Seinfeld 

The continuing misadventures of neurotic New York City stand-up comedian Jerry Seinfeld and his equally neurotic New York City friends.

Creators:

Larry David, Jerry Seinfeld

Stars:

Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michael Richards

Top Rated TV #47 | Won 3 Golden Globes. Another 70 wins & 184 nominations.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Jerry Seinfeld	...	Jerry Seinfeld 173 episodes, 1989-1998
Michael Richards	...	Kramer / ... 173 episodes, 1989-1998
Jason Alexander	...	George Costanza / ... 173 episodes, 1989-1998
Julia Louis-Dreyfus	...	Elaine Benes 172 episodes, 1990-1998
Ruth Cohen	...	Ruthie Cohen / ... 101 episodes, 1992-1998

Storyline

Jerry Seinfeld stars in this television comedy series as himself, a comedian. The premise of this sitcom is Jerry and his friends going through everyday life, discussing various quirky situations, to which we can all relate (especially if we live in New York City). The eccentric personalities of the offbeat characters who make up Jerry's social circle contribute to the fun.

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Plot Keywords:

cringe comedy | situation comedy | buddy comedy | new york yankees | dating | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Official Sites:

Hulu Sony Pictures Television

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 July 1989 (USA)

Also Known As:

Stand-Up

Filming Locations:

757 New Hampshire, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

West-Shapiro, Castle Rock Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

22 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

4:3

Did You Know?

Trivia

Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld) and George (Jason Alexander) had both parents on the show, Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) had only a father, and Kramer (Michael Richards) had only a mother appear. Uncle Leo, played by Len Lesser, was Helen Seinfeld's (Liz Sheridan) brother.

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Goofs

You will notice that on external shots of Jerry's building there are insect screens on the windows. However, these are never evident whenever any of the cast occasionally lean out the window whilst the scene is being shot from inside Jerry's apartment.

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Quotes

Cosmo Kramer: Boy, a month in Europe with Elaine. That guy's coming home in a body bag.
[cut to a taxi]
David Puddy: Well, I've got a ten kroner, a five kroner, a twenty kroner. A fifty kroner? How much is that?
Elaine: We have to break up.
David Puddy: What?
Elaine: Look, I don't care how interesting the change is. And if you tell me what the time is in New York again,
[shouts]
Elaine: YOU ARE GOING HOME IN A BODY BAG.

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Crazy Credits

The series does not have an opening credits sequence. Instead, the lead actor credits play out over a scene. Now commonplace in sitcoms and drama series, this was considered a novelty in 1990 and sparked a debate over the future of opening credits in TV series.

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Alternate Versions

In the episode, "Bookstore, The" (ep. #9.17), J. Peterman describes provides several euphemisms for the drug opium when he's describing Elaine's boyfriend's addiction. In the original airing, he referred to it as "smack...white palace...the Chinaman's nightcap". In all syndicated airings, the last part of that line was omitted, obviously because of its racial insensitivity.

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Connections

Referenced in After Hours: Movies Secretly Told From the Perspective of One Character (2015)

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Soundtracks

Seinfeld Theme Song
Written by Jonathan Wolff

User Reviews

Seinfeld, a cultural landmark?

I caught a few episodes of Seinfeld over it's final two seasons run on public channel, and made it a point to catch a lot more of Jerry and friends during it's reruns. I found it very amusing on first viewings, but as time wore on, I began to like it more and more, and to eagerly borrow taped episodes from friends, and to hunt for re-runs on syndicated channels.

Of the two comedy TV series in the history of television, I would choose both Seinfeld and Monty Python as the cultural landmarks of the medium. In Seinfeld, there is not a trace of sentimentality and glib moralizing that plagues the American sitcom genre. Characters do not hug each other on Christmas, fall in love, wax on and on about family and friends, there is no faux-cathartic season ender so favoured by the writers of, say, "Friends".

Instead, we have the narcissistic Jerry, constantly mining the minutiae of everyday detail for every bit of situational comedy; we have the hyper-aggressive Elaine, whose strings of breakups with boyfriends are as impressive as her petty neuroses leading up to the breakups themselves; the ultimate schlub-loser George, who lies to every single woman he dates, sells faulty equipment to the handicapped and muscles off women and children when fleeing an apartment fire; and the impossibly inventive physical comedy of the entrepreneur cum schmooze Kramer.

Over and over again, week in and week out, the quartet discuss trivialities with unbridled zeal, as the non-descript narrative pings from one mundane setting to another. Seldom has such wit been generated by such gargantually pointless human endeavours. That is where the brilliance of Seinfeld lies, in the ability to go to the most bizarre ends to fulfill the potential of a less than hopeful comedic premise; and the endless, pointlessly smug and nihilistic banter that almost invariably escalates into some of TV's classic lines, such as when George shouts triumphantly after winning an argument that "there is no bigger loser than me!".

Surely, we won't find something like this again, for many more years to come.