misadjustment of total strangers. He tends to make bad decisions with the men he chooses to date and is often too reactive. First he works at Pendant Publishing with Mr. Lippman, then hired as a personal assistant to Mr. Pitt, and then he works for J. Peterman's catalog as an assistant. Elaine is popularly described as an amalgam of David's and Seinfeld's girlfriends during her first days in New York as troublemakers.
• Cosmo Kramer (Michael Richards) - Kramer is Jerry's rotten neighbor. Its characteristic features include its humorous eeling, vintage clothes and energetic bursts through Jerry's apartment door. Kramer relied heavily on a neighbor of David during his years of amateur comedy in Manhattan. Sometimes it seems naive, trustworthy and ignorant, and sometimes intelligent, understanding and well read; likewise, it is exaggeratedly successful, socially, with its charism and relaxed personality. This is seen in its success with women and employers. It has been described as a "hypster doofus". Although he never has a stable job, he rarely lacks money and often invents extravagant schemes that often work at first and ultimately fail. Kramer is a friend of Newman's for a long time, and they work well together despite their differences.
• George Costanza (Jason Alexander) - George is Jerry's best friend and has been since high school. It is cheap, dishonest, mean and envious of the achievements of others. He is represented as a loser who is perpetually insecure about his abilities. He complains and lies easily about his profession, relationships and almost everything else, which usually creates problems later. He often uses the alias Art Vandelay when he lies or invents a story to cover a lie. Despite these shortcomings, George has a sense of loyalty to his friends and the success in dating women and finally gets a successful career as a New York Yankees Travel Assistant.

Recurrent characters

Many characters have made multiple appearances, such as Newman, Jerry's nemesis, and his uncle Leo. In addition to recurring characters, Seinfeld features numerous celebrities appearing as themselves or as girlfriends, boyfriends, bosses, and other acquaintances. Many actors who made guest appearances became household names later in their careers, or were already well known.

Plots

Many Seinfeld episodes are based on the writers' real-life experiences, with the experiences reinterpreted for the characters' stories. For example, George's story, " The Revenge ", is based on Larry David's experience on Saturday Night Live. "The Contest" it is also based on David's experiences. The story of "The Smelly Car" is based on Peter Mehlman's lawyer friend, who couldn't stand the stink in his car. "The Strike" is based on Dan O'Keefe's father, who invented his own holiday: Festivus Other stories take a variety of turns. "The Chinese Restaurant" consists of George, Jerry, and Elaine waiting for a table throughout the entire episode. "The Boyfriend", which revolves around Keith Hernandez, spans across 2 episodes. "The Betrayal" is famous for using reverse chronology, and was inspired by a similar plot device in a work by Harold Pinter, Betrayal. Some stories were inspired by headlines and rumours, as explained in the DVD features 'Notes on nothing", "Inner look" and "Audio Commentary". In "The Maestro", Kramers lawsuit is more or less similar to the McDonald's coffee case. "The Outing" it 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, Seinfeld in 2014 declared "the pitch for the show, the actual pitch, when Larry and I went to NBC in 1988, we wanted to show how a comedian gets his material. The show about nothing was just a joke in one episode many years later, and Larry and I to this day are amazed that he realized that people describe the show, because to us it's the opposite of that". Much of the show's humor is based on the repeated use of irony, incongruity, and (often unfortunate) coincidence(s) as plot devices for many of the individual episodes' plotlines and humorous moments.

Seinfeld broke several conventions of mainstream television. Larry David is credited with refusing to follow the predictable sitcom formula that a blossoming romantic relationship between Jerry and Elaine would have, the show offers no growth or reconciliation with his characters. Avoid sentimentality. An episode is generally driven by humor interspersed with the superficial conflicts of characters with peculiar dispositions. Many episodes revolve around the characters' involvement in each other's lives with typically disastrous results. On set, the notion that characters shouldn't 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; the audience never feels sorry for any of the characters. Even Susan's death does not elicit genuine emotions from anyone on the show. Seinfeld does not shy away from taking difficult topics lightly, from death to illness and disability.

The characters are "single 30-somethings with vague, rootless identities and self-conscious disregard for morality.

Jerry Seinfeld is an avid Abbott and Costello fan, and has cited the Abbott and Costello Show as an influence on Seinfeld. "Everyone on the show knows I'm a huge fan. We always joke about how we do stuff on your show. George and I often get into a riff that has the beat of the old Abbott and Costello shows. And sometimes I hit George in the chest like Abbott would hit Costello". The series includes numerous references to the team. George Costanza's middle name is "Louis", after Costello. The "The Old Man" features a quirky character named "Sid Fields" as a tribute to the owner on the team's TV show. Kramer's friend is named Mickey Abbott. A writer for the J. Peterman catalog is named Eddie Sherman, after the team's former agent. In Episode 30, Kramer hears Abbott and Costello's famous line: "His father of his was a slimeball." His mother was a mud & # 34;.

Memorable phrases

Many terms were coined, popularized, or re-popularized in the series' run and have become part of popular culture. Notable phrases and terms include:

• "The Elaine Dance"
• "Parking in a Car Space Forwards Without Reversing"
• "The It's Not You It's Me Speech"
• "The Travelling Spit"
• "Eating Your Chocolate Bar With a Knife and Fork"
• "The Opposite"
• "Hello, Newman!"
• "Poppy Didn't Wash His Hands After He Went to the Bathroom"
• "I've Only Got One Rule Here. You Keep Your Hands Off My Daughter"
• "Yada, yada, yada"
• "No soup for you!"
• "These pretzels are making me thirsty."
• "Not that there's anything wrong with that!"
• "You know, we're living in a society!"
• Festivus
• Sponge-worthy
• "Are you master of your domain?"
• double-dipping
• re-gifter
• close-talker
• low-talker
• man-hands
• Serenity Now!
• shrinkage
• And you want to be my Latex Salesman?
• Well, the Jerk Store called, and they're running out of you!

The lexicon of Seinfeld keywords and recurring phrases that evolved around particular episodes is known as Seinlanguage, the title of Jerry Seinfeld's best-selling humor book.

Music

A signature of Seinfeld is their theme song. Composed by Jonathan Wolff, it consists of distinct solo sampled bass synth riffs (played on a Korg M1 synthesizer) that open the show and connect the scenes, often accompanied by beatboxing. The bass synth music eventually replaced the original piano/synth music by Jep Epstein when played again after the first airing of the pilot episode. The show lacked a traditional title, and riffs were played during the first few moments of dialogue or action. They vary throughout each episode and are played in an impromptu funk style. An additional musical theme featuring an ensemble, led by a mid-range synth-brass instrument, ends each episode.

In "The Note," the first episode of the third season, the hard-hitting music featured a female jazz singer singing a phrase that sounded like "easy to beat. Jerry Seinfeld and executive producer Larry David liked Wolff's additions, and three episodes featuring this new music were produced. However, they had neglected to inform executives at NBC and Castle Rock of the change, and when the season premiere premiered, the executives were shocked and requested that they return to the original style. The two subsequent episodes were redone, leaving this episode the only one with additional musical elements. In the commentary for "The Note", Louis-Dreyfus jokingly suggests that it was removed because the perceived lyric was closely related to the lyrics. low audiences of the time.

Over the past three seasons, the bits have been slightly tweaked with more frenetic paces; A bass was added in addition to the sampled bass from previous seasons. Throughout the show, the theme song could be redesigned in different ways depending on the episode. For example, in "The Betrayal," part of which takes place in India, the theme is heard on a sitar.

Episodes

Main article: Addendum: Seinfeld episodes

Seinfeld stood out from the family and group comedies of its day. The main characters are not related by family or work connections, but remain close friends throughout the series.

Tom's Restaurant, a restaurant at 112th St. and Broadway, in Manhattan, which was used as an outside image of Monk's Café in the program.

Many characters were based primarily on Seinfeld and David's real-life acquaintances. Two prominent recurring characters were based on well-known people: Jacopo Peterman from the J. Peterman catalog (based on John Peterman), and George Steinbrenner, owner of the New York Yankees. Many characters were introduced as new writers became involved with Seinfeld. Other characters based on real people include the Soup Nazi and Jackie Chiles, who was based on Johnnie Cochran.

Seinfeld follows its own structure: the story thread is presented at the beginning of each episode, involving the characters starting out in their own situations. Quick scene changes between plots tie the stories together. Although it doesn't follow a pattern like other sitcoms, the characters' stories are intertwined in each episode. Despite the separate plot threads, the narratives reveal the "consistent efforts by the creators to maintain privacy" among the small cast of characters.

The show maintains a strong sense of continuity: characters and plot lines from past episodes are often referenced or expanded upon. Occasionally story arcs span multiple episodes and even entire seasons, the most memorable being the fourth season, which revolved around the pilot pitch to NBC by Jerry and George. Another example is Jerry's girlfriend, Vanessa, who appears in "The Stake Out" and ends the relationship when things don't work out in "The Stock Tip". Other examples are Kramer retrieving his jacket and Elaine heading the "Peterman catalog". Larry David, 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—David's later comedy series—expanded on this idea by following a specific theme for all but one season of the series.

A major difference between Seinfeld and the sitcoms that came before it is that the main characters never learn from their mistakes. In effect, they are indifferent and even callous towards the outside world and sometimes each other. A mantra of the show's producers was: "No hugging, no learning.". Entertainment Weekly television critic Ken Tucker described them as "a dynamic rooted in jealousy, anger, insecurity, despair, hopelessness, and a poignant lack of faith in fellow human beings'. This leads to very few happy endings, except at someone else's expense. More frequently in each episode, situations are resolved with characters getting a comeuppance.

Seasons 1–3

The Los Angeles building used to represent the outside of Jerry's apartment building on 129 West 81st Street, Manhattan.

The show premiered as The Seinfeld Chronicles on July 5, 1989. After it aired, a pick-up by NBC seemed unlikely and the show was offered to Fox, which refused to pick it up. However, Rick Ludwin, head of late-night events and specials for NBC, diverted money into his budget by canceling a Bob Hope television special, and the next 4 episodes were filmed. These episodes were highly rated, as they followed the summer reruns of Cheers on Thursdays at 9:30 p.m., and the series finally picked up. At one point, NBC considered airing these episodes on Saturdays at 10:30 p.m., but gave that time slot to a short-lived sitcom called FM. The series was renamed simply Seinfeld after the failure of the short-lived 1990 ABC series The Marshall Chronicles. After airing the remaining four episodes of its first season the summer of 1990, NBC produced thirteen more episodes. Larry David believed that he and Jerry Seinfeld had no more stories to tell, and advised Seinfeld to decline, but Seinfeld agreed to the additional episodes. The second season was suspended from its scheduled January 16, 1991 premiere, due to the outbreak of the (Persian) Gulf War. It was set to a regular time slot on Wednesdays at 9:30 p.m. and was eventually altered to the long-running series Night Court at 9:00 p.m.

Television critics defended Seinfeld in its early seasons, even though it was slow to cultivate a substantial audience. For the first three seasons, Jerry's stand-up comedy act would be an episode, even running as cut scenes during the show. Some episodes set a benchmark for subsequent seasons. "The Deal" establishes Jerry and Elaine's relationship by making rules about sleeping together and staying friends. "The Parking Garage" it was the first episode filmed without an audience for the episode and, after "The Chinese Restaurant", the 1st not to show Jerry's apartment. "The Keys" contains a crossover with the CBS show Murphy Brown, marking the first such cooperation between rival networks. "The Busboy" it introduces George, Kramer, and Elaine as having their own stories for the first time. Although Castle Rock Entertainment's Glenn Padnick thought Jerry Seinfeld was too generous, showcasing his co-stars' comedic talents became a trademark throughout the series.

Larry Charles wrote a season two episode, "The Bet," in which Elaine buys a gun from Kramers friend. This episode was not filmed because the content was deemed unacceptable and was replaced with the episode 'The Phone Message'. 'The Stranded', aired in the third series, was intended for the second season. At the beginning of this episode, Jerry clears up the continuity error about George's real estate job.

Seasons 4–5

Season four marked the comedy's entry into the Nielsen Top 30, coinciding with several popular episodes, such as "The Bubble Boy" in which George and the bubble boy discuss the Trivial Pursuit, and "The Junior Mint" in which Jerry and Kramer accidentally lose 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 comedy act slowly declined, and the comedy segment in the middle of Seinfeld episodes was cut.

Much publicity followed the controversial episode, "The Contest," an Emmy Award-winning episode written by co-creator Larry David, the subject matter of which was deemed inappropriate for prime-time television. To get around this taboo, the word "masturbation" it was never used in the script, but substituted with a variety of oblique references. Midway through that season, Seinfeld moved from its original 9:00 p.m.:30 on Thursdays, following Cheers again, giving the show even more popularity. The ratings also sparked the move, as Tim Allen's sitcom Home Improvement on ABC aired at the same time and Improvement continued to outperform Seinfeld in ratings. NBC moved the series after Ted Danson announced the end of Cheers and Seinfeld quickly surpassed 9 p.m. ratings. 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.

The fifth season was an even bigger ratings success, consisting of popular episodes, such as "The Puffy Shirt" in which Jerry is embarrassed in a 'pirate' shirt; on The Today Show, "The Non-Fat Yogurt" with Rudy Giuliani, the then-elect Republican mayor of New York, and "The Opposite" in which George, doing the opposite of what her instincts tell him he should, gets a job with the New York Yankees and Elaine leaves her job due to a chain of mistakes that lead to the firing of she. Another story arc sees George move back in with his parents. In the middle of the story arc, Kramer creates and promotes his book of coffee tables. The show was again nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series, but lost to the Cheers spin-off, Cheers. i>Frasier, in its first season. Seinfeld was nominated for the same award annually, but after his win at the 45th Primetime Emmy Awards in 1994, he always lost to Frasier, who won a record thirty-one nine Emmy Awards in its eleven seasons.

Seasons 6–7

In the sixth season, Andy Ackerman replaced Tom Cherones as the show's director. The series was well rated and produced some of its most famous episodes, such as "The Beard" in which Jerry takes a lie detector test to get him to admit that he saw Melrose Place, & # 34;The Switch & # 34; in which Kramer's mother, Babs, reveals that her first name is Cosmo, and & # 34; The Understudy & # 34; in which Elaine meets J. Peterman for the first time.The story arcs used in this season were Elaine working as a personal assistant to her eccentric boss Justin Pitt and the temporary separation of George's parents. This was the first season in which Seinfeld reached number 1 in the Nielsen Ratings. The use of Jerry's stand-up comedy act decreased by removing the final segment, as the four characters' stories became more dense.

In the seventh season, a story arc involved George becoming engaged to his ex-girlfriend, Susan Ross, after the Jerry pilot was unsuccessful. In it, George spends most of the season repenting and trying to get out of the engagement. Along with the regular half-hour episodes, two notable one-hour episodes were "The Cadillac" in which George plans to date award-winning actress Marisa Tomei and "The Bottle Deposit" with Elaine and Sue Ellen participating in a tender. war to buy JFK's golf clubs at auction.

Seasons 8–9

The show's ratings have soared in its last two seasons. Larry David left at the end of the seventh season, though he continued to voice Steinbrenner, so Seinfeld took over David's showrunning duties and, under the direction of a new writing team, Seinfeld became in a faster paced program. The show no longer contained clips of Jerry performing stand-up comedy (Jerry didn't have the time or energy for this with his new responsibilities) and the stories occasionally delved into fantasy and broad humor. For example, in "The Bizarro Jerry", Elaine is torn between the exact opposites of her friends and Jerry dates a woman who now has the famous "man hands". notables from the eighth season include "The Little Kicks" which shows Elaine's hideous dancing, and "The Chicken Roaster", which portrays the Kenny Rogers Roasters chicken restaurant that opened during that time. this season involves Peterman going to Burma in "The Foundation" until he recovers from a nervous breakdown in "The Money", followed by Elaine writing Petermans biography in " 34;The Van Buren Boys", leading into Kramer's parody of Kenny Kramer's Reality Tour seen on "The Muffin Tops".

The final season included episodes like "The Merv Griffin Show" in which Kramer turns his apartment into a talk show studio and plays the talk show host character, & # 34; The Betrayal]] & # 34; which presents in reverse chronological order what happened at Sue Ellen's wedding in India and "The Frogger" in which George pushes a Frogger machine across the street, mimicking the action of the game itself. The final 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 nine, believing that he would thereby be able to ensure that the show would maintain its quality and come out on top. NBC offered more than $100 million for a tenth season, but Seinfeld refused.

A major controversy caused this past season was Kramer's accidental burning of a Puerto Rican flag on "The Puerto Rican Day". This scene caused a furore among Puerto Ricans, and as a result, NBC showed this episode only once. Jerry Seinfeld defused the protesters by not allowing this episode to continue in syndication, as revealed on "Inside Look" on DVD. However, the episode would be added to the rerun package several years later without cuts.

End of series

After nine years on the air, NBC and Jerry Seinfeld announced on December 25, 1997, that the series would end production the following spring in 1998. The announcement made the front page of major New York newspapers, including the New York Times. Jerry Seinfeld appeared on the cover of the first issue of Time magazine in 1998. The series ended with a seventy-five minute episode (reduced to 60 minutes in syndication, in two parts) written by the co-creator and former executive producer Larry David, which aired on May 14, 1998. Prior to the finale, a forty-five minute flashback clip, "The Chronicle", aired. The retrospective was expanded to an hour after the original airing and aired again on NBC as a one-hour episode, and has since aired in syndication.

It was the first episode since the season seven finale, "The Invitations," to feature opening and closing comedy acts by Jerry Seinfeld. The finale was filmed before an audience of NBC executives and friends of the show. The press and the public were excluded from the recording to keep their plot a secret; those who attended the filming of the final episode had to sign "votes of silence" written. The secrecy only seemed to increase speculation about how the series would end. The show's producers tweaked the media over the hype, spreading a false rumor about Newman ending up in hospital and Jerry and Elaine sitting in a chapel, presumably to get married.

The final episode enjoyed a record viewership, estimated at 76.3 million viewers (58% of all viewers that night), making it the fourth most-watched regular series finale in American television history. USA, behind M*A*S*H, Cheers and The Fugitive. However, the finale received mixed reviews from critics and fans of the show. The finale made fun of the many rumors circulating, which seemed to move into multiple alleged plots before settling on its true story: a lengthy trial where the gang is prosecuted for violating a 'Duty to Rescue' law; and sentenced to prison terms.

According to Forbes magazine, Jerry Seinfeld's earnings from the show in 1998 reached $267 million, including syndication earnings. He turned down NBC's offer of $5 million per episode, or more than $100 million in total, to continue the show for a tenth season. The offer that NBC made to Seinfeld was more than three times higher per episode than had ever been offered on television before. Seinfeld told the network that he was not married or had children, and that he wanted to focus on his personal life. As reported in July 2007, it was the second highest earner in the television industry, earning US$60 million a year at the time. The show became the first television series to earn more than 1 million viewers. USD per minute for advertising, a mark previously only reached the Super Bowl.

Relay

According to Barry Meyer, president of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Seinfeld earned $2.7 billion as of June 2010. The show has done an estimated $4.06 billion in syndication as of February 2017 Steve Bannon, who invested in the show, later said: "We figured out what it would give us if it got to syndication. We were wrong by a factor of five. In September 2019, it was announced that Viacom had acquired the cable syndication rights to the series, and it will air on Paramount Network, Comedy Central, and TV Land beginning in October 2021.

Production

Seinfeld began as a twenty-three minute pilot titled The Seinfeld Chronicles. Created by Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, developed by NBC executive Rick Ludwin, and produced by Castle Rock Entertainment, it was a mix of Seinfeld's stand-up comedy routines and idiosyncratic conversation scenes focused on mundane aspects of everyday life. such as doing laundry, buttoning the top button of the shirt, and the men's effort to properly interpret the women's intention to spend the night in Seinfeld's apartment.

The pilot was filmed in room 8 of Desilu Cahuenga studios, the same studio where The Dick Van Dyke Show was filmed (this was seen by the crew as a good omen), and was Recorded at Ren-Mar Studios in Hollywood. The pilot was first screened to a group of two dozen NBC executives in Burbank, California in early 1989. It did not produce the explosion of laughs generated by the pilots over earlier NBC hits of the decade like The Cosby Show and The Golden Girls. Brandon Tartikoff wasn't convinced the show would work. A Jewish man from New York itself, Tartikoff characterized it as "Too New York, too Jewish" (a sentiment that would also lead to the character Cosmo's later last name change from 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 rate pilots it aired on an unused channel on its cable system. A memo from NBC's research department summed up the pilot's performance among respondents as "weak," which Warren Littlefield, then second-in-command at NBC's entertainment division, called "a dagger." in the heart". Comments included: "You cant get too excited about two guys going to the laundromat"; "Jerrys loser friend George is not a forceful character"; "Jerry needs a stronger supporting cast"; and "Why are you interrupting comedy for these stupid stories?" Seinfeld and David did not see the memo for several years, but after realizing it, they hung it in a bathroom on set. Seinfeld comments: 'We thought if someone comes 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 in their almost similar TV series. After The Seinfeld Chronicles tested poorly with audiences, Castle Rock turned its attention to Jillian's series, which fared better with audiences and received a full-season order. Ann Jillian would last for only one season of 13 episodes and would be off the air in late 1990.

When NBC announced its 1989-90 primetime schedule in May 1989, The Seinfeld Chronicles was not included, but supporters of the show weren't giving up. The pilot first aired on July 5, 1989 and finished second in its time slot against the CBS crime drama Jake and the Fatman, receiving a Nielsen rating of 10.9/19. The ratings did not exhibit a regional bias that Tartikoff predicted, to encourage supporters of the show. Despite poor test results, Ludwin canceled one of the Bob Hope specials budgeted for that season so the entertainment division would have the money to produce four more episodes of The Seinfeld Chronicles, which they made up the remainder of the show's first season (the series was later retitled to just Seinfeld); a move without which Chicago Tribune columnist Phil Rosenthal later declared there would be no Seinfeld.

Although this was a very low order number for a new series (the smallest comedy order in television history), Castle Rock was unable to find any other buyers when it purchased the show from other networks and accepted the order.. The show was renamed simply Seinfeld, but it would not return to the airwaves until May 30, 1990, and it would be another three years before it became a top 5 hit. Preston Beckman, who was in charge of NBC's investigative department at the time, recalled: 'The show was different. No one had seen anything like it. It wasn't unusual for poor test shows to get on the air, but it was very rare for them to become 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's investigation showed that the show was popular with male young adults, a demographic targeted by advertisers. This gave NBC an incentive to continue airing the show. One DVD reviewer, Britt Gillette, wrote that "this opening episode showcases the flashes of brilliance that made Seinfeld a cultural phenomenon& #34;.

HD Versions

There are two high definition versions of Seinfeld. The first is the network TV (non-rebroadcast) versions in the original 4:3 aspect ratio that were downsized for DVD releases. Rebroadcast broadcast stations and the cable network TBS began airing the rebroadcast version of Seinfeld in HD. Unlike the version used for the DVD, Sony Pictures cropped the top and bottom of the frame, while restoring the previously cropped images on the sides, from the 35mm film source, to use the entire 16:9 frame.

Reception and legacy

Elizabeth Magnotta and Alexandra Strohl analyze the success of Seinfeld using the theory of nonconformity humor: "The theory of nonconformity asserts that humor is created out of rape of an expectation. For humor to result from this unexpected outcome, the event must have an appropriate emotional climate, setting, characters, leading speech, character relationships, and theme". Specifically, Magnotta and Strohl focus on "The Marine Biologist", where George gets caught up in another lie, and in "The Red Dot," where George tries to save a few bucks at Elaine's expense by giving her a discounted cashmere sweater..

Seinfeld hasn't reached the same level of popularity around the world as it has in the United States. In "Translating Seinfeld", Jennifer Armstrong points out that Seinfeld's unique brand of humor is apparently "too cultural and word-based to facilitate translation". Carol Iannone summarizes the legacy of this American hit in her Modern Ages article "Seinfeld: The Politically Incorrect Comedy" when he says: "It may be the first sitcom to really achieve art status."

Nod Miller of the University of East London has discussed the self-referential qualities of spectacle:

Seinfeld is impregnated with postmodern issues. To begin with, the limit between reality and fiction is often blurred: this is illustrated by having Jerry Seinfeld interpreting the character Jerry Seinfeld. In the fourth season of the program, several episodes revolved around the narrative of Jerry and George (whose character is the alter ego of the co-creator Larry David) throwing 'a show about nothing' based on the daily life of an NBC comedian. The reaction of the fictional executives of the NBC, in all ways, reflected the initial responses of those who eventually commissioned Seinfeld. The fourth season ends with The Pilot, an episode that focuses on the casting, recording and projection of the show within the show, 'Jerry' '. This episode also clearly illustrates the authorreferential quality, which is one of Seinfeld's features. The end of the series was so full of references to previous programs that made it largely incomprehensible for those who are no longer well versed in the people and concerns of the Seinfeld universe.

Nod Miller

William Irwin has edited an anthology of scholarly essays on philosophy in Seinfeld and Philosophy: A Book about Everything and Nothing. Some entries include 'Jerry's Problem and the Socratic Problem', 'George's Failed Enthusiasm for Happiness: An Aristotelian Analysis', 'Elaine's Moral Character';, "Kramer the 'Seducer', "Making something out of nothing: Seinfeld, Sophistry and the Tao", "Seinfeld, subjectivity and Sartre", "Mr. Me and Peterman, the Wicked Witch of the West and "Minimal Decent Samaritans and Uncommon Law".

US TV audiences

Awards and nominations

Seinfeld has received awards and nominations in various categories in the mid-1990s. It was awarded the Emmy for Best Comedy Series in 1993, the Golden Globe Award for Best Series for TV (Comedy) in 1994 and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series in 1995, 1997 and 1998. In addition to these, the show was also nominated for an award Emmy from 1992 to 1998 for Outstanding Comedy Series, Golden Globe Award from 1994 to 1998 for Outstanding Television Series (Comedy), and Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series from 1995 to 1998.

TV Guide named it the best TV show of all time in 2002, and in 2013, the magazine ranked it the second best TV show. A 2015 The Hollywood Reporter poll of 2,800 actors, producers, directors and others in the industry named Seinfeld their 5th favorite show.

Consumer products

A recurring feature of Seinfeld was its inclusion of specific products, especially candy, as plot points. These could be a central feature of a plot (for example, Junior Mints, Twix, Chuckles, Jujyfruits, Three Musketeers, Snickers, Nestle Chunky, Oh Henry!, Drake's Coffee Cake, and PEZ), or an association candy bar with a guest character (eg Oh Henry! bars) or just a side conversation (eg Chuckles, Clark Bar, Twinkies). A large number of non-candy products were also featured throughout the series.

The creators of the program claim they were not 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 he wanted Kramer to think of watching the operation like going to 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 would fall on the patient. I told my brother about it, and he said, 'No, Junior Mints are more fun.''

Many advertisers increased the popularity of Seinfeld. American Express created a webisode where Jerry Seinfeld and an animated Superman (voiced by Patrick Warburton, who played the role of Puddy) starred in their commercial. The creators of Today Sponge created the game "Spongeworthy", on their website, inspired by "The Sponge". One ad featured Jason Alexander in a Chrysler commercial. In this, Alexander closely resembles his George character, and his relationship with Lee Iacocca plays off George's relationship with Steinbrenner. Similarly, Michael Richards was the focus of a series of Vodafone adverts that ran in Australia, where he dressed and acted exactly like Kramer, including commercial misfires for the brand.

In addition, the show occasionally incorporated fictional products such as a Scottish brand called "Hennigan's" (a portmanteau of "Hennessy" and "Brannigans") and a canned meat product called "Beef-a-reeno" (a parody of "Beef-a-roni").

Home media

DVD Releases

Collection of the series on DVD with all seasons

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released all nine seasons of Seinfeld on DVD in Regions 1, 2, and 4 between 2004 and 2007. On November 6, 2007, Seinfeld: The Complete Series was released on DVD. The full set of boxes in the series includes a "roundtable" from 2007 of the four main cast members and Larry David; Only the highlights of this were also included in the season 9 set.

Streaming

Hulu (US)

On April 29, 2015, it was officially announced during Hulu's New York presentation that all nine seasons of Seinfeld would be available to stream online through the video service, as of June 2015. The news was first reported by Deadline and Variety, citing the deal at around $130 million to $180 million. On May 20, 2015, Hulu announced that each episode would be available starting June 24, 2015.

Prime Video (UK)

In January 2017, Amazon acquired the UK rights to all seasons of Seinfeld for its Prime Video streaming service.

Stan (Australia)

On November 8, 2016, Australian streaming service Stan announced via Twitter that 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 with HD enhancements and widescreen. The featured widescreen was cropped from the original negatives in 4:3 format, resulting in better visual quality than the previously available DVD version, however, the top and bottom portions of the frame were cut off to achieve the widescreen aspect ratio.

Netflix

In September 2019, Netflix and Sony Pictures announced that Netflix had acquired the exclusive global streaming rights to Seinfeld, beginning in 2021, replacing Hulu and Amazon's previous rights. When it airs, the Netflix version of Seinfeld will be available in 4K resolution via a rescan of the original 35mm film source.

After Seinfeld

Another scene

On the November 1, 2007 episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Jerry Seinfeld mentioned the possibility of filming one last scene, after the characters are released from jail. He mentioned that he was too busy to do it at the time, but did not announce what the scene would entail, as his production is not a certainty.

In the DVD commentary for the final season, Seinfeld describes how he and Jason Alexander talked about this scene at Monk's Cafe, and George said 'That was brutal' to the scene. in reference to the foursome's stint in prison.

On an episode of Saturday Night Live that Jerry Seinfeld hosted on October 2, 1999, a sketch was produced showing what life was like for Jerry behind bars after being transferred to prison. fictional portrayed in the HBO series Oz. The approximately four-minute sketch runs the opening credits of the HBO series with clips of Jerry interspersed in various activities in the prison. The skit continues and mixes in different story lines from Oz and Seinfeld and has Jerry interact with various characters from the show in his typical witty and sarcastic style.

The "curse" from Seinfeld

Louis-Dreyfus, Alexander and Richards have tried to launch new sitcoms as lead characters. Almost all of the shows were quickly cancelled, usually within the first season. This gave rise to the term the Seinfeld Curse: the failure of a comedy starring one of the three, despite the conventional belief that the popularity of Seinfeld as a person almost it should ensure a strong, built-in audience for the actor's new show. Shows specifically cited about the Curse of Seinfeld are Julia Louis-Dreyfus's Watching Ellie, Jason Alexander's Bob Patterson, and Listen Up ! and The Richards Show by Michael Richards.

This phenomenon was mentioned during the second season of Larry David's HBO show Curb Your Enthusiasm, which aired in 2001. In real life, David has repeatedly rejected the idea of a curse., saying: 'He's so completely idiotic. It's very difficult to have a successful comedy".

Louis-Dreyfus' success in the 2006-2010 CBS sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine, which included winning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series on 2006, led many to believe that he had broken the curse. In his acceptance speech, Louis-Dreyfus held up his award and exclaimed, "I'm not one to really believe in curses, but curse this, honey!" ". The show produced enough episodes to run reruns for several years, something the other shows failed to do. The Saturday Night Live episode hosted by Louis-Dreyfus referenced the curse. She then went on to win another six Emmys for Lead Actress in a Comedy for her acclaimed performance as Vice President Selina Meyer on the HBO comedy series Veep.

Curb Your Enthusiasm

In early March 2009, it was announced that the cast of Seinfeld would be reuniting for the seventh season of Curb Your Enthusiasm. The cast first appeared in the third episode of the season, all playing their real selves. The storyline of the entire season is that Larry David tries to start a Seinfeld reunion show as a ploy to win back his ex-wife, Cheryl. Along with the four main characters, some supporting cast from Seinfeld such as Wayne Knight, Estelle Harris and Steve Hytner appeared in the ninth episode in a table read for the reunion show. Although much of the dialogue in Larry David is improvised, the plot was in the script, and the Seinfeld special that aired on the show was written and directed by i>Seinfeld, making this the first time since Seinfeld went off the air that the main cast appeared together on a scripted show.

Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee

Jerry Seinfeld, Jason Alexander, and Wayne Knight, playing their respective characters from Seinfeld, appeared at a featured venue during halftime of Super Bowl XLVIII on February 2, 2014. To FOX he came up with the idea to do so, due in part to the location of the Super Bowl being New York that year. An uncut version appeared on Crackle.com immediately afterward, as an episode of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee titled "The Over-Cheer". Although the ad was used to advertise the Seinfeld web series, it was not considered commercial, as Sony, which produces the series, did not pay for it. Seinfeld has indicated that he believes the webisode will likely be the cast's last reunion, saying, "I have a feeling you've seen the latest version of that once-in-a-lifetime experience." Since then, Michael Richards and Julia Louis-Dreyfus have also appeared in episodes.