Seinfeld (season 1)

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Seinfeld (season 1)
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DVD cover
Country of origin United States
No. of episodes 5
Release
Original network NBC
Original release July 5, 1989 – June 21, 1990
Season chronology
Next →
Season 2
List of Seinfeld 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 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] 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 reviews, 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]

In retrospect, however, reception of the season has been more 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

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See also: List of Seinfeld episodes
No.
overall		 No. in
season		 Title Directed by Written by Original air date [3] Prod.
code [12]		 U.S. viewers
(millions)
1 1 "The Seinfeld Chronicles"
"Good News, Bad News"
"Pilot"		 Art Wolff Larry David & Jerry Seinfeld July 5, 1989 101 15.4[13]

Jerry tells George about a woman named Laura he met in Michigan who is coming to New York for a seminar. Jerry wonders if she has romantic intentions. The two continue to talk about her after they leave the luncheonette. Jerry then receives a telephone call from Laura, who asks if she can stay overnight at his apartment. Jerry invites her, but is still unsure whether or not her visit is intended to be romantic. Jerry and Laura arrive at the apartment. Laura then receives a call and when Laura gets off the phone she tells Jerry: "Never get engaged." Jerry then realizes that he has no chance with Laura, but has already committed himself to an entire weekend with her.

Note: Julia Louis-Dreyfus does not appear in this episode.
2 2 "The Stake Out" Tom Cherones Larry David & Jerry Seinfeld May 31, 1990 103 22.5[14]
During a party, Jerry flirts with a woman but fails to learn anything about her except her place of work. Jerry is reluctant to find out her phone number from Elaine because he does not talk about other women to her. Jerry's father, Morty Seinfeld, suggests that he should wait outside the building for the woman and pretend to meet her accidentally. Jerry goes along with the idea. He manages to meet the woman, whose name is Vanessa. The two then decide to go out on a date.
3 3 "The Robbery" Tom Cherones Matt Goldman June 7, 1990 104 19.7[15]
Jerry is robbed after Kramer leaves Jerry's door open, so Jerry decides to find a new apartment. As a real estate broker, George finds a new apartment for Jerry, but then wants it for himself. The group argues about who should receive the apartment, with Elaine getting either George or Jerry's apartment, depending on who moves. Not wanting to hurt their friendship, Jerry and George decide not to move and give the apartment to someone else. After seeing how much the new owners enjoy the apartment, they regret their decision.
4 4 "Male Unbonding" Tom Cherones Larry David & Jerry Seinfeld June 14, 1990 102 19.1[16]
Jerry tries to avoid meeting an old childhood friend, Joel Horneck, who persists in keeping in touch with him. Jerry claims that the reason he has not broken up the relationship is because Joel is a man. George suggests that Jerry should pretend that Joel is a woman and break up normally. Jerry attempts to break up with Joel, but Joel bursts into tears; Jerry changes his mind and agrees to take him to see the New York Knicks. Meanwhile, Kramer, working under the name Kramerica Industries, is working on the idea of building a pizza place where you make your own pizza pie.
5 5 "The Stock Tip" Tom Cherones Larry David & Jerry Seinfeld June 21, 1990 105 19.4[17]
George gets a stock tip, and after investing $5,000, he passes the tip on to Jerry, who invests $2,500. Jerry goes on a first date with Vanessa; a weekend away at a place Elaine recommends. As George predicted, the date ends up being a disaster. Meanwhile, both George and Jerry are shocked to discover that the source of the stock tip had been admitted into the hospital. While they are unsure of when to sell the stock, the stock's value plummets. Jerry finally sells it, but its value subsequently begins to rise, and George ends up making an $8,000 profit.

References

General sources
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Specific sources and notes
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "tvg" defined multiple times with different content
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ {{cite web|url=http://epguides.com/Seinfeld/%7Ctitle=Seinfeld Prod. Codes for all seasons|publisher=epguide.com|accessdate=2008-03-23}}
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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