Seinfeld is an American situation comedy, or sitcom, that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons. Many of its catchphrases have entered into the popular culture lexicon. The show led the Arthur Nielsen Media Research 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 as the greatest television program of all time. A 2006 sitcom industry poll conducted by the United Kingdom's Channel 4 voted Seinfeld as the third best sitcom ever, ranking behind Frasier and Fawlty Towers.

The eponymous series was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, with the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself. Set predominantly in an apartment block on New York City's Upper West Side (but shot mostly in Los Angeles, California), the show features a host of Jerry's friends and acquaintances, who include George Costanza, Elaine Benes and Cosmo Kramer. Seinfeld was produced by Castle Rock Entertainment and distributed in association with Columbia Pictures Television and Columbia TriStar Television. Sony Pictures Television now distributes the series as of 2002. It was largely co-written by David and Seinfeld with inputs 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, Alec Berg, and Spike Feresten.

Overview

Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David pitched Seinfeld as a "show about nothing," similar to the self-parodying "show within a show" of Season 4 episodes "The Pilot". Seinfeld stood out from the typical family- or coworker-driven TV sitcoms of its time. None of the principal Seinfeld characters were related by blood or worked together. The episodes of most sitcoms revolve around a central theme or contrived comic situations, whereas most episodes of Seinfeld focused on the minutiae of daily life, such as waiting in line at the movies, going out for dinner, buying a suit, and coping with the petty injustices of life. Some people think that the world view presented in Seinfeld is somewhat consistent with the philosophy of nihilism, the idea that life is pointless.

image:Tom's Restaurant, Seinfeld.jpg Originally, the show began with Jerry Seinfeld delivering his stand-up comedy routine, which was set in a comedy night club. The theme of his act is loosely based on the plot of each episode. Originally, his stand-up act would bookend an episode, for a while even functioning as cut scenes during the show. By Season 4, the cut scenes in the middle of the episodes became less common and by Season 6, the clips that ended the shows also became less common. By Season 8, the stand-up act was cut out entirely as the plots expanded and required more time. The show's main characters, and many secondary characters, were modeled after Seinfeld's and David's real-life acquaintances. Other recurring characters were based on well-known, real-life counterparts, such as the Soup Nazi (based on Soup Kitchen International manager Al Yeganeh), Jacopo Peterman of the J. Peterman catalogue (nominally based on John Peterman), and George Steinbrenner, the owner of the New York Yankees.