TV Flashback: Seinfeld

In my view, Seinfeld is the probably the funniest sitcom in the history of Television.

Seinfeld aired on NBC from 1990-1998.

The show was created by Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David. In the series, Seinfeld played a fictionalized version of himself, while the George Costanza character was modeled after many of Larry David’s “quirks”.

The show started out titled “The Seinfeld Chronicles”. It was later just shortened to “Seinfeld”.

The show starred:

Jerry Seinfeld – Jerry Seinfeld
Jason Alexander – George Costanza
Michael Richards – Cosmo Kramer
Julia Louis-Dreyfus – Elaine Benes
Wayne Knight – Newman

The show did not even crack the Top-30 of the Nielsen Ratings until its 3rd season.

The Character of Newman did not appear until the 3rd season, yet as far as recurring characters, he appeared in the most episodes of the series.

The show won 10 Emmy Awards and had 68 Emmy Award nominations during its 9 years on the air.

Michael Richards won 3 Emmy Awards for his role as Kramer.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus won 1 Emmy Award for her role as Elaine.

In the biggest crock of you-know-what in the history of the Emmy Awards, Jason Alexander never won an Emmy as George Costanza. What a joke! Simply put, George Costanza is one of the greatest sitcom characters in the history of Television and no one but Jason Alexander could have played him. Seinfeld ruled for years largely because of the George character. For Jason Alexander to never win an Emmy is just unbelievable! (He was nominated a bunch of times, he just never won…)

The show won an Emmy Award for Best Comedy just one time. (What were those Emmy voters smoking?)

The show has had such an impact on American Culture that many of its familiar catch-phrases are now woven into our everyday lives….

“Yada Yada Yada…”
“Shrinkage”
“No Soup for You!”
“You Put the Balm On? Who told you to put the balm on?”
“Giddee-up”
“Sponge-Worthy”
“Master of Your Domain”
“Anti-Dentite”
“Double Dip”
“Not That There’s Anything Wrong with That”
“Vandelay Industries”
“Re-Gifter”
“Man Hands”
“Serenity Now!!!”
“Festivus….the Holiday for the Rest of Us”
“The Sea was angry that day my friends”
“I don’t wanna be a Pirate!”
“Boy! These Pretzels are making me thirsty!”
“Soup Nazi”
“Sorry…the correct answer was MOOPS”
“I AM the Assman!”
“Maybe the Dingo ate your baby”

I could go on for hours listing the thousands more phrases that the show popularized over the years.

Jerry Seinfeld was the only cast member to appear in every episode.

TV GUIDE voted the show the #1 series of All-Time.

Danny Devito and Nathan Lane were among the many actors considered for the role of George Costanza.

(I have a T-shirt of this painting)

Tony Shalhoub and Larry Hankin were among those considered to play Kramer. Hankin later played the Kramer Character in the pilot that Jerry was shooting for NBC in the series. In that same pilot, Jeremy Piven (Entourage) played the George Character.

The Exterior shot of Jerry’s Apartment Building is actually a building in Los Angeles.

The show was #1 in the Nielsen Ratings during every week of its final season.

Among those that were considered for the role of Elaine were Rosie O’Donnell, Patricia Heaton, and Megan Mullally.

The “Puffy-Shirt” from the “Puffy-Shirt” episode is on display in the Smithsonian.

Director Steven Spielberg said that while filming “Schindler’s List” he would get so depressed that he would pop in tapes of Seinfeld to cheer himself up.

The series finale in May of 1998 was one of the most-watched shows in TV History. It is also one of the most debated episodes the show ever had. Many fans hated the finale (me among them..) while others loved it.

The Larry David sitcom “Curb Your Enthusiasm” on HBO recently did a much better job of wrapping up Seinfeld. In that show, David convinces the Seinfeld cast to do a reunion show, which they all agree to do. In that show, it turns out that George had invented an Application for the IPHONE called a “IToilet” which would allow you to easily find the closest public restroom to your current location. (Great idea!) George makes Millions as a result of his invention. He was also married at the time. While going through a messy divorce, his wife ends up being awarded half of George’s Millions. No problem right? Wrong. It turns out that George had invested his half of the money with Bernie Madoff, the convicted Ponzi-scheme criminal, and George loses everything. Now…..that was a real ending!

I know this blog is supposedly about lost treasures of the 1970′s and 1980′s….but Seinfeld is just too good to leave out!

George Costanza was the self-professed “Lord of the Idiots“. Out of reverence to George, and because I am also a proud Idiot, I have placed the word Idiot into almost every blog that I have ever created. I have had “Lord of the Idiots“, “The Idiot Speaketh“, “Flashbacks of an Idiot“, and even “My Idiot Photos“. Like I said, I AM an Idiot, but my use of the term in all my blogs is totally in homage to my Idiot Idol….George Costanza!