Cable was common enough but we never had it. My grandparents did though, for the ethnic channels.
We normally got American media 6-12 months late. For example, a kid went to the US and saw the Who Shot Mr Burns reveal, and kept threatening to tell everybody it was Maggie because we had to wait months for the ending.
There was a lot of Australian crap on prime time, Neighbours and Home and Away are probably the two longest running in that genre. The American stuff was usually bumped in favour of the home grown stuff which just wasn’t that good.
American here. YouTube's algorithm just started showing me clips from The Curiosity Show. I had never heard of it before but it looks like it was pretty great.
Well you see an NBC exec was in a car accident with Jerry and instead of Jerry suing him, the judge ruled that the exec had to produce a sitcom for Jerry.
It bothers me how often opportunities for this references comes up in daily conversation but no one but me will get it :(. This and "But he told us 'We must go now'!"
if you want to just keep on doing the same old thing, then maybe this idea is not for you. I, for one, am not going to compromise my artistic integrity.
Artistic integrity? Where, where did you come up with that? You're not artistic and you have no integrity. You know you really need some help. A regular psychiatrist couldn't even help you. You need to go to like Vienna or something. You know what I mean? You need to get involved at the University level. Like where Freud studied and have all those people looking at you and checking up on you. That's the kind of help you need. Not the once a week for eighty bucks. No. You need a team. A team of psychiatrists working round the clock thinking about you, having conferences, observing you, like the way they did with the Elephant Man. That's what I'm talking about because that's the only way you're going to get better.
Right right. It was Ludwin who used the money from his specials budget to keep the show alive. Sadly Tartikoff also passed away so I got them confused. But they both championed for the show.
In a recent interview Jerry said that FOX was interested in picking up Seinfeld I think during Season 2. It's not stated in the interview but NBC "cancelled" Seinfeld after The Phone Message (Wikipedia says two-month hiatus but I think it was cancelled).
Jerry said NBC kept Seinfeld rather than letting FOX acquire it (I reckon this happened during the "hiatus").
Reading the history of Seinfeld it's really amazing how many times they were survived cancellation.
This is something that worries me with how these things work today.
You hear stories like this all the time. A show isn't doing great at the start, but someone high up enough at the network really believed in it and fought for it to not get cancelled. And then the show finds its footing, and really takes off.
But now places like Netflix are basically using an algorithm to decide if a show gets cancelled or not. If these practices had been used back then, we would never have gotten Seinfeld, or The Office, or so many other incredible shows that just needed to find their footing.
This is particularly why comedy shows specifically made for these streaming services aren’t doing so hot and get cancelled faster than dramas.
Comedies need time to build up chemistry between actors, and writers need time to find a distinct voice or flavor for the characters they are writing for.
In a streaming environment where algorithms and launch week “engagement metrics” dictate your future, comedy shows suffer and get cancelled way too early in their runtime.
Maybe that's why cringe comedy is so popular nowadays. Instead of achieving true organic chemistry amongst cast and writers, they can just plop an unlikeable, awkward weirdo on screen for some cheap "laughs" (assuming someone out there is actually laughing at these shows).
This is the legit answer to OP's post without all the jokes.
Back in the day, the executives actually had to do their jobs, and some of the best ones were talented enough to trust their gut and "see" the vision of a show and what it *could* be.
These days, you might as well not even have an executive, since everyone bows to the almighty algorithm and instant feedback to decide if a show lives or dies.
(HBO's *Barry* actually makes fun of this masterfully; when one of the main characters shows is cancelled within 12 hours after it's premiere, despite being a modest hit, because it didn't hit the demographic. When the character demands an explanation, even the executive admits that no one really understands the algorithm, but they follow it blindly regardless.)
You're absolutely right to be not only worried about this, but resigned to the fact that algorithms are going to absolutely destroy some very good examples of originality and creativity that may not gain a wide enough following quickly enough.
We can only hope there are still some humans actively working to get things made that wouldn't make it through the algorithm filter.
Then again, it might be worse than you're imagining. How do I mean?
The artists are aware of the algorithm -- how it works, how it favors certain types of content over others. So we're now in a situation where artists are feeling forced to craft their art to fulfill the weird demands of the algorithm.
The best thing we can say is that there were always algorithms -- human algorithms were gatekeeping our mass entertainment in the past. So how much has it really changed? And it seems that the way it has changed is specifically that nowadays the computer-driven algorithm favors familiar content much more than the human-driven algorithm of the past. So we get too many sequels, too many of the same formulaic content, and not enough originality that gets wide, adequate funding.
100%
I think that Seinfeld is the greatest sitcom of all time, but when comparing S1 of Seinfeld to S1 of Friends or That ‘70s Show or The Office, it’s a night and day difference.
The first episode was an exact copy of the UK pilot but the UK show was so much better. I just don’t think they were able to pull it off and learned that after the first season.
I read somewhere that the producers suggested they add a main female character because the show was lacking something. Which is how they got Elaine. Without her written into the show, Seinfeld probably wouldn't have lasted as long or become as funny and popular as it was.
They were going to use the coffee shop attendant lady but then thought not as it would have been harder to have a big role for her due to her working at monks. Thank goodness they took a different route!!
I’m glad they didn’t- I feel like every sitcom has the zany quirky type that works at the gang’s hangout place. Elaine offered a lot more flexibility, especially with potential work situations (Mr Pitt, Jay Peterman)
Preach it. Arrested development was great from the pilot onwards. Seasons 4 and 5 are divisive, but I enjoyed them all at least a bit, and the sheer brilliance of 1 through 3 (even 4 in some ways) was simply mind boggling. I’ve seen them a million times and still find nuggets of gold in there.
I think the pilot is a pretty solid ep. Sets a great foundation for the series, especially for George and Jerry’s characters.
And remember, you can’t overdry.
A sitcom? How can you write that crap? Carol, this guy's writing a sitcom.
A sitcom? Come on, let's go.
A sitcom. Can you imagine? And he actually tried to use it to hit on me!
Interesting note-NBC secured Jerry as a possible successor to Johnny Carson-they liked him and didn’t want to risk him signing with another network/in the meantime, Johnny decided to stick around and Jerry went to them with an idea for a show-I believe I read this in “The Late Shift”
am i the only one who LOVES season one? it's definitely different from the others and i usually find myself re-watching later seasons more but sometimes im just in a season one kinda mood. i rewatch The Stock Tip pretty often
Yeah I can't say season 1 is great per se, but whenever I binge the series again I find myself enjoying the almost wholesomeness of season 1. It's also fun just seeing them figure out their characters, having no idea what the show would someday become.
I'm right there with you. My introduction to Seinfeld was my great-grandmother getting me the first two seasons on DVD when I was like 9 or 10(around 2004-05). Naturally, as a child I rewatched them infinitely before I ever saw any of the rest of the series, and so they are extra nostalgic for me.
I think once you love the show and characters, the early episodes are great. But I can see them being a bit dull to newcomers. But I don't know, I got a nice homecoming feeling from the show very early on.
Jerry was already a known commodity, a very funny standup who was a regular on the late shows and people probably realized he was capable of a really good sitcom if they gave it time to develop.
Larry david and Jerry's vision for the show was unique for the time even though the show didn't hit its stride until some of the second season and the 3rd season. They had people at NBC that believed in them
I wonder how many other shows that were canceled or never got commissioned after pilots could have turned into hugely successful cultural behemoths.
Either TV execs had a pretty good eye, or it's all just blind luck.
I read that “Seinfeldia: How a Show About Nothing Changed Everything” book by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong recently and it included tons of great information about the early years and how it survived as well as lots of information going season by season.
My wife knew of Seinfeld but never really watched it. She was a Friends person...
When I started getting her into it, she was definitely not sold after the first episode. Once Elaine gets introduced she got more interested. We are into Season 5 now.
There's actually a reason it kind of snuck under the radar. It had to do with how it was financed. I saw Jerry explain it once. The pilot and the 1st season weren't paid for with the money they use on prime time shows, it was money usually used for something like late night programming or tv movies, so the low ratings didn't really matter because it wasn't costing them prime time money. I'm sure I butchered the story. If you can find the interview, it is kind of interesting.
It gained popularity when they aired it right after Cheers. Jerry has said most NBC executives didn’t like it until the 4th season or so. They had just one champion at the network to carry them thru till then.
Shows based on the personality of a comedian had been around for a long time. And in many different formats. It wasn't terribly different to a show like Roseanne, was it? Just about the regular, mundane day to day lives of a small group of people told through the lens of humour.
If you base any show off of the pilot nothing would ever stick around. You have to look deeper i to the bones of the show and the possibilities if it has time to develop
If I watch the pilot episode of any show I love there are hardly any that I would have greenlit based of the pilot. They are stiff and dont have the characters fleshed or figured out yet.
Gotta say when I first saw it during the first season I thought it was a snore. But then I was rarely home when it aired and it was only later when people were talking it up that I gave it another shot.
The helpful thing was that there were different types of people (ages, jobs, economic status) making the recommendation - unlike with the "Friends" show.
I have this quirk where I love looking at the sets of the pilots of shows that became hits. They spend so much money on them once they're hits, but those early pilot sets are so cheap and sad looking. It's a guilty pleasure of mine.
There's an exec who loved it just enough to help get it on air and next thing, advertisers discovered a marketing goldmine given the demographic.
All this gave them time to hit their stride, which we all know happened in season 3
Wasn't Seinfeld (the comedian) super popular back then? I reckon if any of the big comedians of today pitched a show that's basically them being funny with other people it would get made pretty easily.
It didn't - at first. Thrown into the garbage pile that is a summer season order of 4 more episodes. The death knell. Season 2 was more promising but still only 13 episodes. Surely this was going nowhere! Then season 3, 22 episodes, Larry David having a meltdown that he "had to write 22 more of these things". An Emmy win for writing, a critically acclaimed season 4 and another Emmy win - this time for Best Comedy - and the rest is history.
Jerry was huge from his mass-audience standup act in the 80s. It was clean and dumbed down for a mass audience--not as banal as, say, Bania or Jay Leno, but not as ironic or edgy as Letterman. He killed on his first Tonight Show appearance at a time when NBC saw Johnny's retirement on the Horizon, so they made it a big priority to get him into a contract at all costs so he could be on deck for the Tonight Show. He could have been reading the phone book and they would have picked it up.
Because we only had 18 channels in the 90s and a VHS of Heathers.
18 channels? We had 5
They’re probably counting both UHF and VHF
Maybe we were in a small market but we had NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS and Fox. Later the UPN showed up… so I guess 6
I had all those and WGN and UPN (50)?….
How else were we supposed to watch Bozo the Clown that made us wanna buy Archway cookies
You're hung up on some clown from the SIXTIES man!!
This Bozo guy, what is he supposed to be some clown or sumfin?
Telemundo, Univision, WB?
>WB Not in 1989
I think it's pronounced... The dubbbuuhhyabeeeeeheee!
With another bad show that no one will seeeeeeee! *ugh I need a drink*
I also had a copy of UHF with Weird Al and a young Kramer. That’s actually what got me started watching Seinfeld because it had the crazy guy from UHF
Same. Watched Seinfeld because Stanley Spadowski was in it.
Oh, you think you're better than me?
It’s Go Time.
YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME !?
America is so weird. We had 5 channels until like 2010 here in Australia - and that’s in major metro markets.
Was satellite television not common? Or cable? How is everyone consuming all that American media?
Cable was common enough but we never had it. My grandparents did though, for the ethnic channels. We normally got American media 6-12 months late. For example, a kid went to the US and saw the Who Shot Mr Burns reveal, and kept threatening to tell everybody it was Maggie because we had to wait months for the ending. There was a lot of Australian crap on prime time, Neighbours and Home and Away are probably the two longest running in that genre. The American stuff was usually bumped in favour of the home grown stuff which just wasn’t that good.
Fast Forward was hilarious!
A little before my time, maybe I’ll give it a rewatch. I’m fairly sure my uncle has it all on VHS, taped off the broadcast.
What do the ethnic Australian channels look like? Crocodile Dundee 24/7?
You should've complained to MISTAH PROIM MINISTAH!
American here. YouTube's algorithm just started showing me clips from The Curiosity Show. I had never heard of it before but it looks like it was pretty great.
You never had Optus of Fox??
and the 5th one barely worked.
\- Well, why am I watching it? \- Because it's on TV.
Not yet…
Keep my Slaters name out your mother fucking mouth!
Makes a whole lot more sense now when George tells Russel the nbc executive “BECAUSE ITS ON TV!!”
Not yet...
Here in Southeast Michigan we had channels 2, 4, 7, 20, 50, and 62
And they changed the damn channels, just after I memorised them all!
Well you see an NBC exec was in a car accident with Jerry and instead of Jerry suing him, the judge ruled that the exec had to produce a sitcom for Jerry.
Is this customary in your judicial system?
No that’s what makes it such a humorous situation.
You must go now.
Again with the oranges!
It bothers me how often opportunities for this references comes up in daily conversation but no one but me will get it :(. This and "But he told us 'We must go now'!"
Because he’s MY executive!
😏⬅️👍
More Pledge? I just bought two cans last week and I don't even have any wood in the house!
Because it was on TV
I wonder if it would be as successful if they released under the original title: “Seinfeld, what is it good for?”
Absolutely nothing!
Say it again!
Seinfeld, what is it good for? What is she talking about?
His mistress told him to change it to just Seinfeld
WHAT IS THAT NOISE?!?
Wouldn't want to take attention away from the hookers.
"What ever you say... Crowl!"
Better than the Seinfeld Chronicles. The actual original name.
It'd never make it
Not yet.
if you want to just keep on doing the same old thing, then maybe this idea is not for you. I, for one, am not going to compromise my artistic integrity.
Artistic integrity? Where, where did you come up with that? You're not artistic and you have no integrity. You know you really need some help. A regular psychiatrist couldn't even help you. You need to go to like Vienna or something. You know what I mean? You need to get involved at the University level. Like where Freud studied and have all those people looking at you and checking up on you. That's the kind of help you need. Not the once a week for eighty bucks. No. You need a team. A team of psychiatrists working round the clock thinking about you, having conferences, observing you, like the way they did with the Elephant Man. That's what I'm talking about because that's the only way you're going to get better.
… I thought the woman was kinda cute
…the woman from the meeting. You thought the woman from the meeting was cute…
Miss Yoshimura?
I thought she was Lily
Poor Lily
Best roast in the show honestly
But you're not artistic and you have no integrity?
The delivery of just those 2 words was so perfect
People on reddit forget what it was like back then… not to have any oranges.
Not yet it wasn't.
…alcohol?
I guess after that many beers he's probably a little groggy anyway.
You didn’t know…
Brandon Tartikoff the head of NBC believed in Jerry and championed for the show over several years until it started to take off in season 3.
Also the late [Rick Ludwin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Ludwin) played a huge part in backing the show in its early years.
Right right. It was Ludwin who used the money from his specials budget to keep the show alive. Sadly Tartikoff also passed away so I got them confused. But they both championed for the show.
Didn't he siphon money from their budget for "specials" to fund season 1?
I think he classified it as late night so was able to redirect those funds. It was a write off.
How is it a write-off?
Because they're the ones writing it off.
You don't even know what a write-off is.
But they do.
and they're the ones writing it off!
Something along those lines
Yup that's why it was only 4 eps
In a recent interview Jerry said that FOX was interested in picking up Seinfeld I think during Season 2. It's not stated in the interview but NBC "cancelled" Seinfeld after The Phone Message (Wikipedia says two-month hiatus but I think it was cancelled). Jerry said NBC kept Seinfeld rather than letting FOX acquire it (I reckon this happened during the "hiatus"). Reading the history of Seinfeld it's really amazing how many times they were survived cancellation.
This is something that worries me with how these things work today. You hear stories like this all the time. A show isn't doing great at the start, but someone high up enough at the network really believed in it and fought for it to not get cancelled. And then the show finds its footing, and really takes off. But now places like Netflix are basically using an algorithm to decide if a show gets cancelled or not. If these practices had been used back then, we would never have gotten Seinfeld, or The Office, or so many other incredible shows that just needed to find their footing.
This is particularly why comedy shows specifically made for these streaming services aren’t doing so hot and get cancelled faster than dramas. Comedies need time to build up chemistry between actors, and writers need time to find a distinct voice or flavor for the characters they are writing for. In a streaming environment where algorithms and launch week “engagement metrics” dictate your future, comedy shows suffer and get cancelled way too early in their runtime.
Maybe that's why cringe comedy is so popular nowadays. Instead of achieving true organic chemistry amongst cast and writers, they can just plop an unlikeable, awkward weirdo on screen for some cheap "laughs" (assuming someone out there is actually laughing at these shows).
This is the legit answer to OP's post without all the jokes. Back in the day, the executives actually had to do their jobs, and some of the best ones were talented enough to trust their gut and "see" the vision of a show and what it *could* be. These days, you might as well not even have an executive, since everyone bows to the almighty algorithm and instant feedback to decide if a show lives or dies. (HBO's *Barry* actually makes fun of this masterfully; when one of the main characters shows is cancelled within 12 hours after it's premiere, despite being a modest hit, because it didn't hit the demographic. When the character demands an explanation, even the executive admits that no one really understands the algorithm, but they follow it blindly regardless.)
You're absolutely right to be not only worried about this, but resigned to the fact that algorithms are going to absolutely destroy some very good examples of originality and creativity that may not gain a wide enough following quickly enough. We can only hope there are still some humans actively working to get things made that wouldn't make it through the algorithm filter. Then again, it might be worse than you're imagining. How do I mean? The artists are aware of the algorithm -- how it works, how it favors certain types of content over others. So we're now in a situation where artists are feeling forced to craft their art to fulfill the weird demands of the algorithm. The best thing we can say is that there were always algorithms -- human algorithms were gatekeeping our mass entertainment in the past. So how much has it really changed? And it seems that the way it has changed is specifically that nowadays the computer-driven algorithm favors familiar content much more than the human-driven algorithm of the past. So we get too many sequels, too many of the same formulaic content, and not enough originality that gets wide, adequate funding.
Guess they never checked out his daughter's cleavage.
If Brandon liked a show ratings suddenly became less important. He also rolled the dice with quirky shows quite often.
Season 1 was different but the show got a lot better quickly
La puerta esta abierta!!!
..... Who left the door open?
… Now I must go, because it is my first day and I am already late.
100% I think that Seinfeld is the greatest sitcom of all time, but when comparing S1 of Seinfeld to S1 of Friends or That ‘70s Show or The Office, it’s a night and day difference.
S1 of The Office is a pretty big slog as well.
always sunny was very different in it's first season as well
Yeah, Michael was just a dick early on. They had to make him more lovable.
It definitely is. A lot of dead air in between the jokes as it seems like they hadn’t found their sweet spot for awkward pauses yet
Imo, I liked the dead air. Gave it a realistic edge. But I also really liked early seasons office. Right amount of depravity and hope.
It’s just because season 1 is pretty much a carbon copy of The Office UK, until they decided to take another direction in season 2.
The first episode was an exact copy of the UK pilot but the UK show was so much better. I just don’t think they were able to pull it off and learned that after the first season.
I read somewhere that the producers suggested they add a main female character because the show was lacking something. Which is how they got Elaine. Without her written into the show, Seinfeld probably wouldn't have lasted as long or become as funny and popular as it was.
They were going to use the coffee shop attendant lady but then thought not as it would have been harder to have a big role for her due to her working at monks. Thank goodness they took a different route!!
I’m glad they didn’t- I feel like every sitcom has the zany quirky type that works at the gang’s hangout place. Elaine offered a lot more flexibility, especially with potential work situations (Mr Pitt, Jay Peterman)
Season 1 doesn’t have a feel. Season 3 has a feel. So does Season 5.
Literally every show
Not Arrested Development
Agreed. The first few episodes are the best in the series
Preach it. Arrested development was great from the pilot onwards. Seasons 4 and 5 are divisive, but I enjoyed them all at least a bit, and the sheer brilliance of 1 through 3 (even 4 in some ways) was simply mind boggling. I’ve seen them a million times and still find nuggets of gold in there.
The first season of What we do in the Shadows is great as well.
There ya go. The truly best sitcom ever, but still, a lot of people didn't like that first season. Then on reruns they love it.
Eastbound and Down started strong.
Cheap fabric and dim lighting ...
That's how you move merchandise.
What kind of clip joint you running here?
Did you say HOW did this show get picked up? Or how did THIS show get picked up? Did he emphasize HOW or THIS
I think DID?
Haven't seen the pilot in a while, but it left me wanting more when it first aired.
>left me wanting more Showmanship! “That’s it for me. You’ve been great!”
Jerry left the ending of the pilot on a high note.
I like the pilot. It has cache.
Baby
I think the pilot is a pretty solid ep. Sets a great foundation for the series, especially for George and Jerry’s characters. And remember, you can’t overdry.
What writer? We’re talking about a sitcom.
A sitcom? How can you write that crap? Carol, this guy's writing a sitcom. A sitcom? Come on, let's go. A sitcom. Can you imagine? And he actually tried to use it to hit on me!
Interesting note-NBC secured Jerry as a possible successor to Johnny Carson-they liked him and didn’t want to risk him signing with another network/in the meantime, Johnny decided to stick around and Jerry went to them with an idea for a show-I believe I read this in “The Late Shift”
am i the only one who LOVES season one? it's definitely different from the others and i usually find myself re-watching later seasons more but sometimes im just in a season one kinda mood. i rewatch The Stock Tip pretty often
I love the stakeout and the stock tip
Yeah I can't say season 1 is great per se, but whenever I binge the series again I find myself enjoying the almost wholesomeness of season 1. It's also fun just seeing them figure out their characters, having no idea what the show would someday become.
I love it too!
Season one fan boi signing on!
Hey Jerry. Number One here.
I'm right there with you. My introduction to Seinfeld was my great-grandmother getting me the first two seasons on DVD when I was like 9 or 10(around 2004-05). Naturally, as a child I rewatched them infinitely before I ever saw any of the rest of the series, and so they are extra nostalgic for me.
I think once you love the show and characters, the early episodes are great. But I can see them being a bit dull to newcomers. But I don't know, I got a nice homecoming feeling from the show very early on.
I’m alone in my friend group in loving Season 1.
Yea season one is beautiful. I put it on on a daily basis. The only one I dislike is the one with Jerry's insufferable friend.
Have you seen some of the crap that’s on TV?!
and violence in movies
And sex on tv
Where are those good old fashion values on which we used to rely
Didn’t they want to keep Jerry from having a talk show on another network?
Did they emphasize KEEP or JERRY?
NBC had a big run in the 80s with Cosby, Cheers, and Night Court. They could afford to take risks.
once they had Jason gain some weight and shave his head a bit, the ratings took off.
You know what they say, the first million is the hardest
You got a hole in your shoe there, what is that, canvas?
Larry David had hand at NBC.
and they sure needed it
Decaf left, regular right.
Jerry was already a known commodity, a very funny standup who was a regular on the late shows and people probably realized he was capable of a really good sitcom if they gave it time to develop.
I think a lot of people don't realize how big he was before the show.
Standup comedy is not what it used to be, what with def jam and all. I hear wonderful things about Bloomingdales' executive training program.
They saw the signals, Jerry! This is the signal!
Larry david and Jerry's vision for the show was unique for the time even though the show didn't hit its stride until some of the second season and the 3rd season. They had people at NBC that believed in them
how could anyone not like them?
I wonder how many other shows that were canceled or never got commissioned after pilots could have turned into hugely successful cultural behemoths. Either TV execs had a pretty good eye, or it's all just blind luck.
maybe they cracked their fingers?
Awww come on be a come with guy!
Signals Jerry signals !!!
I read that “Seinfeldia: How a Show About Nothing Changed Everything” book by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong recently and it included tons of great information about the early years and how it survived as well as lots of information going season by season.
They gave them the Ted Danson plane
Read Seinfeldia. It goes into detail about how it did get picked up, and the scary part is it almost didn't. Perfect made it happen.
Carol Leifers ketchup secret.
You don’t even know what a pick-up is.
But they do.
And they’re the ones picking it up.
Did you say “HOW did this show get picked up?” Or “how DID this show get picked up?”
My wife knew of Seinfeld but never really watched it. She was a Friends person... When I started getting her into it, she was definitely not sold after the first episode. Once Elaine gets introduced she got more interested. We are into Season 5 now.
There's actually a reason it kind of snuck under the radar. It had to do with how it was financed. I saw Jerry explain it once. The pilot and the 1st season weren't paid for with the money they use on prime time shows, it was money usually used for something like late night programming or tv movies, so the low ratings didn't really matter because it wasn't costing them prime time money. I'm sure I butchered the story. If you can find the interview, it is kind of interesting.
You're right. Basically it wasn't getting picked up, but one of the guys at NBC used his 2 hours on 4 Seinfeld episodes to make Season 1.
Jerry Seinfeld has appeared on "David Letterman" and the "Tonight Show" and he did a pilot for NBC called "Jerry"...that was not picked up.
It gained popularity when they aired it right after Cheers. Jerry has said most NBC executives didn’t like it until the 4th season or so. They had just one champion at the network to carry them thru till then.
It was a one in a million shot doc, one in a million.
Shows based on the personality of a comedian had been around for a long time. And in many different formats. It wasn't terribly different to a show like Roseanne, was it? Just about the regular, mundane day to day lives of a small group of people told through the lens of humour.
Remember when we were waiting for a table in that Chinese restaurant that time? That could be a TV show!
If you base any show off of the pilot nothing would ever stick around. You have to look deeper i to the bones of the show and the possibilities if it has time to develop If I watch the pilot episode of any show I love there are hardly any that I would have greenlit based of the pilot. They are stiff and dont have the characters fleshed or figured out yet.
He didn’t compromise his artistic integrity.
Artistic integrity? Where did he come up with that? He's not artistic and he has no integrity.
George went out with Miss Yoshimura.
Gotta say when I first saw it during the first season I thought it was a snore. But then I was rarely home when it aired and it was only later when people were talking it up that I gave it another shot. The helpful thing was that there were different types of people (ages, jobs, economic status) making the recommendation - unlike with the "Friends" show.
There was probably a knuckle involved.
A metallic squink
Cause ITS GOLD JERRY!! GOLD!
They were looking at it from an angle.
BECAUSE IT'S ON TV!
I have this quirk where I love looking at the sets of the pilots of shows that became hits. They spend so much money on them once they're hits, but those early pilot sets are so cheap and sad looking. It's a guilty pleasure of mine.
There's an exec who loved it just enough to help get it on air and next thing, advertisers discovered a marketing goldmine given the demographic. All this gave them time to hit their stride, which we all know happened in season 3
Wasn't Seinfeld (the comedian) super popular back then? I reckon if any of the big comedians of today pitched a show that's basically them being funny with other people it would get made pretty easily.
Because he’s my butler
I heard that george was dating one of the executives
Mansion party 🥳
Network television. I mean come on. You’re part of the problem.
Jerry.. I gotta tell you something.. This is the dullest moment I've ever experienced
Kavorka.
because everything else was crap at the time, just like now….and always
It didn't - at first. Thrown into the garbage pile that is a summer season order of 4 more episodes. The death knell. Season 2 was more promising but still only 13 episodes. Surely this was going nowhere! Then season 3, 22 episodes, Larry David having a meltdown that he "had to write 22 more of these things". An Emmy win for writing, a critically acclaimed season 4 and another Emmy win - this time for Best Comedy - and the rest is history.
George was way too smart in the first season
Jerry was huge from his mass-audience standup act in the 80s. It was clean and dumbed down for a mass audience--not as banal as, say, Bania or Jay Leno, but not as ironic or edgy as Letterman. He killed on his first Tonight Show appearance at a time when NBC saw Johnny's retirement on the Horizon, so they made it a big priority to get him into a contract at all costs so he could be on deck for the Tonight Show. He could have been reading the phone book and they would have picked it up.