HALL OF FAME - Seinfeld

It begins and ends right here. Seinfeld is so much more than a show to me, it is a way of life. It is a lifestyle. It is a language of its own. It is the only show that brought a tear to my eye when it ended. It was an era with no DVRs and the shows didn't come out on DVD...it was an event. It really was Must See TV.

I was going to look up how many awards the show won and was nominated for, but it just doesn't matter. Seinfeld is above the Hall of Fame. The episodes are eminently re-watchable. If for some reason you haven't watched this show, I implore you to get the DVDs. Very few things in life deliver on expectations so high. Seinfeld does. (Except for the finale.)


The lines and phrases have become a part of my everyday life. A Close Talker, Man Hands, High Talker, Yada Yada Yada, The Drake, Two Face, Serenity Now, The Big Salad, Master of Your Domain, and on and on...Junior Mints are the only candy I still eat b/c of Seinfeld.

The Big 4 characters are among the best of all time. George Costanza may be the best sitcom character ever. The show opened the door for completely selfish characters. Before Seinfeld, characters always had redeeming qualities. What was George's redeeming quality? Can you think of one instance where he cared about anything but himself? Larry David had a rule for the show that there would be no learning and no hugging. There is no Always Sunny In Philadelphia and no Arrested Development without Seinfeld.

Then there was the smaller roles, from Mr. and Mrs. Costanza, Newman, Puddy, all the way down to the legendary cameos of Jackie Childs, the Bris Moyle, the library cop Bookman to name a few.

Ditto for the multiple converging and diverging story lines. Seinfeld pioneered that formula and took it to a level that few if any shows have been able to duplicate.

I tried to come up with a Top 10 episode list and the best I could do is a Top 50. There are that many memorable and funny episodes. There are 180 episodes total. That is one a day for 6 months. I think that is a doable task. The trouble will be limiting myself to one a day. It has been a few years since I went through the series.