Tribute to Seinfeld-the Show

If you think back to all of the previous years of television, what is your all time favorite sitcom? Some of the memorable ones for many are: The Three Stooges, I Love Lucy, Mash, Three's Company, Cheers, Frasier, Everybody Loves Raymond, King of Queens, Friends and even The Simpsons and Family Guy. Could you pick just one?

I'm generally not someone who sits in front of the television as my attention span simply doesn't allow for it. I'm not that focused or interested and I wind up getting up to do other things, but one show I was able to sit through on the nights that it aired during the time period of 1989-1998 was Seinfeld. On those nights, I made sure that I was glued to the television and didn't take any calls. Luckily, cell phones didn't belong to the masses back then like they do now, so there were no interruptions.

As a matter of fact, on May 14, 1998, I remember sitting in front of the television prepared to watch the very last show of this hilarious sitcom prepped with chips, onion dip and a soda. The stereotypical icon of a couch potato. I think that was the only time I ever felt a wave of sadness come over me as I knew the humor was over.

The show lasted for nine wonderful seasons and was created by both Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David. It was, as one of the shows that aired stated, a show about nothing. Create a summary of an active week and there's your show. Sit all day in an airport and people-watch, and there's another show. As you walk through the streets of your life, you are, in essence re-enacting another Seinfeld show. You just don't know it yet. The show might've been able to last for nine more seasons without growing stale, though I understand that it's better to get off the air with nine seasons of perfection rather than eighteen seasons of "eh."

• Jerry Seinfeld, who played himself as a comedian.
• Jason Alexander who played Jerry's friend George Costanza who behaved in a fairly questionable manner often fabricating creative lies to help him through whatever life crisis was presented to him and conjuring up schemes that no one in this world would otherwise think of. His parents were overbearing screamers who could quite conceivably be blamed for George's shortcomings.
• Julia Louis-Dreyfus who played Jerry's ex-girlfriend and friend, Elaine Benes. I wonder how many people would bruise as she yelled "Get Out!" followed by a strong push.
• Michael Richards who played Jerry's out-of-work, somewhat eccentric neighbor, Cosmo Kramer, who had no trouble walking into Jerry's apartment, taking whatever he wanted at any time of the day and walking right out.

To date, this show is still one of the funniest sitcoms in existence and as far as I know, the only sitcom that was funny the entire show without any sappy parts, tragic love triangles or drama. Even when George's fiancé Susan died from licking the glue on the cheap envelopes that were to be used for sending out wedding invitations, no one shed a tear. In fact, I believe they suggested to get coffee afterwards.

So What's Your Favorite?

With so many episodes to choose from, which one is your favorite? I'm not so sure I could pick one, so here are a few that I found most memorable and enjoyable.

The Pez Dispenser

Who can forget this one? George is dating a pianist and Jerry and Elaine go together to the recital. Out of the blue, Jerry places a Tweety-bird pez dispenser on Elaine's leg while George's girlfriend is playing her heart out on the piano. Of course, Jerry does this so indiscreetly, so when Elaine looks down to see what was on her leg, she loses all sanity and begins to laugh a loud and unforgettable laugh, eventually causing George and his girlfriend to break up.

The Junior Mint

Jerry has started dating one of many of his girlfriends, but there's one small problem-he can't remember her name. He couldn't tell her this, of course, so he tries to get it out of her by saying kids always made of his name when he was younger. She retorts that she had it worse, since her name rhymed with a female body part. Jerry's guesses are futile to say the least. The most memorable one being Mulva. In another part of the same show, Kramer and Jerry go to watch Elaine's friend, Roy, get surgery and to celebrate the observation, Kramer brings a box of junior mints. Jerry refuses to eat one and in disbelief that anyone could refuse such a delicious candy, they get into a scuffle, knocking a junior mint into the vital organs of Roy's body.

The Hamptons

There's nothing like seeing the joy of new parents when they finally bring home their brand-new baby. But what do you do if the baby is, shall we say, not from the best looking gene pool? From this episode, I can still hear the whine from the mother of the baby screeching "Ya gotta see the baby!" And I can still hear George's desperate screaming of "I was in the pool!" when he is accidentally seen naked by Jerry's girlfriend.

The Fire

George's girlfriend invites him over to her son's birthday party and for entertainment, she chooses "Eric" the Clown. As George harasses him because he has never heard of Bozo, the clown loses it and tells him that he's hung up on a clown from the 60's. In the meantime, food cooking in the oven begins to burn causing smoke to fill the kitchen. The visual I'll never get out of my mind is George running and pushing kids, and adults out of the way, even an old woman with a walker wasn't exempt from his panicked state.

Those are only few, but there are so many more.

Don't Double Dip a Chip

Can you Spare a Square

He's a Close Talker

He's a Low Talker

Yada Yada Yada

Not That There's Anything Wrong With That!

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Feel free to add more from this show in the comments!

I can honestly say that I still watch the re-runs on television and still laugh at each episode. I wonder if there will ever be another show quite as funny that captured the attention of so many viewers.

What I find unavoidable is referring to the show with real life situations because as crazy as they may have seemed at the time, I find them to be more and more realistic as life goes on.

How about you? Did you watch Seinfeld when it aired? Do you still watch re-runs today?

If not, what was your favorite sitcom? Feel free to comment in the comments section!

Thanks for reading!

~Elizabeth Parker

"Bringing awareness about dog adoption and rescue, one dog at a time!"

Author of Finally Home, Final Journey, Paw Prints in the Sand, Paw Prints in the Sand: Mission Accomplished, My Dog Does That!, Bark Out Loud, Unwanted Dreams, Phobia, Evil's Door and Faces of Deception. All books are available in Kindle and paperback format on Amazon.com.