How did Seinfeld, (a show that claims to be about nothing) gain an audience, and dominate primetime television for over 8 years? After extensive researching I will present a detailed proposal of the unique narrative structure developed in the popular 1990’s sitcom Seinfeld. The story of how a show about nothing became everything. Seinfeld is unquestionably the most popular sitcom series ever viewed on television. Moreover, it was one of the most successful TV shows of all time (regardless of genre). A total of 180 episodes spanning 9 NBC seasons, were made from the years 1989 (the initial pilot) to its final episode in 1998. To this day, the Seinfeld episodes can be seen around the world in syndication, and are still enjoyed by millions.
The Seinfeld series was created by its star, Jerry Seinfeld, and writer Larry David. The premise of the show focused on the daily life of a New York stand-up comic, named Jerry Seinfeld. Jerry was a highly intelligent, immature, and obsessed, individual that focused his whole life on trivial and meaningless details. His friends included Elaine Benes (his ex-girlfriend), Cosmo Kramer, and his long-time high-school buddy, George Costanza. Together, these 4 characters had many entertaining adventures in a myriad of broken relationships, nutty inter-personal encounters, and non-flowing, comedic trivial matters. Seinfeld is routinely described as "a show about nothing".
Despite all of its success and accolades, the Seinfeld sitcom came close to not being renewed after it aired its premier epsode, "The Seinfeld Chronicles", in 1989. Many critics considered the show too urban and too Jewish to appeal to the average American. However, in 1990, Seinfeld was selected to replace the long-standing and popular comedy "Cheers", in its timeslot. "Seinfeld" (renamed) came back in 1991 as a mid-season replacement, and emerged as a major force on NBC's programming schedule.
In 1997, Jerry Seinfeld announced that the following season (1998) would be the last season for the show. Although many were shocked by this decision, Seinfeld wanted the series "to go out in style", and to end the show while it was still popular and tops in the ratings. The final episode, aired on 5/14/1998, had the largest number of viewers for any sitcom in the history of television, with more than 50,000,000 viewers.
Strangely enough when the show was being aired I never watched it do to the fact that my family never found the show interesting, and I never was able to connect with the humor on an intellectual level. Within my second year in college I was enrolled in a screenwriting class based on writing pilots for television. It wasn’t until then that I started watching Seinfeld and studying its own unique narrative structure. This show became highly addictive to me and left me wanting more, even though the show had been over for more than 5 years. The series was a landmark in every way, and I am going to take my readers back to the great memories of Seinfeld by examining the classic episodes, punch lines, and strange coincidences that could only be seen in a show about nothing.
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