Jerry Seinfeld
Seinfeld at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival Vanity Fair party
Birth name	Jerome Allen Seinfeld[1]
Born	(1954-04-29) April 29, 1954 (age 58)[1] Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Medium	Television, Stand up
Nationality	American
Years active	1976–present
Genres	Observational comedy, Political satire, Black comedy
Subject(s)	Avant-garde, American culture, Human behavior, American Politics, Gender differences, Everyday life
Influences	Bill Cosby,[2] George Carlin,[3] Robert Klein,[3] Abbott and Costello,[4] Jean Shepherd, Michael Gough, Pat Hingle, Don Rickles, Ricardo Montalban[5]
Influenced	Carol Leifer, Ricky Gervais, Mitch Hedberg
Spouse	Jessica Seinfeld (1999–present), 3 children
Notable works and roles	Jerry Seinfeld' on Seinfeld
Signature	128px
Emmy Awards
Outstanding Comedy Series 1993 Seinfeld
Golden Globe Awards
Best Actor – Musical or Comedy Series 1994 Seinfeld
Screen Actors Guild Awards
Outstanding Ensemble – Comedy Series 1995 Seinfeld 1997 Seinfeld 1998 Seinfeld
American Comedy Awards
Funniest Male Performer in a TV Series (Leading Role) Network, Cable or Syndication 1992, 1993 Seinfeld Comedy Club Stand-Up Comic – Male 1988 Lifetime Achievement

Jerome Allen "Jerry" Seinfeld^[1] (born April 29, 1954) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and television and film producer, best known for playing a semi-fictional version of himself in the sitcom Seinfeld (1989–1998), which he co-created and co-wrote with Larry David, and, in the show's final two seasons, co-executive-produced.

In his first major foray back into the media since the finale of Seinfeld, he co-wrote and co-produced the film Bee Movie, also taking on the lead role of Barry B. Benson. In February 2010, Seinfeld premiered a reality TV series called The Marriage Ref on NBC. Seinfeld directed Colin Quinn in the Broadway show Long Story Short at the Helen Hayes Theater in New York which ran until January 8, 2011.

Seinfeld is known for specializing in observational humor, often focusing on personal relationships and uncomfortable social obligations. Comedy Central ranked Jerry Seinfeld as one of the twelve greatest stand-up comedians of all time in its four-part special The 100 Greatest Standups Of All Time.^[6]

Early life[link]

Seinfeld was born in the borough of Brooklyn in New York City. His father, Kalmen Seinfeld (1918–1985), was of Austrian Jewish background and was a sign maker;^[7][8] his mother, Betty (1915- ),^[9] is of Syrian Jewish descent.^[10] Her family identified their nationality as Turkish when they emigrated to the United States in 1917.^[10]

Seinfeld grew up in Massapequa, New York. In September 1959, his mother enrolled him at Birch Lane Elementary School, Massapequa High School.^[11] At the age of 16, he spent a short period of time volunteering in Kibbutz Sa'ar in Israel.^[12] He went to SUNY Oswego, and after his sophomore year he transferred to Queens College, City University of New York, graduating with a degree in communications and theater.^[7]

Seinfeld developed an interest in stand-up comedy after brief stints in college productions.^[13] In 1976 after graduation from Queens College, he tried out at an open-mic night at New York City's Catch a Rising Star, which led to an appearance in a Rodney Dangerfield HBO special.^[7] In 1979 he had a small recurring role on the Benson sitcom as "Frankie", a mail delivery boy who had comedy routines that no one wanted to hear, but he was abruptly fired from the show due to creative differences.^[7] Seinfeld has said that he was not actually told he had been fired until he turned up for the read-through session for an episode, and found that there was no script for him.^[14] In May 1981 Seinfeld made a highly successful appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, impressing Carson and the audience and leading to regular appearances on that show and others, including Late Night with David Letterman.^[7]

[edit] Seinfeld

Seinfeld with Julia Louis-Dreyfus at the 1997 Emmy Awards

Seinfeld created The Seinfeld Chronicles with Larry David in 1989 for NBC. The show was later renamed Seinfeld to avoid confusion with the short-lived teen sitcom The Marshall Chronicles and, by its fourth season, had become the most popular and successful sitcom on American television. The final episode aired in 1998, and the show has been a popular syndicated re-run. The show also starred Saturday Night Live veteran Julia Louis-Dreyfus, as well as experienced actors Michael Richards and Jason Alexander. On the show, Seinfeld played a caricature of himself. He has said that his show was influenced by the 1950s sitcom The Abbott and Costello Show. Citing Jean Shepherd as an influence in his commentary for "The Gymnast" episode on "Seinfeld, Season 6," he said, "He really formed my entire comedic sensibility--I learned how to do comedy from Jean Shepherd." Seinfeld also holds the distinction of being the only actor to appear in every episode of the show.^[15] From 2004–2007, the former Seinfeld cast and crew recorded audio commentaries for episodes of the DVD releases of the show. Seinfeld himself provided commentary for numerous episodes.

[edit] Post-Seinfeld

1998–2006[link]

After his sitcom ended, Seinfeld returned to stand-up comedy instead of pursuing a film career. In 1998, Seinfeld went on tour and recorded a comedy special titled I'm Telling You for the Last Time. The process of developing and performing new material at clubs around the world was chronicled in a 2002 documentary, Comedian, which focused also on fellow comic Orny Adams, directed by Christian Charles. He has written several books, mostly archives of past routines.

In the late 1990s, Apple Computer came up with an advertising slogan called "Think different" and produced a 60-second commercial to promote the slogan which showed people who were able to "think differently", like Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and many others. This commercial was later cut short to thirty seconds and ended up paying tribute to Jerry Seinfeld. This commercial aired only once, during the series finale of Seinfeld.^[16]

Seinfeld at the 1997 Emmy Awards.

In 2004, Seinfeld also appeared in two commercial webisodes promoting American Express, titled The Adventures of Seinfeld & Superman, in which he appeared together with an animated rendering of Superman, who was referenced in numerous episodes of Seinfeld as Seinfeld's hero, voiced by Patrick Warburton, who had portrayed David Puddy on Seinfeld. The webisodes were aired in 2004 and directed by Barry Levinson. Seinfeld and "Superman" were also interviewed by Matt Lauer in a specially-recorded interview for the Today show.

On November 18, 2004, Seinfeld appeared at the National Museum of American History to donate the "Puffy Shirt" he wore in the famous Seinfeld episode of the same name. He also gave a speech when presenting the "Puffy Shirt", claiming humorously that "This is the most embarrassing moment of my life."

Seinfeld had a special appearance on May 13, 2006, Saturday Night Live episode as Julia Louis-Dreyfus' assassin. Louis-Dreyfus was the host of that episode and in her opening monologue she mentioned the "Seinfeld Curse". While talking about how ridiculous the "curse" was, a stage light suddenly fell next to her. The camera moved to a catwalk above the stage that Seinfeld was standing on, holding a large pair of bolt cutters. He angrily muttered, "Dammit!", angry that it didn't hit her. Louis-Dreyfus then continued to say that she is indeed not cursed.

2007[link]

On February 25, 2007, Seinfeld appeared at the 79th Academy Awards as the presenter for "Best Documentary". Before announcing the nominations he did a bit of a stand-up comedy routine about the unspoken agreement between movie theater owners and movie patrons. One of the winners of the award was Larry David's now ex-wife, Laurie.

On October 4, 2007, Seinfeld made a brief return to NBC, guest-starring in the episode "SeinfeldVision" of 30 Rock as himself.^[17]

2008[link]

On February 24, 2008, Seinfeld appeared as the voice of his Bee Movie animated character Barry, at the 80th Academy Awards as the presenter for "Best Animated Short". Before announcing the nominees, he showed a montage of film clips featuring bees, claiming that they were some of his early work (as Barry).

Amidst his spring 2008 tour Seinfeld made a stop in his hometown of New York City for a one-night-only performance on June 2, 2008 at the Hammerstein Ballroom to benefit Stand Up for a Cure, a charity aiding lung cancer research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

In August 2008 the Associated Press reported that Jerry Seinfeld would be the pitchman for Windows Vista, as part of a $300 million advertising campaign by Microsoft. The ads, which were intended to create buzz for Windows in support of the subsequent "I'm a PC" advertisements, began airing in mid-September 2008 and were cut from television after just 3 installments, Microsoft opting instead to continue with the "I'm a PC" advertisements,^[18] and instead continued running the Seinfeld ads on the Microsoft website as a series of longer advertisements.^[19]

2009[link]

In March 2009, it was announced that Seinfeld and the entire cast of Seinfeld would be appearing for a reunion in Larry David's HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm. The fictional reunion took place in the seventh season's finale.

Seinfeld appeared on an episode of the Starz original series Head Case. Like many of his previous guest appearances on sitcoms he played himself.

In Australia, Seinfeld appears on a series of advertisements for Greater Building Society, a building society based in New South Wales and south eastern Queensland.^[20] His appearance in these ads were highly publicized and considered a coup for the society, being only the third time Seinfeld had appeared in a television commercial.^[21] The advertisements were filmed in Cedarhurst, Long Island, with the street designed to emulate Beaumont Street in Hamilton, where the Greater's head offices are located.^[22] Seinfeld also wrote the scripts for the fifteen advertisements that were filmed. The ads largely aired in the Northern New South Wales television market, where the society has most of its branches.

Seinfeld was the first guest of Jay Leno's new talk show, The Jay Leno Show, which premiered on September 14, 2009.

2010s[link]

Seinfeld was featured on Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update sketch to do the "Really!?!" segment with Seth Meyers. Seinfeld was also executive producing and occasionally starring as a panelist in The Marriage Ref. On August 30, 2010, Seinfeld made a notable surprise guest appearance on The Howard Stern Show, repairing the falling out the two had in the early 90s.

Seinfeld toured the U.S. in 2011 and made his first appearance on stage in the U.K. in thirteen years. In July 2011, he was a surprise guest on The Daily Show, helping Jon Stewart to suppress his urge to tell "cheap" "Michele Bachmann's husband acts gay" jokes.^[23] He launched a personal archives website at JerrySeinfeld.com. In 2011 he appeared in the HBO special Talking Funny with fellow comedians Chris Rock, Louis C.K. and Ricky Gervais.

Books[link]

Seinfeld is also a bestselling author, most notably for his book Seinlanguage. Released in 1993, the book went on to become a number one New York Times bestseller. The book, written as his television show was first rising in popularity, is primarily an adaptation of the comedian's standup material. The title comes from an article in Entertainment Weekly listing the numerous catch-phrases for which the show was responsible.

In 2002, he wrote a children's book titled Halloween. The book was illustrated by James Bennett. There are also several books about both the sitcom and Seinfeld himself, though many of them are not written by Seinfeld.

Seinfeld wrote the forewords to Ted L. Nancy's Letters from a Nut series of books and Ed Broth's Stories from a Moron. Both authors were rumored to be pseudonyms for Seinfeld or a friend of his. Neither Nancy nor Broth have been seen publicly, although Seinfeld is heavily involved in pitching their books for television.

In promoting Broth's book, Seinfeld hosted a toast in the author's honor. Broth did not attend.^[24]

Seinfeld also wrote the foreword to the Peanut Butter & Co. Cookbook, from his favorite sandwich shop in New York City.

Personal life[link]

Jessica and Jerry Seinfeld in 2010.

Seinfeld dated Carol Leifer, a fellow comedian and rumored to be the inspiration for the character of Elaine from his eponymous sitcom Seinfeld, although both parties deny it.^{[citation needed]} When he was in his late thirties, Seinfeld began a romantic relationship with then-seventeen year old high school student Shoshanna Lonstein.^[25] A while later, after meeting Jessica Sklar at the Reebok Sports Club, he began dating her. Sklar, a public relations executive for Tommy Hilfiger, had just returned from a three-week honeymoon in Italy with Eric Nederlander, a theatrical producer and scion of a theater-owning family. Sklar divorced Nederlander and married Seinfeld on November 14, 1998.^[26] Comedian George Wallace was the best man at the wedding. After the nuptials Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld bought Billy Joel's Amagansett, Long Island house for $32 million in March 2000.

Seinfeld and his wife have one daughter and two sons; daughter Sascha was born in 2000,^[27] son Julian Kal was born in 2003,^[28] and Shepherd Kellen was born in 2005, all in New York City.^[29][30] His son Julian's middle name, Kal, is the first name of Seinfeld's father and also the first name of Seinfeld's hero Superman, aka Kal-El. Among Seinfeld's best friends are fellow comedians Larry Miller, George Wallace, and Mario Joyner.^[31]

In 2000, Jessica Seinfeld launched Baby Buggy, a charity that provides clothing and gear for underprivileged women and children. She is the author of the best-seller Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food, released by HarperCollins in October 2007.^[32]

Seinfeld is recorded as having made several political contributions, including George W. Bush and Al Gore's presidential campaigns in 2000, and subsequently to four Democratic Party primary candidates in 2000 and 2004.^[33]

Seinfeld says that he has practiced Transcendental Meditation for most of his life,^[34] and he appeared at a 2009 benefit for TM.^[35] Seinfeld has admitted dabbling in Scientology when he was in his twenties,^[36] though he says he was never in the organization.^[37][38] The association came to light in 1992.^[37]

A fan of the New York Mets, Seinfeld periodically calls Steve Somers' show on WFAN-AM, a sports talk radio station, as "Jerry from Queens."^[39] Seinfeld called four innings of a Mets game on SportsNet New York June 23, 2010, reuniting with analyst Keith Hernandez who appeared in the Seinfeld two part episode The Boyfriend.^[40]

Personal wealth[link]

According to Forbes magazine, Jerry Seinfeld's annual earning from Seinfeld in 1998 was $267 million, making him the highest-earning celebrity that year.^[41] He reportedly turned down $5 million per episode, for 22 episodes, to continue the show for a tenth season.^[42] He earned $100 million from syndication deals and stand-up appearances in 2005 and $60 million in 2006.^[43][44] He also earned $10 million for appearing with Bill Gates in Microsoft's 2008 ads for Windows.^[45] Between June 2008 and June 2009, Seinfeld earned $85 million, making him the highest-paid comedian during that 12-month period.^[46]

Car collection[link]

Seinfeld, an automobile enthusiast and avid collector, owns a large Porsche collection. He rented a hangar at the Santa Monica Airport, in Santa Monica, California, for an extended period of time during the 1990s for storage of some of the vehicles in the collection. After his return to New York City, he was involved in an extended dispute with several neighbors over the proposed building of a $1.4 million multi-story garage to contain the cars.

One tally has Seinfeld owning 46 Porsches. Reporter Paul Bannister reports that Seinfeld's collection includes Porsche 911s from various years, 10 Porsche Boxsters each painted a different color, and the famous 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder, the same model and pearl-grey color that actor James Dean was driving when he crashed and died. The Discovery Channel television show "Chasing Classic Cars" claims that Seinfeld owns the first and last original Porsche 911s produced. The centerpiece is a $700,000 Porsche 959, one of only 337 ever built. To his initial despair, he was not allowed to drive it as US emission and crash tests were never performed because Porsche refused to donate four Porsche 959s for destruction tests, rendering the car "not street-legal". He imported the car "for exhibition purposes", which stipulates the car may never be driven on American roads.^[47] The car was made US street legal in 1999 under the "Show and Display" federal law.^[48][49] In several episodes of Seinfeld, Seinfeld drives a Saab 900 (NG) convertible, but a Porsche-themed painting, depicting a Porsche 904 GTS race car competing in the 1964 Targa Florio race in Italy, is visible on a wall in his apartment, as well as a Porsche racing poster featuring a 550 Spyder depicting the 1958 Targa Florio. In another episode, he is seen hiding behind a red Porsche 911RS parked on the street. In addition, an issue of Excellence, a Porsche-centered publication, is featured prominently on an outdoor magazine rack in one episode and on at least one occasion he is seen reading an issue of Road and Track magazine from circa 1990 with a cover article on the Porsche 964. He also wrote an article for the February 2004 issue of Automobile, reviewing the Porsche Carrera GT. For the story he was awarded Road Pest — Silver at the 2004 International Automotive Media Awards.

Credits[link]

Film[link]

Television[link]

[edit] Writing credits for Seinfeld

The list below only includes episodes mainly written by Seinfeld, as he and Larry David rewrote the drafts for each episode.

Season 1

• The Seinfeld Chronicles (with Larry David)
• Male Unbonding (with Larry David)
• The Stake Out (with Larry David)
• The Stock Tip (with Larry David)

Season 2

• The Ex-Girlfriend (with Larry David)
• The Pony Remark (with Larry David)
  • Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series (1991 - Episode "The Pony Remark")
• The Busboy (with Larry David)
• The Jacket (with Larry David)
• The Chinese Restaurant (with Larry David)
• The Phone Message (with Larry David)

Season 3

• The Stranded (with Larry David and Matt Goldman)

Season 4

• The Shoes (with Larry David)

Season 5

• The Sniffing Accountant (with Larry David)
• The Raincoats (with Larry David, Tom Gammill, and Max Pross)
• The Opposite (with Larry David and Andy Cowan)

Season 6

• The Kiss Hello (with Larry David)

Season 7

• The Cadillac part 1 and 2 (with Larry David)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jerry Seinfeld

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Jerry Seinfeld

Wikinews has related news: Seinfeld on HBO award: "Awards are stupid"

• Jerry Seinfeld's Personal Archives
• Jerry Seinfeld at the Internet Movie Database
• Jerry Seinfeld at the Internet Broadway Database
• Jerry Seinfeld on National Public Radio in 1987
• Jerry Seinfeld on National Public Radio in 2002
• Jerry Seinfeld on National Public Radio in 2007
• Jerry Seinfeld Goes Back to Work on Time.com - 26 SEP 07
• How Automobile got Jerry to write the Porsche GT Review
• Jerry Seinfeld at Emmys.com

Seinfeld
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Larry David Jerry Seinfeld
Directed by	Art Wolff Tom Cherones Andy Ackerman David Steinberg
Starring	Jerry Seinfeld Julia Louis-Dreyfus Michael Richards Jason Alexander
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	9
No. of episodes	180 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Larry David (Seasons 1–7) Benjamin Scott (Seasons 3–5) Howard West George Shapiro Andrew Scheinman (Seasons 2–4) Jerry Seinfeld (Seasons 8–9) Alec Berg (Season 9) Jeff Schaffer (Season 9)
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	22 minutes
Production company(s)	Castle Rock Entertainment Conundrum Entertainment ("The Virgin") Columbia Pictures Television (1989-1998)
Distributor	Columbia Pictures Television (1995–1996) Columbia TriStar Television (1996–2002) Sony Pictures Television (2002–present)
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Picture format	4:3 SDTV 16:9 HDTV (details) Color
Original run	July 5, 1989 (1989-07-05) – May 14, 1998 (1998-05-14)
Chronology
Related shows	Curb Your Enthusiasm
External links
Website

Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself. Set predominantly in an apartment block on Manhattan's Upper West Side (but shot in Los Angeles), the show features a host of Jerry's friends and acquaintances, in particular best friend George Costanza, former girlfriend Elaine Benes, and neighbor across the hall Cosmo Kramer.

Seinfeld was produced by Castle Rock Entertainment in association with Columbia Pictures Television in syndication the series was distributed by Columbia Pictures Television and Columbia TriStar Television; Sony Pictures Television has distributed the series since 2002. It was largely co-written by David and Seinfeld with input from numerous script writers, including Larry Charles, Peter Mehlman, Gregg Kavet, Andy Robin, Carol Leifer, David Mandel, Jeff Schaffer, Steve Koren, Jennifer Crittenden, Tom Gammill, Max Pross, Charlie Rubin, Marjorie Gross, Alec Berg, Elaine Pope, and Spike Feresten.

A critical favorite, commercial blockbuster and cultural phenomenon, the show led the Nielsen ratings in its sixth and ninth seasons and finished among the top two (along with NBC's ER) every year from 1994 to 1998. In 2002, TV Guide named Seinfeld the greatest television program of all time.^[1] In 1997, the episodes "The Boyfriend" and "The Parking Garage" were respectively ranked #4 and #33 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time.^[2] And in 2009, "The Contest" was ranked #1 on the same magazine's list of "TV's Top 100 Episodes of All Time".^[3] E! named it the "number 1 reason the '90s ruled."^[4]

Overview[link]

Seinfeld stood out from the many family and group sitcoms of its time. None of the principal Seinfeld characters were related by family or work connections but remained distinctively close friends throughout the seasons. Unlike many other sitcoms, Seinfeld focused less on a plot-driven story than on minutiae, such as waiting in line at the movies, going out for dinner, buying a suit and dealing with the petty injustices of life.

Tom's Restaurant, a diner at 112th Street and Broadway, in Manhattan, was used as the exterior image of Monk's Cafe in the show.

The main characters and many recurring characters were based primarily on Seinfeld's and David's real-life acquaintances. Two of the most prominent recurring characters were based on well-known people: Jacopo Peterman of the J. Peterman catalog (based on John Peterman),^[5] and George Steinbrenner, the owner of the New York Yankees.^[6] Many other characters were introduced as more writers got involved with Seinfeld. Other characters based on real-life individuals include the Soup Nazi ^[7] and Jackie Chiles based on Johnnie Cochran.^[8]

With nearly every Seinfeld episode, the main characters' unique storyline is different from the conventions of a normal sitcom. A story thread is presented at the beginning of each episode, which involves the characters in separate and seemingly unrelated situations. Rapid scene-shifts between storylines bring the stories together toward the end of the episode. Despite the separate plot strands, the narratives reveal the creators' "consistent efforts to maintain the intimacy" amongst the small cast of characters.^[9]

The show keeps a strong sense of continuity—characters and plots from past episodes are frequently referenced or expanded upon. Occasionally, story arcs span multiple episodes and even entire seasons. For example, Jerry's girlfriend appears in "The Stake Out" and he ends the relationship when things do not work out in "The Stock Tip". Other examples are Kramer getting his jacket back and Elaine heading the "Peterman catalog". Larry David, the show's 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—further expanded on this idea by following a specific theme for all but one season in the series.

The most important difference between Seinfeld and other sitcoms prior to this is that the principal characters never learn their moral lessons throughout the seasons. In effect, they are indifferent to the outside world and can be callous towards their guest characters and relatives, indeed sometimes towards each other; a mantra of the show's producers was: "No hugging, no learning."^[10] This leads to very few happy endings, except when they come at someone else's expense. More often in every episode, situations resolve with characters getting a justly deserved comeuppance.

Philosophy: absurdism and nihilism[link]

• Absurdism. The view presented in Seinfeld is arguably consistent with the philosophy of absurdism, the idea that life is meaningless: characters may attempt to create meaningfulness, but it always fails and reveals itself to be meaninglessness (George's impromptu proposal to marry Susan which transforms into his pleasure in her odd death, etc.). For these reasons, things like hope, ambition, intimacy, compassion, and love are overtly mocked or detested, except in rare cases where pursuit of them leads to abysmal comical failure.
• Nihilism. Seinfeld also exhibits elements of nihilistic philosophy: things don't have value and there are no values, relationships are futile, stagnation or decession, ideological inversion and/or amorality.^[11]

Main characters[link]

The main cast of Seinfeld.

• Jerry Seinfeld (Jerry Seinfeld) – Jerry is a "minor celebrity" stand-up comedian who is often portrayed as "the voice of reason" amidst all the insanity generated by the people in his world. His character is a slight germophobe and a neat freak, as well as an avid Superman and breakfast cereal fan. Jerry's apartment is the center of a world visited by his eccentric friends George, Elaine, and Kramer.^[12] Plot lines often involve Jerry's romantic relationships. He typically finds small, silly reasons to stop dating women; some of the reasons for the breakups include his dislike for a woman because she eats her peas one at a time, a woman having over-sized "man hands" and a woman having an annoying laugh.

• George Costanza (Jason Alexander) – George is Jerry's best friend. He is cheap, dishonest, petty and often envious of others' achievements.^[13] He is often portrayed as a loser who is insecure about his capabilities. He frequently complains and lies about his profession, relationships, and almost everything else, which usually creates trouble for him later. He often uses an alias ("Art Vandelay") when lying or concocting a cover story. Despite these shortcomings, George manages to date numerous women and eventually achieves a successful career as Assistant to the Traveling Secretary for the New York Yankees. During the run of the show, he and Jerry work with NBC to produce a pilot episode of a TV show called Jerry. During this time, he meets Susan Ross who works for NBC. George has an on-and-off relationship with her until she dies at the end of Season 7. He often pretends to be an architect and once pretended to be a marine biologist to impress a woman.

• Elaine Benes (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) – Elaine is Jerry's ex-girlfriend. She is attractive, intelligent and assertive. She sometimes has a tendency to be very honest with people, which often gets her into trouble.^[14] She usually gets caught up in her boyfriends' habits, her eccentric employers' unusual demands, and the unkindness of total strangers. She tends to pick the worst men to date and loses her cool easily. She works at Pendant Publishing with Mr. Lippman and later she works with the Peterman catalogue. One of Elaine's trademark moves is her forceful shove while screaming "Get out" when she receives good or shocking news. Another is her memorable "Little Kicks" dance moves. She also has a hatred for The English Patient, which ends up costing her job at Peterman's.
• Cosmo Kramer (Michael Richards) – Kramer is Jerry's "wacky neighbor". His trademarks include his humorous upright pompadour hairstyle, vintage clothing, and energetic sliding bursts through Jerry's apartment door. At times, he appears naive, dense and almost childlike yet he randomly shows astonishing insight into human behavior; likewise, he makes friends with people very easily with his charm and easygoing manner and has almost effortless success with women. He is often the only main character acting with any sort of apparent conscience and is typically the only one to lobby for maintaining social decorum in order to appease acquaintances. Although he never holds a steady job, he often invents wacky schemes which usually work at first but then eventually fail. Among these are coffee table books about coffee tables (for which he appeared on Live with Regis and Kathie Lee) and a brassiere for men called the Bro (or Manssiere suggested by Frank Costanza).^[15]

Recurring characters[link]

There are many recurring characters that made several appearances, either as a friend or a relative like Newman and Uncle Leo. In addition to its regularly recurring characters, Seinfeld featured numerous celebrities who appeared as themselves or as girlfriends, boyfriends, bosses and other acquaintances. Many of those who made guest appearances became household names later in their careers, or were comedians and actors already well known for previous work.

Characteristics[link]

Theme[link]

Seinfeld broke several conventions of mainstream television. The show, often described as being about "nothing",^[16][17][18] became the first television series since Monty Python's Flying Circus to be widely described as postmodern.^[19] Several elements of Seinfeld fit in with a postmodern interpretation.^[20] The show is typically driven by humor interspersed with superficial conflict and characters with strange dispositions. Many episodes revolved around the characters becoming involved in the lives of others to 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.^[20] Unlike most sitcoms, there are no moments of pathos; the audience is never made to feel sorry for any of the characters. Even Susan's death in the series elicits no genuine emotions from anyone in the show.^[21]

The characters were "thirty-something singles with no roots, vague identities, and conscious indifference to morals."^[22] Usual conventions, such as isolating the characters from the actors playing them and separating the characters' world from that of the actors and audience, were broken. One such example is the story arc in which the characters promote a television sitcom series named Jerry. The show within the show, 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 the real Seinfeld, it was not picked up as a series.

Plotlines[link]

Many Seinfeld episodes are based on its writers' real-life experiences. For example, "The Revenge" is based on Larry David's experience at Saturday Night Live.^[23] "The Contest" and "The Phone Message" are also based on David's experiences.^[24] "The Smelly Car" is based on Peter Mehlman's lawyer friend, who could not get a bad smell out of his car. "The Strike" is based on Dan O'Keefe's dad, who made up his own holiday—Festivus.^[25] Other stories take on a variety of different turns. "The Chinese Restaurant" consists of the main characters (excluding Kramer) simply waiting for a table throughout the entire episode.^[26] "The Boyfriend", revolving around Keith Hernandez, extends through two episodes.^[27] "The Betrayal" is famous for using reverse chronology, and was inspired by a similar plot device in a Harold Pinter play.^[28] Some stories were inspired by headlines and rumors, which are 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.^[29] "The Outing" is based mainly on rumors that Larry Charles heard about Jerry Seinfeld's sexuality.^[30]

Catchphrases[link]

Many terms coined, popularized, or repopularized during the series' run have become part of popular culture.^[31][32] Notable catchphrases include "Yada, yada, yada", "No soup for you", "Serenity Now!", "These pretzels are making me thirsty," and "Not that there's anything wrong with that".

Other popular terms that also made the transition into slang were created by, directed at or about secondary characters, including: "Festivus", "spongeworthy" and "re-gifter".

As a body, the lexicon of Seinfeldian code words and recurring phrases that evolved around particular episodes is referred to as Seinlanguage, the title of Jerry Seinfeld's best-selling book on humor.^[19]

Progression[link]

Seasons 1–3[link]

The show premiered as The Seinfeld Chronicles on July 5, 1989. After it aired, a pickup by NBC did not seem likely and the show was actually offered to Fox, which declined to pick it up. Rick Ludwin, 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.^[33][34] These episodes were highly rated as they followed Cheers 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 instead gave that slot to a short-lived sitcom called FM. The series was renamed Seinfeld after the failure of short-lived 1990 ABC series The Marshall Chronicles.^[35] After airing in the summer of 1990, NBC ordered 13 more episodes. Larry David believed that he and Jerry Seinfeld had no more stories to tell, and advised his partner to refuse the order, but Seinfeld agreed to the additional episodes.^[34] The series' second season was bumped off its scheduled premiere of January 16, 1991, due to the start of the Persian Gulf war. It settled in a regular time slot on Wednesdays at 9:30 p.m. and eventually flipped with veteran series Night Court to 9:00.^[36]

Seinfeld was championed by television critics in its early seasons, even as it was yet to cultivate a substantial audience. For the first three seasons, Jerry's stand-up comedy act would bookend an episode, for a while even functioning as cut scenes during the show. A few episodes set a benchmark for later seasons. "The Deal" shows the only time Jerry and Elaine tried to become a couple by setting rules about sleeping together.^[37] "The Parking Garage" is really the first episode shot without an audience for the entire run.^[38] In connection between Season 3 and 4, "The Keys" makes a breakthrough between NBC and CBS showing Murphy Brown as rival networks working together and opening up that the main cast is not going to be tied to Jerry's apartment all the time.^[39] The episode, "The Busboy" really introduces George, Kramer and Elaine as having their own storylines for the first time. Although Glenn Padnick thought Jerry Seinfeld was being too generous, it became a unique trademark that showcased his co-stars comedic talent throughout the series.^[40]

An episode in Season 2, titled "The Bet" written by Larry Charles, showed Elaine buying a gun from Kramer's friend. This episode was, however, not filmed because the content was deemed unacceptable and was hastily replaced by the episode "The Phone Message". This Episode took place on 33rd and 3rd avenue.^[41] An episode "The Stranded" which was aired in Season 3 was originally intended to air in Season 2. In the beginning of this episode, Jerry clears up the continuity error over George's real estate job.^[42]

Seasons 4–5[link]

Season 4 marked the sitcom's entry into the Nielsen ratings Top 30, coinciding with several popular episodes, such as "The Bubble Boy", in which George and the bubble boy are arguing over Trivial Pursuit,^[43] and "The Junior Mint" in which Kramer and Jerry accidentally fumble over the mint in the operating room.^[44] This was the first season to use a story arc, in which Jerry and George try to create their own sitcom, Jerry. Also at this time, 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", an Emmy Award-winning episode written by co-creator Larry David, whose subject matter was considered inappropriate for primetime network television. To circumvent this taboo, the word "masturbation" was never used in the script itself, instead substituted by a variety of oblique references.^[45] 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 again, which gave the show even more popularity. The move was also sparked by ratings, as Tim Allen's sitcom Home Improvement on ABC had aired at the same time and Improvement kept beating Seinfeld in the ratings. NBC moved the series after Ted Danson had announced the end of Cheers and Seinfeld quickly surpassed the ratings of the 9:00 p.m. Cheers reruns that spring.^[46] The show won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in 1993, beating out its family-oriented and time-slot competitor Home Improvement, which was only in its second season on fellow network ABC.

Season 5 was an even bigger ratings-hit, as it consisted of many popular episodes such as "The Puffy Shirt" in which Jerry feels embarrassed wearing the "pirate" shirt on The Today Show,^[47] "The Non-Fat Yogurt" featuring Rudy Guilani who was the Republican mayor of New York at the time,^[48] and "The Opposite" in which George begins his career with the "New York Yankees" and Elaine quits "Pendant Publishing". 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.^[49] The show was again nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series, but lost to the Cheers spin-off Frasier, which was only in its first season. Seinfeld was nominated for the same award every year for the rest of its run but always lost to Frasier, which went on to win a record 39 Emmy Awards.

Seasons 6–7[link]

With Season 6, Andy Ackerman replaced Tom Cherones as the director of the show. The series remained well-regarded and produced some of its most famous episodes, such as "The Race" in which the Superman music theme is used as Jerry raced,^[50] "The Switch", when Kramer's mother revealed that his first name is Cosmo ^[51] and "The Understudy" in which Elaine meets Peterman for the first time.^[52] Story arcs used in this season were Elaine working as a personal assistant to her eccentric boss Justin Pitt as well as George's parents' temporary separation. This was also the first season in which Seinfeld reached Number 1 in the Nielsen Ratings. Jerry's stand-up act further declined with the end stand-up segment no longer in use as the storylines for all four characters got more dense.

In Season 7, a story arc involved George getting engaged to his former girlfriend, Susan Ross, after the unsuccessful pilot Jerry. He spends most of the season regretting the engagement and trying to get out of it. Along with the regular half hour episodes, two notable one-hour episodes include "The Cadillac" in which George plans to date an award winning actress Marisa Tomei ^[53] and "The Bottle Deposit" with Elaine and Sue Ellen participating in a bidding war to buy JFK's golf clubs in an auction.^[54]

Following the anthrax scare of 2001, the episode, "The Invitations" was temporarily not shown in syndication due to the concern that it might seem objectionable and insensitive to portray Susan's death due to licking toxic envelopes.^[55]

Seasons 8–9[link]

The show's ratings were still going very strong in its final two seasons (8 and 9). Larry David left at the end of Season 7 (although he would continue to voice Steinbrenner), so Seinfeld assumed David's duties as showrunner, and, under the direction of a new writing staff, Seinfeld became a more fast-paced show. The show no longer contained extracts of Jerry performing stand-up comedy, and storylines occasionally delved into fantasy, absurd humor. An example being "The Bizarro Jerry", when Elaine is torn between exact opposites of her friends or when Jerry dates a woman who has the now-famed "man hands".^[56] Some notable episodes from season 8 include "The Little Kicks" showing Elaine's horrible dancing,^[57] and "The Chicken Roaster" which depicts the Kenny Rogers Roasters chicken restaurant which opened during that time.^[58] A story arc in this season involves Peterman going to Burma in "The Foundation" ^[59] until he recovered from a nervous breakdown in "The Money",^[60] followed by Elaine writing Peterman's biography in "The Van Buren Boys" ^[61] which leads to Kramer's parody of Kenny Kramer's Reality Tour seen in "The Muffin Tops".^[62]

Season 9 included episodes such as "The Merv Griffin Show" in which Kramer converts his apartment into a talk-show studio and play the character of talk-show host,^[63] "The Betrayal" that follows in reverse chronology order what happened to Sue Ellen's wedding in India and "The Frogger" where George pushes a Frogger machine across the street.^[64] The last season included a story arc in which Elaine has an on/off relationship with David Puddy. Despite the enormous popularity and willingness from the rest of the cast to return for a tenth season, Seinfeld decided he should end the show after its ninth season in an effort to maintain quality and "go out on top". NBC offered him $110 million but he declined the offer.^[65]

A major controversy caused in this final season was the accidental burning of a Puerto Rican flag by Kramer in "The Puerto Rican Day". This scene caused a furor amongst Puerto Ricans, and as a result, NBC showed this episode only once.^[66]

Series finale[link]

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 all the major New York newspapers, including the New York Times. Jerry Seinfeld was even featured on the cover of Time magazine's first issue of 1998.^[67] The series ended with a 75-minute episode (cut down to 60 minutes in syndication, in two parts) written by co-creator and former 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 sixty minutes after its original airing and aired once more on NBC as an hour-long episode, which has since aired in syndication.

It was also the first episode since the finale of Season 7, "The Invitations", to feature opening and closing stand-up comedy acts by Jerry Seinfeld. The finale was filmed in front of an audience of NBC executives and additional friends of the show. The press and the public were shut out of the shoot for the sake of keeping its plot secret, and all those who attended the shoot of the final episode signed written "vows of silence."^[68] The secrecy only seemed to increase speculation on how the series would end. The producers of the show 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.^[69]

The episode enjoyed a huge audience, estimated at 76 million viewers (58 percent of all viewers that night) making it the third most watched finale in television history, behind M*A*S*H and Cheers. However, the finale received mixed reviews from both critics and fans of the show. The actual finale poked fun at the many rumors that were circulating, seeming to move into several supposed plots before settling on its true storyline—a lengthy trial in which Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer are prosecuted for violating a "Good Samaritan law" and are sentenced to jail.

According to Forbes magazine, Jerry Seinfeld's annual earning from the show in 1998 was US$267 million.^[70] He refused NBC's offer of $5 million per episode, or more than $100 million total, to continue the show into a tenth season. Seinfeld told the network that he was not married and had no children, and wished to focus on his personal life.^[71][34] As of July 2007, he is still the second highest earner in the television industry, earning $60 million a year.^[72] The show itself became the first television series to command more than $1 million a minute for advertising–a mark previously attained only by the Super Bowl.^[73] According to Barry Meyer, chairman of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Seinfeld has made $2.7 billion through June 2010.^[74]

Awards and nominations[link]

Seinfeld has received awards and nominations in various categories throughout the mid-1990s. TV Guide has named it the greatest show of all time.^[75] It was awarded the Emmy for "Outstanding Comedy Series" in 1993, Golden Globe Award for "Best TV-Series (Comedy)" in 1994 and Screen Actors Guild Award for "Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series" in 1995, 1997 and 1998.^{[76][77][78][79]} 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.^[80]

Broadcast history[link]

Ratings[link]

[edit] After Seinfeld

[edit] The Seinfeld curse

Louis-Dreyfus, Alexander and Richards have each attempted to launch new sitcoms as title-role characters. Despite decent acclaim and even some respectable ratings, 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' Watching Ellie, Jason Alexander's Bob Patterson and Listen Up!, and Michael Richards' The Michael Richards Show. Larry David once said of the curse, "It's so completely idiotic. It's very hard to have a successful sitcom."^[87]

This phenomenon was mentioned throughout the second season of Larry David's HBO program Curb Your Enthusiasm. However, the Emmy award-winning success of Julia Louis-Dreyfus in the CBS sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine led many to believe that she had broken the curse.^[88] 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!"^[89] The show was on the air for five seasons starting March 13, 2006 before its cancellation on May 18, 2010.^[90] The Saturday Night Live episode guest-hosted by Louis-Dreyfus made several references to the curse.

Dreyfus will star in a new HBO comedy in 2012, titled Veep.

Another scene[link]

On the November 1, 2007, episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Jerry Seinfeld mentioned the possibility of shooting one last scene, after they leave prison. He mentioned he is far too busy to do it now, but did not announce what the scene would entail as it is still a possibility they will do it.^[91] In commentary from the final season DVD, Jerry Seinfeld outlines that he and Jason Alexander spoke about this scene being in Monk's Cafe, with George saying "That was brutal" in reference to the four's stint in jail.^[92]

[edit] Curb Your Enthusiasm 2009 reunion

Early in March 2009, it was announced that the Seinfeld cast would reunite for the seventh season of Curb Your Enthusiasm.^[93] The entire cast first appeared in the third episode of the season, all playing themselves. The season-long story is that Larry David tries to initiate a Seinfeld reunion show as a ploy to get his ex-wife, Cheryl, back. Along with the four main characters, some of Seinfeld's supporting actors such as Wayne Knight, Estelle Harris and Steve Hytner also appeared in the ninth episode at a table read for the reunion show. Though much of the 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, making this the first time since Seinfeld went off the air that the central cast appeared together in a scripted show.

Consumer products[link]

A recurring feature of Seinfeld was its use of specific products, especially candy, as plot points. These might be a central feature of a plot (e.g. Junior Mints, Twix, Jujyfruits, bite size Three Musketeers, Snickers, Nestlé Chunky, Oh Henry! and Pez), or an association of a candy with a guest character (e.g. Oh Henry! bars), or simply a conversational aside (e.g. Chuckles, Clark Bar, Twinkies).

Non-candy products featured in Seinfeld include Rold Gold pretzels (whose advertisements at the time featured Jason Alexander), Kenny Rogers Roasters (a chicken restaurant chain), Oreo Cookies, Triscuits, Ben & Jerry's, H&H Bagels, Baskin-Robbins, Dockers, Drake's Coffee Cakes, Ring Dings, Pepsi, Mello Yello, Snapple, Clearly Canadian, Bosco Chocolate Syrup, Cadillac, Saab, Ford Escort, Tyler Chicken (a parody of Tyson Chicken), Specialized Bicycles, Nike, BMW, Volvo, Toyota, Tupperware, Calvin Klein, Klein Bicycles, Ovaltine, Yoo-hoo, Arby's, TV Guide, Trump Tower, Glide Floss, Gore-Tex, Entenmann's, J. Peterman clothing catalog, and the board games Risk, Boggle, Trivial Pursuit, Scrabble, and Battleship.

The computers shown in Jerry's apartment are Apple Macintosh and several different models were shown, although Jerry is only seen using his computer once during the entire show^{[citation needed]}. Also seen throughout the show's run were many different brands of cereal, e.g. Cheerios. Notable exceptions to this pattern are a fictional scotch 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"). Product placement, for Snapple, was inserted as a parody of product placement; when offered some by Elaine in the middle of a conversation, the character Babu Bhatt's (owner of a Pakistani restaurant named "Dream Cafe") brother declines, calling the drink "too fruity". A second time this product was mentioned is when Marla "the Virgin" is offered a Snapple by Elaine.

The show's creators claim that they were not engaging in a product placement strategy for commercial gain. One of the motivations 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.'"^[94]

Many advertisers capitalized on the popularity of Seinfeld. American Express created a webisode in which Jerry Seinfeld and an animated Superman (voiced by Patrick Warburton, who played the role of David Puddy) starred in its commercial. The makers of the Today Sponge created the "Spongeworthy" game, on their website, inspired by the episode "The Sponge". Another advertisement featured Jason Alexander in a Chrysler commercial. In this, Alexander behaves much like his character George, and his relationship with Lee Iacocca plays on his George's relationship with Steinbrenner. Similarly, Michael Richards was the focus of a series of advertisements for Vodafone which ran in Australia where he dressed and behaved exactly like Kramer, including the trademark bumbling pratfalls.