First off, I'm not a huge Seinfeld fan. Of the dozens of episodes I've seen over the years, I've never thought it was much better than an "average" sitcom.

But for some reason, in the shower this morning, it occured to me that the "show about nothing" thing doesn't really work for me.

Seinfeld dealt with the same kinds of issues that every other sitcom deals with: relationship troubles, work troubles, "zany" situations that get worse due to the actions of the characters, misunderstandings, etc.

One thing that occured to me is that maybe it's because there wasn't any "substance" to is, as things that happened in one episode didn't really affect what happened in the next. But that isn't even true either. George's engagement, for example. That lasted a long time and had ramifications throughout the show.

So where does that moniker come from?

well if you look at the first season its more of a fake reality type show and it delt with common things everyone goes though so it was a show about nothing but then as the show got more popular they added crazy ztory lines and unrealistic story lines to get a bigger fanbase. if you look at season 1 then season 5 you see a big difference. i think it got better as it went on.

plus the story lines almost always start out with some dull no nothing sort of event.. To the level of returning a video, a line to get soup, taking a car in to be repaired.. Every day stuff that on Seinfeld spun into pretty funny story lines..

Sep every show still started out as some no nothing sort of event.. With most sitcoms the hook is right there, right away.. First day of school, then the ep is about school.. New baby, then the show is all about the baby.. Seinfeld would be that they need a new tv or something else that on a normal show, would never be a story line being it was not really story worthy.. I mean an ep about a check on the wall!?! Could another show pull that off?

or at least that was always my take on the whole show about nothing line..

I think it comes from the early seasons. In those they find the humor in the characters doing nothing more than waiting for a table at a Chinese resturaunt for a half hour, or spending an afternoon lost in a parking garage looking for a car.

However, later seasons the plots became more outrageous and involved. Still a lot of the humor still came out of the little things- like all the tiny non-reasons that caused a split between Jerry and whoever he was seeing in a particular episode.

IMO, the difference between Seinfeld and all the other sitcoms is that Seinfeld never tried to do anything serious, except maybe in the series finale. Even Susan's death was dealt with without any drama.

I think that sitcoms' need to involve more realistic situations really hinders them. This is no better evident than in The Simpsons. The first 2 seasons were horrible because they tried to do typical more realistic sitcom storylines. When the show started to completely focus on comedy in season 3 on, it reached true greatness.

That's not to say that you shouldn't combine comedy and drama, but imo you have to be really fucking good to do it. I really think some of those horrible sitcoms that stink up tv could actually become watchable if the creators decided to either focus entirely on drama or entirely on comedy.

Well it might be a chicken-egg type of thing, but I always thought the "show about nothing" came from the show itself. When Seinfeld's character gets a deal with NBC to make a pilot, he and George attempt to write a sit-com and make their pitch. Most sit-coms have some sort of hook. Like Cheers and the bar or Night court and the Courtroom. But George and Jerry decide to do a show about everyday life, nothing special. They pitch it as a show about nothing.

People took that moniker and applied it to the actual show Seinfeld, because it's basically the same thing. Now of course, I'm assuming that the show came up with the phrase first, and not visa versa. I don't really recall specifically.

Is the show really about nothing though? Not exactly. It's more of an exaggeration, although Seinfeld did keep things pretty simple. But as I stated above, I thought the term came from the show itself. Doesn't necessarily make it true though.

Well, just take Friends for instance.

They had plotlines like getting caught in an ATM vestibule or finding your identical hand twin.

I dunno, I guess I didn't see anything on Seinfeld that I haven't seen on other sitcoms.

Even the 30-min waiting episode was done on Friends as well (can't remember who did it first though.)

In the third episode of the fourth season, Jerry was approached by NBC to create a sitcom, and George suggested that they should develop a show about "nothing" since other TV shows were always about something, and I think this is how the show about nothing caught on since most TV viewers weren't familiar with this show for its first three seasons.

I think the show really started to shine and got better ratings in the fourth season with its complex plot and sub-plot in each episode. The first two seasons weren't very funny and the pilot was rather dull. In today's environment, "Seinfeld" would have been cancelled right after its first season.

I think that something that helps that reputation is that with a few exceptions (George working for the Yankees, various relationships) there is essentally no difference between an episode from Season 4 or Season 6 or Season 9. Unlike a show like Friends, or X-Files, or what-have-you, you can just pick up an episode rerun without missing a beat.

they actually made episodes about it when they were doing the "jerry" show for nbc (forgot what season those would be). george described it when they were talking about whatever...hed say something like "this...this could be a show"

jerry would then say "what would? we arent doing anything"

exactly.

Salsa? Seltzer! Seltzer? Salsa!

das

I think Jerry has said before that it was a little offensive to call it a show about nothing....as was previously mentioned this moniker seemed to stick when they were pitching a show about nothing on a seinfeld episode, but that show wasn't meant to represent seinfeld

Seinfeld was seen as a very different sitcom when it first premiered many years ago. At this point, it can be hard to see that as things have changed so much.

Friends would often do things that were reminiscent of what would be done on Seinfeld. For instance, there is an episode of Friends where the whole episode is Ross waiting for everyone else to get ready to attend some fancy dinner. If you read the book on Friends, the writers wrote that as an homage to Seinfeld.

Well, as Jericho was saying, I always figured people called it that because it didn't have a "hook."

Like Cheers is about a bar, or Taxi is about a... taxi...

You mean, "the same kinds of issues that every other sitcome deals with NOW."

Since Seinfeld became big, there's been tons of shows about nothing, like Friends, or "The ___ Show". But go back before Seinfeld and they all had a "situation." That's why they're called sitcoms, and if you think back, it's just silly that they felt a need to come up with a comedic situation for every show for so many years.

As much as I love Friends I've noticed tons of jokes and plotlines(watching them on DVD) that are completely ripped from Seinfeld and Cheers. They just put a new 'spin' on it to make it their own. It is amazing how quick other shows focued on the mundane after Seinfeld became a hit.

Seinfeld did it all before Friends. It was an original on a tube filled with 90% of un-originals.

For me, what really makes Seinfeld stand out from other sitcoms is that all the main characters are jerks. Real, unapologetic assholes. That's something no other show has dared, before or since.

They had a sign up in the writer's room: "No hugging, no learning." That sums it up quite well, I think.

In the early years I couldn't stand the show because George irritated me for just such reasons. I've known people who "hate" Elaine for the same reasons. The characters were portrayed as self-centered pricks.

Of course, I grew up and realized the comedic genius of it all. I think it is the greatest network sitcom of all time.

In the 2nd season of Curb Your Enthusiasm I think it is hilarious when Larry gets really ticked because people (including Jason Alexander & Julia Louis-Dreyfus) rip the "George" character as the "idiot, jerk, pratfall". The looks on Larry David's face are priceless.

those are some of my fav episodes. I think there's a lot of Larry in "George".

birrman54

This is exactly where the quote came from...although I think Jerry may have been referring to the show this way (in interviews and such) before he put it into an episode.

<small></small>As I watch the Friends repeats, more and more I think of Rachel in just that way!

Although in Seinfeld I find it more obvious, paradoxically, it seems more acceptable!

Go figure!

I still can't believe that someone thinks that Seinfeld is only an average sitcom.

Well, Friends probably isn't the best example, since it started AFTER Seinfeld's popularity. It can be argued that Friends 'borrowed' a lot of its tone from Seinfeld.

I remember when Seinfeld ended Jerry Seinfeld was on the Today show the morning of the last episode and Katie Couric asked about the title "the show about nothing." Seinfeld answered that it was George Costanza's idea and i believe his exact words were "because George is an idiot!"