Wikipedia

Seinfeld season 1

Seinfeld
Season 1
DVD cover for seasons one and two
No. of episodes5
Release
Original networkNBC
Original releaseJuly 5, 1989 (1989-07-05) –
June 21, 1990 (1990-06-21)
Season chronology
Next →
Season 2
List of episodes

The first season of Seinfeld, an American television series created by Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, began airing on July 5, 1989, on NBC.[1] Originally called The Seinfeld Chronicles, its name was shortened to Seinfeld after the pilot to avoid confusion with another sitcom called The Marshall Chronicles.[2] The season finale aired on June 21, 1990.[3]

A Seasons 1 & 2 DVD box set was released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment in the United States and Canada on November 23, 2004, thirteen years after it had completed broadcast on television.[4] In addition to every episode from the two seasons, the DVD release features bonus material, including deleted scenes, animatics, exclusive stand-up material, and commentaries.[5] With only four episodes after the pilot, season one of Seinfeld is one of the smallest sitcom orders in television history.

Production

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Castle Rock Entertainment produced Seinfeld. Seinfeld was aired on NBC in the United States.[6] Larry David was the main showrunner and one of the producers.[6] Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld wrote most of the season, with Matt Goldman writing episode three, "The Robbery".[7] The season was directed by Art Wolff and Tom Cherones.

The show features Jerry Seinfeld as himself, Jason Alexander as George Costanza, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Elaine Benes, and Michael Richards as Kramer.[8] In the pilot, Lee Garlington appears as Claire, the waitress at Pete's Luncheonette, but after the pilot the "gang" started eating at Monk's Cafe. Garlington was set to appear as one of the main supporting characters. Her role was dropped when it was decided that there was no need for a regular female waitress.[1] The character of Claire was replaced with Elaine Benes in the second episode. Jerry refers to Kramer as Kessler; however, his name was changed to Kramer for the rest of the series.[1] Kramer was named after a real person; he was called "Kessler" in the pilot episode because of worries about the rights to use the name.[2]

Reception

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The pilot episode was met with poor responses from test audiences, and NBC decided not to pick up the show.[2] Believing it had potential, NBC executive Rick Ludwin ordered four episodes about a year after NBC's rejection. The first aired on May 31, 1990.[2][3] When the pilot was first repeated on July 5, 1990, it received a rating of 13.9/26, meaning that 13.9% of households were tuned in at any given moment; additionally, 26% of all televisions in use at the time were tuned into it.[2] These ratings were high enough to secure a second season.[2] NBC research showed that the show was popular with young male adults, a demographic sought by advertisers, giving NBC an incentive to continue the show.[9] The episode "The Stake Out" was nominated for a Writer's Guild Award.[10]

Retrospective reception of the season has been positive. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 76% approval rating for the season, with an average rating of 8.1/10 and based on 29 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads: "Seinfeld's first season lays out the template for the show's unique style, effectively outlining the hugless, lesson-free humor that would later make it an oft-imitated classic."[11] On Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, the season has a score of 79 out of 100 based on 9 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[12] TV Guide ranked it the twenty second greatest television season of all time, being one of four of the series's entries on the list.[citation needed]

Episodes

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See also: List of Seinfeld episodes
No.
overall		No. in
season		TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal release date [13]Prod.
code [14]		US viewers
(millions)
11"The Seinfeld Chronicles"Art WolffLarry David & Jerry SeinfeldJuly 5, 1989 (1989-07-05)10115.4[15]
Jerry tells George that Laura, a woman he met on tour, is calling on him while in town. They assume it's a date, but George second-guesses after hearing her exact words, and their waitress, Claire, agrees. After George bursts Jerry's bubble, Jerry's hopes are renewed when Laura asks for an airport pickup and to stay over. Jerry's neighbor Kessler makes a nuisance of himself late at night.
22"The Stake Out"Tom CheronesLarry David & Jerry SeinfeldMay 31, 1990 (1990-05-31)10322.5[16]
At Elaine's friend's party, keeping Elaine company gets in the way of flirting between Jerry and another woman. Even though Jerry could ask Elaine for the woman's name and number, he has never talked with her about other women since they broke up. Jerry's father, Morty, sends him to "stake out" the woman's office. George comes along, and invents the cover story of a lunch meeting with importer-exporter "Art Vandelay". Kramer advises Jerry's mother, Helen, at playing Scrabble.
33"The Robbery"Tom CheronesMatt GoldmanJune 7, 1990 (1990-06-07)10419.7[17]
George offers to show Jerry a better apartment due to the disrepair of his current place, and Elaine hopes that Jerry will vacate so she can move in. They are all surprised by the other apartment's comforts and amenities. Even as Jerry prepares to sign and Elaine prepares to move, George regrets letting Jerry have the place. Kramer gets Jerry burglarized after leaving his apartment door open, and decides to catch the thief himself.
44"Male Unbonding"Tom CheronesLarry David & Jerry SeinfeldJune 14, 1990 (1990-06-14)10219.1[18]
Jerry is avoiding clingy childhood friend Joel Horneck, but gets blindsided by a call and must suffer through Horneck's company. George suggests that he break up with Horneck as if he were a woman, so Jerry goes through a textbook breakup that quickly results in guilt and reconciliation. Jerry betrays George by taking back an invitation to a Knicks game so Horneck can go. Kramer looks for investors to open a pizza place where customers do all the cooking.
55"The Stock Tip"Tom CheronesLarry David & Jerry SeinfeldJune 21, 1990 (1990-06-21)10519.4[19]
George drags Jerry into buying a stock on an insider trading tip. They wait for instructions to sell, but their source is suddenly hospitalized, leaving them in the lurch as the stock price falls. Jerry complains to a dry cleaner about a shrunken shirt. Jerry then takes his girlfriend Vanessa to Vermont on a weekend getaway, but they end up rained in with nothing to do or talk about. Elaine is beleaguered by allergies from dating a cat owner, and Kramer invents a "tie dispenser".

References

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General sources

  • "Seinfeld Official Site". Sony Pictures. Retrieved January 30, 2009.
  • "The Seinfeld episode search at Seinfeld Official Site". Sony Pictures. Archived from the original on May 11, 2009. Retrieved January 30, 2009.
  • "The Seinfeld Season 1 on TBS". TBS. Archived from the original on September 28, 2011. Retrieved January 30, 2009.

Specific sources and notes

  1. ^ a b c "The Seinfeld Chronicles episode at Seinfeld Official Site". Sony Pictures. Archived from the original on October 25, 2008. Retrieved April 22, 2008.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Seinfeld Seasons 1 & 2: Notes about Nothing – "The Seinfeld Chronicles" (DVD). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. April 22, 2008.
  3. ^ a b "Seinfeld Episodes | TVGuide.com". TV Guide. Archived from the original on May 5, 2008. Retrieved April 22, 2008.
  4. ^ "Seinfeld region 1 DVD". DVD Movie Guide. Archived from the original on March 3, 2009. Retrieved February 1, 2009.
  5. ^ "Season 1 and 2 DVD on Seinfeld website". Sony Pictures. Archived from the original on June 14, 2008. Retrieved May 12, 2008.
  6. ^ a b "The Seinfeld Crew and Credits at Seinfeld Official Site". Sony Pictures. Archived from the original on July 23, 2009. Retrieved April 30, 2008.
  7. ^ "The Robbery episode at Seinfeld Official Site". Sony Pictures. Archived from the original on November 17, 2007. Retrieved April 29, 2008.
  8. ^ "Seinfeld and nihilism". The Observer. December 3, 1999. Archived from the original on December 17, 2007. Retrieved April 29, 2008.
  9. ^ Rapp, David (May 31, 2006). "Seinfeld: The Unlikeliest Success Story". American Heritage. Archived from the original on March 15, 2008. Retrieved March 19, 2008.
  10. ^ "The Stake Out episode at Seinfeld Official Site". Sony Pictures. Archived from the original on June 14, 2008. Retrieved April 29, 2008.
  11. ^ "Seinfeld: Season 1". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
  12. ^ "Seinfeld: Season 1". Metacritic. Archived from the original on April 27, 2014. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
  13. ^ "Seinfeld Episodes | TVGuide.com". TV Guide. Archived from the original on May 5, 2008. Retrieved March 20, 2008.
  14. ^ "Seinfeld Prod. Codes for all seasons". epguide.com. Archived from the original on August 5, 2008. Retrieved March 23, 2008.
  15. ^ "Hit Shows That Got Off to a Slow Start: Seinfeld". The TV Ratings Guide. Archived from the original on June 9, 2017. Retrieved July 3, 2017.
  16. ^ "'Seinfeld' is a standup hit". Life. USA Today. June 6, 1990. p. 3D. Archived from the original on December 31, 2013. Retrieved December 30, 2013.
  17. ^ "'Mysteries' cracks the top 5". Life. USA Today. June 13, 1990. p. 3D. Archived from the original on December 31, 2013. Retrieved December 30, 2013.
  18. ^ "'Seinfeld' is still going strong". Life. USA Today. June 20, 1990. p. 3D. Archived from the original on December 31, 2013. Retrieved December 30, 2013.
  19. ^ "Mandela didn't inspire ratings". Life. USA Today. June 27, 1990. p. 3D. Archived from the original on December 31, 2013. Retrieved December 30, 2013.
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