I was a late arrival to Seinfeld fandom.
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Though the first episode was aired in the US in 1989, there would be a four-year delay until it was broadcast in the UK. As a teenager, and with the show lurking in the shadows of BBC's late-night schedules, it passed me by.
It wasn't until the 2010s when Seinfeld reappeared on UK TV in a prime-time slot. Fully aware of the show's standing in the canon of popular culture, this was my opportunity to tune in.
During the 2010s Seinfeld was also shown on cable networks, like Comedy Central, and then from 2015 became available on-demand in the USA on Hulu.
In 2019, Netflix spent over $500 million for the global streaming rights to broadcast Seinfeld from 2021 through to 2026. This propelled the show to a whole new generation of audiences.
1989
Seinfeld first aired on NBC in the USA
1993
Seinfeld first aired on BBC2 in the UK
2012
Seinfeld returns to UK prime-time on Sky TV
2015
Seinfeld available on-demand on Hulu in the USA
2021
Seinfeld launches on Netflix with worldwide streaming
If you’ve still never seen the show, let me bring you up to speed with a quick intro and explain why I became hooked after only a handful of episodes.
We'll learn a lot more about all the characters and locations later.
I was intrigued by the possibilities of mixing work with pleasure: visually exploring a sitcom through its data.
Intrigued became compelled. I wanted to explore how Seinfeld and David, with the support of their evolving pool of talented writers, managed to achieve such sustained sitcom brilliance. Much like a sports coach seeks to assemble the right players in the right combinations, to win a game, how did the Seinfeld ‘coaching team’ use their resources to assemble the right characters in the right scenes, in order to score the laughs and create TV gold?
A few years later, I decided it was time to revisit this work and develop a new format that could reach a wider audience.
Presenting, The Seinfeld Chronicles: Digital Edition.
Chronicle
nounA factual account of important of historical events in the order of their occurence.
verbTo record a series of events in a factual and detailed way.
The Seinfeld Chronicles
Also known as 'Good News, Bad News', or, simply, 'Pilot', 'The Seinfeld Chronicles' was the title given to the pilot episode of the popular American sitcom, Seinfeld.
Schedule
s1
1989-90
s2
1990-91
s3
1991-92
s4
1992-93
s5
1993-94
s6
1994-95
s7
1995-96
s8
1996-97
s9
1997-98
Let’s go back to the start. Seinfeld aired on US TV for the first time on Wednesday 5th July 1989, with a pilot episode titled 'Good News, Bad News'.
Though it was watched by 15.4M viewers, the early reviews were mixed - test audiences hated it, TV critics liked it - so its future was initially uncertain. However, thanks to the perseverance and persuasion of NBC executive Rick Ludwin, four more episodes were belatedly ordered to complete the unusually short first season.
This opening season belatedly wrapped a year later, in the summer of 1990, and was now receiving warmer ratings from critics and audiences alike. This response was positive enough to convince NBC to commission a second season, this time comprising 12 episodes.
Despite a slightly rocky start with Season Two, critical reviews and audience ratings continued to improve giving NBC reason to not only green-light a third season but to move the show into the sought-after Fall schedule, where buzz, anticipation, and advertising revenues peak.
Towards the middle of Season Four the show was moved to Thursdays, straight after Cheers, in the most popular prime-time slot.
When the final episode was broadcast, on 14th May 1998, it brought to an end nine seasons and a total of 180 episodes.
The data for this project was manually recorded through watching the DVD boxset of every one of the 176 written episodes (ignoring 4 specials/highlight shows).
