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Seinfeld season 1

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Seinfeld
Season 1
DVD cover
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

Season one 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, the series' 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]

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

Castle Rock Entertainment produced Seinfeld and Columbia Pictures Television and Columbia TriStar Television distributed the series. Seinfeld was aired on NBC in the US.[6] Larry David was the main show runner, the person who is responsible for the day-to-day operations, for this season, 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 the worries about the rights to use the name.[2]

Reception

The pilot was met with poor responses from test audiences, and NBC decided not to pick up the show.[2] Believing the series had potential, NBC executive Rick Ludwin ordered four episodes about a year after NBC's rejection. The first of these 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, which means 13.9 percent of households were tuned in at any given moment; additionally, 26 percent of all televisions in use at the time were tuned into this program.[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 after by advertisers. This gave NBC an incentive to keep broadcasting the show.[9] "The Stake Out" was nominated for a Writer's Guild Award.[10]

Retrospective reception of the season has been positive. On Metacritic, it received a weighted mean score of 78/100, indicating "generally favorable reviews."[11] 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.

Episodes

See also: List of Seinfeld episodes
No.
overall		No. in
season		TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateUS viewers
(millions)
11"The Seinfeld Chronicles"Art WolffLarry David & Jerry SeinfeldJuly 5, 1989 (1989-07-05)15.4[12]
22"The Stake Out"Tom CheronesLarry David & Jerry SeinfeldMay 31, 1990 (1990-05-31)22.5[13]
33"The Robbery"Tom CheronesMatt GoldmanJune 7, 1990 (1990-06-07)19.7[14]
44"Male Unbonding"Tom CheronesLarry David & Jerry SeinfeldJune 14, 1990 (1990-06-14)19.1[15]
55"The Stock Tip"Tom CheronesLarry David & Jerry SeinfeldJune 21, 1990 (1990-06-21)19.4[16]

References

General sources

  • "Seinfeld Official Site". Sony Pictures. Retrieved 2009-01-30.
  • "The Seinfeld episode search at Seinfeld Official Site". Sony Pictures. Archived from the original on 2009-05-11. Retrieved 2009-01-30.
  • "The Seinfeld Season 1 on TBS". TBS. Archived from the original on 2011-09-28. Retrieved 2009-01-30.

Specific sources and notes

  1. ^ a b c "The Seinfeld Chronicles episode at Seinfeld Official Site". Sony Pictures. Archived from the original on 2008-10-25. Retrieved 2008-04-22.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Seinfeld Seasons 1 & 2: Notes about Nothing – "The Seinfeld Chronicles" (DVD). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. 2008-04-22.
  3. ^ a b "Seinfeld Episodes | TVGuide.com". TV Guide. Retrieved 2008-04-22.
  4. ^ "Seinfeld region 1 DVD". DVD Movie Guide. Retrieved 2009-02-01.
  5. ^ "Season 1 and 2 DVD on Seinfeld website". Sony Pictures. Retrieved 2008-05-12.
  6. ^ a b "The Seinfeld Crew and Credits at Seinfeld Official Site". Sony Pictures. Archived from the original on 2009-07-23. Retrieved 2008-04-30.
  7. ^ "The Robbery episode at Seinfeld Official Site". Sony Pictures. Archived from the original on 2007-11-17. Retrieved 2008-04-29.
  8. ^ "Seinfeld and nihilism". The Observer. 1999-12-03. Archived from the original on 2007-12-17. Retrieved 2008-04-29.
  9. ^ Rapp, David (2006-05-31). "Seinfeld: The Unlikeliest Success Story". American Heritage. Archived from the original on 2008-03-15. Retrieved 2008-03-19.
  10. ^ "The Stake Out episode at Seinfeld Official Site". Sony Pictures. Archived from the original on 2008-06-14. Retrieved 2008-04-29.
  11. ^ "Seinfeld: Season 1". Metacritic. Retrieved 2014-02-16.
  12. ^ "Hit Shows That Got Off to a Slow Start: Seinfeld". The TV Ratings Guide. Retrieved July 3, 2017.
  13. ^ "'Seinfeld' is a standup hit". USA Today. Gannett Company. June 6, 1990. p. D3. Retrieved December 30, 2013.
  14. ^ "'Mysteries' cracks the top 5". USA Today. Gannett Company. June 13, 1990. p. D3. Retrieved December 30, 2013.
  15. ^ "'Seinfeld' is still going strong". USA Today. Gannett Company. June 20, 1990. p. D3. Retrieved December 30, 2013.
  16. ^ "Mandela didn't inspire ratings". USA Today. Gannett Company. June 27, 1990. p. D3. Retrieved December 30, 2013.
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