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Seinfeld

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Television

                           Seinfeld
                     Image:Seinfeld.png
         Genre       Sitcom
     Running time    21 Minutes (syndication),
                     22 Minutes (original)
      Creator(s)     Larry David
                     Jerry Seinfeld
       Starring      Jerry Seinfeld
                     Jason Alexander
                     Julia Louis-Dreyfus
                     Michael Richards
   Country of origin Flag of United States  United States
   Original channel  NBC
     Original run    July 5, 1989– May 14, 1998
    No. of episodes  180 (171 single parters, 9 two parters)
                       Official website
                         IMDb profile
                        TV.com summary

   Seinfeld is an American television situation comedy set in New York
   City that ran from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998 running a total of
   nine seasons.

   The sitcom was one of the most popular TV programs of the 1990s, and
   many of its catchphrases have entered into the pop culture lexicon. The
   show was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld. The latter stars as
   the eponymous character based largely on himself. (See Jerry Seinfeld
   (character).) Set predominantly in an apartment block on Manhattan's
   Upper West Side, the show features a host of Jerry's friends and
   acquaintances, including George Louis Costanza ( Jason Alexander),
   Elaine Marie Benes ( Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and Cosmo Kramer ( Michael
   Richards).

   Seinfeld was produced by Castle Rock Entertainment then helmed by
   director-actor-producer Rob Reiner, and distributed by Columbia
   Pictures Television and Columbia TriStar Television (now Sony Pictures
   Television). Seinfeld was written largely by Larry David (co-written
   with Jerry Seinfeld early in its run), with later input from numerous
   script writers, including Larry Thomas, Gregg Kavet, Andy Robin, David
   Mandel, Jeff Schaffer, Steve Koren, Jennifer Crittenden, Tom Gamill &
   Max Pross, Alec Berg and Spike Feresten, most of whom had been
   nominated for best writing awards such as the Emmys.

Overview

   While most television sit-coms to date had been mostly family or
   co-worker driven, none of the Seinfeld characters are related by blood
   or employed by the same organization; in fact, many characters were not
   employed at all. Like the self-parodying "show within a show" episodes
   of year four, Seinfeld was perhaps, more than other sit-coms, a "show
   about nothing."
   Tom's Restaurant, a diner at 112th St. and Broadway in Manhattan,
   referred to as Monk's Cafe in the show.
   Enlarge
   Tom's Restaurant, a diner at 112th St. and Broadway in Manhattan,
   referred to as Monk's Cafe in the show.

   In the original concept, the show featured clips of Seinfeld himself
   delivering a standup routine in a club (in reality, the studio), the
   theme of which relates to the events depicted in the plot, at the
   beginning and end of each episode. This device deliberately blurred the
   distinction between the actor Jerry Seinfeld and the character whom he
   portrays. In later seasons, these standup clips became less frequent
   and were ultimately discontinued. The show's main characters were
   modeled after Seinfeld's or Larry David's real-life acquaintances. Many
   of the plot device too are based on real-life counterparts - such as
   the Soup Nazi (based on Al Yeganeh), J. Peterman of the J. Peterman
   catalogue, and New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner.

   In virtually every Seinfeld episode, several story threads are
   presented at the beginning, involving the characters in separate and
   unrelated situations. Rapid scene shifts between story lines moves the
   action forward as rapidly as possible. Despite the separate plot
   strands, the narratives show "consistent efforts to maintain [the]
   intimacy" between the small cast of characters. (Gantz 2000)

   The show kept a strong sense of continuity - characters and plots from
   past episodes were frequently referenced or expanded upon.
   Occasionally, storylines would span multiple episodes and even entire
   seasons. Larry David, the show's head writer and executive producer for
   the first seven seasons, was notorious for keeping a close eye on minor
   details and making sure the main characters' lives remained consistent
   and believable, and would later make use of season-long story arcs in
   his next series, Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Major characters

     * Jerome (Jerry) Seinfeld (played by Jerry Seinfeld) - Jerry is the
       "passive central player" in the show, a figure who is "able to
       observe the chaos around him but not always be a part of it." Plot
       lines involving Jerry often concern his various relationships --
       Jerry often finds "stupid reasons to break up" with women,
       something which according to Elaine occurs "every week."

     * George Louis Costanza (played by Jason Alexander) — Once succinctly
       described by Elaine as a "short, stocky, slow-witted, bald man",
       George is a neurotic, self-loathing man, dominated by his parents,
       Frank and Estelle. He has been best friends with Jerry since their
       middle school years. Co-creator and executive producer Larry David
       was the primary inspiration for the character.

     * Elaine Marie Benes (played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus) - Elaine is
       frequently a victim of fate. She may get caught up in the
       machinations of the other characters, or come into conflict with
       boyfriends or the arbitrary requirements of her eccentric
       employers. Many episodes end with Elaine ruining something for
       someone, in the same way she has of sabotaging her own
       relationships, such as Jerry's sitcom or the Soup Nazi's business.

     * Cosmo Kramer (played by Michael Richards) - Kramer is the wacky
       neighbour and friend of main character Jerry Seinfeld. He was once
       described by Elaine as "a tall, lanky doofus with a birdface and
       hair like the Bride of Frankenstein." His trademarks include his
       humorous upright bouffant hairstyle and vintage wardrobe, the
       combination of which led to his categorization as a 'hipster
       doofus'; his violent bursts through Jerry's apartment door; his
       assortment of comic pratfalls; and his penchant for nonsensical,
       percussive bursts of noise to indicate skepticism, agreement, or
       annoyance.

Minor characters in Seinfeld

     * Minor characters in Seinfeld

   There were numerous recurring minor characters in Seinfeld. The most
   prominent were:

   Newman- A rotund postal worker who served as an accomplice of Kramer
   and a nemesis of Jerry, Newman was a neighbour of both and was noted
   for his excessive eating habits.

   Frank Costanza/ Estelle Costanza- George's eccentric parents. George
   credits them with driving him crazy.

   Susan Ross- George's fiancée, she died in the finale of Season 7 after
   licking the cheap on cheap wedding invitation envelopes that George had
   bought. She was previously an NBC executive and she also briefly
   experimented with lesbianism.

   Morty Seinfeld/ Helen Seinfeld- Jerry's parents. Morty was most famous
   for stubbornly sticking to his convictions; Helen didn't understand why
   anyone wouldn't like her son Jerry.

   Uncle Leo- Jerry's uncle and Helen's brother. He personified the
   eccentric old man and frequently belittled Jerry with comparisons to
   his own purportedly successful son.

   David Puddy- Elaine's on-and-off boyfriend. He was a fine auto
   mechanic, but was also an airhead with numerous quirks.

   J. Peterman- Elaine's eccentric boss. He owned the J. Peterman
   haberdashery (based on a store of the same name) whose catalog Elaine
   worked on.

   George Steinbrenner- George's boss and owner of the New York Yankees.
   Steinbrenner's face was never shown. Voiced by Larry David, he was
   notable for his arrogance and being out-of-touch with the actual
   running of a baseball team.

No hugging, no learning

   Seinfeld violated several of the conventions of mainstream television.
   The show, which correctly or not is often described as "about nothing",
   became the first television series widely described as postmodern,.
   Several elements of Seinfeld fit in with a postmodern interpretation.

   The characters were: "thirty-something singles ... with no roots, vague
   identities, and conscious indifference to morals." . And the usual
   convention of isolating the characters from the actors playing them,
   and separating the characters' world from that of the actors and
   audience was broken. For example the story arc in which the characters'
   are promoting a television sitcom series named Jerry. Jerry was much
   like Seinfeld in that Seinfeld played himself, and that the show was
   "about nothing." Jerry was launched in the 1993 season four finale, in
   an episode titled " The Pilot."

   On the set this was expressed as the "no hugging, no learning" rule,
   which held that the characters should not develop or improve throughout
   the series. In the final episode Jerry and George are only inches away
   from hugging when they are told that their show was to be aired once
   again on NBC but they end up not making any contact.

   Gantz maintains that another factor in, or further proof of,
   spectators' and characters' participation in a larger Seinfeld
   community is the large amount of in- slang, "a lexicon of Seinfeldian
   code words and recurring phrases that go unnoticed by the infrequent or
   'unknowing' viewer". Only the cognoscenti would understand the concepts
   of "double dipping" or "close-talking", or appreciate the addition of
   "not that there's anything wrong with that" by someone trying to take
   the edge off a politically incorrect remark. The idea that Seinfeld is
   postmodern has been disputed by postmodern intellectuals including
   Jacques Derrida.

Response

   The show premiered as The Seinfeld Chronicles on Thursday, May 31, 1990
   on NBC. The show was not an immediate success. After the pilot was
   shown, on July 5, 1989, a pickup by the NBC network did not seem likely
   and the show was actually offered to Fox, which declined to pick up the
   show. It was only thanks to Rick Ludwin, head of late night and special
   events for NBC, for diverting money from his budget, that the next four
   episodes were filmed (to which he admitted in an interview for NBC's
   special "The Seinfeld Story"). After nine years on the air and 176
   episodes filmed (along with 4 clip shows,) the series finale of
   Seinfeld aired on Thursday, May 14, 1998. It was watched by a huge
   audience, estimated at 76 million viewers. Jerry Seinfeld holds both
   the record for the "most money refused" according to the Guinness Book
   of World Records by refusing an offer to continue the show for $5
   million per episode, and another record for the Highest Ever Annual
   Earnings For A TV Actor, while the show itself held the record for the
   Highest Television Advertising Rates up until 2004, when the final
   episode of Friends aired.

   In 2004 a deal was negotiated to make Seinfeld available on DVD for the
   first time. Due to legal problems with the cast involving episode
   commentary and other DVD extras, the release was pushed back. The first
   3 seasons were released November 23, 2004, and season 4 was released on
   May 17, 2005. Season 5 and season 6 were released on November 22, 2005.
   Season 7 will be released in the U.S on November 21, 2006. The release
   date(s) for the final two seasons are unknown, but a May, 2007 release
   appears to be most likely.

   The show topped TV Guide's list of the top 50 greatest shows of all
   time in 2002, and was so influential in the '90s popular culture, it
   came in first in E!'s 2004 countdown of 101 Reasons the 90s Ruled. For
   its impact, the show won countless awards throughout the decade,
   including winning 10 Emmy awards and being nominated in every year of
   its run.

   According to Bruce Fretts' 1993 The "Entertainment Weekly" "Seinfeld"
   Companion, Seinfeld's audience was, "TV-literate, demographically
   desirable urbanites, for the most part - who look forward to each
   weekly episode in the Life of Jerry with a baby-boomer generation's
   self-involved eagerness."

Criticism and popularity

Seasons 1-5: Critical Favorite

   Television critics championed the series from the beginning, even as it
   was slower-paced and had yet to catch on with viewers. The series was
   widely seen as steadily improving over its first five seasons. Seasons
   four and five in particular are considered the show's "prime," as it
   became one of television's top-rated comedies and managed to impress
   critics at magazines such as TV Guide, Entertainment Weekly and even
   The New Yorker.

   Season four marked Seinfeld's first entrance in the top 30-ranked
   television shows, and produced a string of high-profile episodes (e.g.
   " The Outing," " The Bubble Boy") but chief among them was " The
   Contest," from an Emmy-winning script by co-creator Larry David, whose
   subject matter - masturbation - was considered both risky for producers
   and risqué by audiences.

Seasons 6 & 7: "Crawling," Return to Form

   Season six found the show changing directors ( Andy Ackerman replacing
   Tom Cherones) and slightly altering its pace, to the displeasure of
   some. Jerry Seinfeld later told TV Guide that he and his writers were
   "crawling" creatively at this point, struggling to keep its premises
   and trademark resolutions on par with previous seasons. Even so, the
   series remained well-regarded and produced some of its most famous
   shows (" The Fusilli Jerry," " The Jimmy"). This was also the first
   season Seinfeld scored #1 in the Nielsen ratings.

   The series bounced back from this dry spell - according to the cast,
   crew and many critics - at the beginning of season seven. A younger and
   almost all-new writing staff poked fun at the underdeveloped lives of
   its four lead characters, who were now becoming neurotic, single
   forty-somethings. A story arc was introduced in which George Costanza
   became engaged to former girlfriend Susan Ross, whose life was derailed
   by him a few seasons back. Ranking in its highest ratings ever,
   Seinfeld produced some of its most well-regarded episodes in the first
   half of this season - namely " The Soup Nazi," " The Sponge" and " The
   Rye."

Season Seven Finale: Too Far?

   Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

   As the season advanced, it took on an increasingly darker tone. This
   culminated in perhaps the most polarizing episode in the series, " The
   Invitations," which boasted a surprise ending in which Susan is
   unexpectedly killed. The cause of death is revealed to be a toxic glue
   on cheap wedding invitations picked out by George, who fails to conceal
   his relief that their engagement has been prematurely dissolved.

Seasons 8 & 9: After Larry David

   The show divided even more of its audience in its final two seasons.
   Executive producer and alleged driving-force behind Seinfeld,
   writer/comedian Larry David, left the series (except to continue a
   recurring voice-over as George Steinbrenner). Without his, as Jerry
   Seinfeld put it, "obsessive" attention, the show became more of a
   fast-paced, absurdist farce, with more slapstick humor and plotlines
   occasionally delving into pure fantasy.

   Some of these earlier off-beat entries were greeted as fun diversions,
   such as " The Bizarro Jerry" (which featured Elaine befriending polar
   opposites of Jerry, George and Kramer). As the eighth and ninth seasons
   progressed, however, most critics felt the show had gotten too
   cartoonish for its own good. The New York Post went so far as to
   conduct a poll early in the ninth season, asking readers whether or not
   the series was as strong as it used to be. More than half of those
   polled said that it was not up to its previous standards. Jerry
   Seinfeld responded with a letter to the paper thanking them for
   considering his show to be so important.

   Many fans argue that even as Seinfeld changed its comedic approach in
   later years, it remained funny and watchable. It certainly remained
   popular, continuing to spawn catch phrases (a la "Serenity Now!", "Yada
   Yada Yada"), and stayed atop the Nielsen Ratings through its series
   finale.

Ending

Hype

   On December 26, 1997, Jerry Seinfeld announced that the series would
   end production the following spring. The announcement made the front
   page of all the major New York newspapers, including the New York
   Times. Jerry Seinfeld was even featured on the cover of Time Magazine's
   first issue of 1998.

   The series ended with a 75-minute episode (cut down to 60 minutes in
   syndication, in two parts) written by returning co-creator and former
   executive producer Larry David. It also was the first episode since the
   seventh season to feature opening and closing stand-up acts by Jerry
   Seinfeld. The finale was filmed in front of an audience of NBC
   executives and additional friends of the show. The press and the public
   were shut out of the filming for the sake of keeping its plot secret,
   and all who attended the finale signed written "vows of silence."

   With all the hype surrounding the finale, the episode aired on the same
   day that Frank Sinatra died. The episode's airing was largely
   overshadowed by this event.
   Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

   The secrecy only seemed to increase speculation on how the series would
   end. Some suggested Jerry and Elaine would get married, and more
   cynical fans favored Julia Louis-Dreyfus's suggestion that the foursome
   die in a car accident after all their wishes come true. The producers
   of the show tweaked the media about the hype, spreading a false rumor
   about Newman ending up in the hospital and Jerry and Elaine sitting in
   a chapel, presumably to get married.

   The actual finale poked fun at the many rumors that were circulating,
   seeming to move into several supposed plots before settling on its true
   storyline - a lengthy trial in which Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer
   are prosecuted for lack of humanity.

The Finale

   Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

   The series' final one hour episode aired on NBC on Thursday May 14,
   1998, following a one-hour retrospective and clip show which included
   memorable scenes from the show's 180 episodes. The final episode began
   with Jerry and George being offered a series commitment for their
   failed 1993 pilot Jerry by NBC executives. When Jerry and George
   announce their news to their friends and family, they decide to
   celebrate their good news by vacationing to Paris with Elaine and
   Kramer. On the way to Paris, the plane loses control when Kramer, in an
   attempt to free water from his ear, loses his balance and falls into
   the cockpit, and the friends believe that they are about to die.
   Shortly after, the pilot makes an emergency landing in a Massachusetts
   town where they witness a mugging and are arrested for violating a Good
   Samaritan law. The four friends are put on trial and are sent to jail
   for one year after the jury and judge hear testimonies from a parade of
   familiar people whom the four friends have hurt or affected in the
   past. The final conversation between George and Jerry was regarding the
   "second button" on a buttoned up shirt and how it lies in a no-man's
   land. The two characters question whether or not they have had the
   conversation already. The "second button" conversation was the first
   conversation in the very first episode.

   The plot of this episode is generally seen as an homage to Albert
   Camus' novel, The Stranger.

   The episode was the third most watched finale in television history.
   However, the reaction to the episode was mixed; many felt as if the
   episode, by criticizing the main characters, in turn criticized the
   audience that watched them as well.

Life After Seinfeld

The "Seinfeld curse"

   Alexander, Louis-Dreyfus and Richards have all attempted unsuccessfully
   to launch new sitcoms as title-role characters. Despite decent acclaim
   and even some respectable ratings, almost every show was cancelled
   quickly, usually within the first season. This has given rise to the
   term "Seinfeld curse" to describe sitcom failure by an actor following
   massive success on an ensemble show.

   Since the end of the program, Alexander has acted in film, theatre and
   television, including guest appearances on Larry David's HBO series
   Curb Your Enthusiasm. Louis-Dreyfus also appeared on Curb and has
   received on-screen and voice credits in television (such as Arrested
   Development) and animated film. Louis-Dreyfus is starring in the CBS
   sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine, which debuted in March 2006
   to strong ratings and has been consistent ever since. The show was also
   renewed for a second season, causing many to claim that the Seinfeld
   curse has been broken . She also received an Emmy for lead actress in a
   comedy series for her role as Christine. The "Seinfeld curse" was
   discussed in the opening of Saturday Night Live episode on May 13,
   2006, hosted by Louis-Dreyfus. Alexander and Seinfeld also appeared in
   this episode of SNL. Richards continues to appear in new film and
   television work as well.

   "It's so completely idiotic.... It's very hard to have a successful
   sitcom," Larry David once said of the curse. Most new sitcoms do not
   enjoy the success of hits like Seinfeld, though David's Curb Your
   Enthusiasm went on to win Emmy awards, perhaps because of his role
   behind rather than in front of the camera; the series relied on his
   signature humor, embodied in the Seinfeld character of George.

   Shows specifically cited regarding the Seinfeld curse are Jason
   Alexander's Bob Patterson and Listen Up!, Michael Richards' The Michael
   Richards Show, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus' Watching Ellie. Listen Up! 's
   22 episodes make it the longest running show starring a Seinfeld alumni
   since Seinfeld ended, although The New Adventures of Old Christine is
   likely to eclipse this number in late 2006.

   Patrick Warburton, who played David Puddy, was also hit by the curse
   when his superhero-themed show, The Tick, was canceled after just one
   season. However, he has found success in voice acting. His repertoire
   includes the voice of Joe Swanson in Family Guy, the title character of
   Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, acts in American Dad, Brock Samson in
   The Venture Bros., Steve Barkin in Kim Possible, the Wolf in
   Hoodwinked, and Kronk in The Emperor's New Groove, Kronk's New Groove,
   and the The Emperor's New School. Lately, he can be seen on ABC's show
   Less Than Perfect as Jeb Denton.

Successes

   Alexander was also the voice of Duckman, which had a certain amount of
   success (although this series ran from 1994 until 1997, which coincided
   with the run of Seinfeld). Wayne Knight has since had some roles with
   more or less the same importance of Newman, like the one in the not so
   successful The Edge, and one as a police officer in 3rd Rock from the
   Sun. He has also done some voice acting, his most notable current role
   being that of the dragon Dojo in Xiaolin Showdown. However, the actor
   who really broke the curse, at least for recurring guest stars, was
   Jerry Stiller who was cast successfully as Doug Heffernan's annoying
   father-in-law Arthur, in The King of Queens. Also, Bryan Cranston who
   had a semi-recurring role on Seinfeld as Dr. Tim Whatley, was later
   cast as Hal (Malcolm's father) on the successful and Emmy nominated
   show Malcolm in the Middle.

   In the summer of 2005, John O'Hurley, who played J. Peterman in a
   recurring role on the final seasons of Seinfeld, received extensive
   publicity when he finished as the runner-up on the highly rated
   American ABC reality series Dancing with the Stars to Kelly Monaco (but
   won the subsequent "rematch"). John O'Hurley has gone on to make cameo
   appearances in many other programs, including SpongeBob SquarePants and
   Drake & Josh. O'Hurley has also done numerous amounts of television
   commercials for GCI, an Alaskan phone and internet communications
   company. On September 11, 2006, O'Hurley started hosting Family Feud
   replacing former host, Richard Karn. Also, in a case of life imitating
   art, O'Hurley became a major investor in the real-life J. Peterman
   catalog company, and sits on the company's board of directors.

   On August 27th, 2006, Julia Louis-Dreyfus won an Emmy for her show The
   New Adventures of Old Christine, where she exclaimed, “I’m not somebody
   who really believes in curses, but curse this, baby" in reference to
   the "Seinfeld Curse."

Seinfeld himself

   Meanwhile, Seinfeld himself returned to stand-up comedy, touring in
   1998 and recording a comedy special entitled I'm Telling You for the
   Last Time. An album of the same name was also released that year, and
   it featured samples of his stand-up performance. The process of
   developing and performing new material at clubs around the world was
   chronicled in a 2002 documentary, Comedian, directed by Christian
   Charles. His stand-up routine is highly acclaimed and Seinfeld was
   ranked #12 in Comedy Central's list of the 100 greatest stand-ups of
   all time. Seinfeld has also written a few books, which are mostly
   archives of past routines.

   An episode of Saturday Night Live hosted by Jerry Seinfeld featured an
   "episode" of Oz (using the actual set and actors) where Jerry, who was
   sent to prison during the final episode of Seinfeld, is transferred to
   Em City; the short film combines and parodies memorable moments in both
   series.

   In 2004, Seinfeld also appeared in two commercials 'webisodes'
   promoting American Express Credit Cards in which he appeared together
   with an animated rendering of Superman, voiced by Patrick Warburton
   (who had portrayed David Puddy on Seinfeld). The webisodes were
   directed by Barry Levinson.

Product placement

   A recurring feature of Seinfeld was its use of specific products,
   especially candy, as plot points. These might be a central feature of a
   plot (e.g. Junior Mints, Twix, Jujyfruits, Chunky and Pez), or an
   association of a candy with a guest character (e.g. Oh Henry! bars), or
   simply a conversational aside (e.g. Chuckles). Non-candy products
   featured in Seinfeld include Rold Gold pretzels (whose advertisements
   at the time featured Jason Alexander), Kenny Rogers Roasters (a chicken
   restaurant chain), Drake's Coffee Cakes, Pepsi, Bosco Chocolate Syrup,
   Snapple, Cadillac, Saab, Specialized Bicycles, Tupperware, Calvin
   Klein, Klein Bicycles, Ovaltine, Arby's, TV Guide, Trump Tower, the
   board games Risk, Boggle, Scrabble, and Battleship, Entenmann's and the
   J. Peterman clothing catalog (which actually went bankrupt while the
   show was still active). The computers in Jerry's apartment are always
   Apple Macintosh; the featured model changed every few seasons to
   reflect Apple's latest offerings. Also seen throughout the show's run
   were many different brands of cereal, since Jerry ate a lot of it.

   The show's creators claim that they were not engaging in a product
   placement strategy for commercial gain. One of the motivations for the
   use of real-world products, quite unrelated to commercial
   considerations, is the comedy value of funny-sounding phrases and
   words. "I knew I wanted Kramer to think of watching the operation like
   going to see a movie," explained Seinfeld writer/producer Andy Robin in
   an interview published in the Hollywood Reporter. "At first, I thought
   maybe a piece of popcorn falls into the patient. I ran that by my
   brother, and he said, 'No, Junior Mints are just funnier.'"

   Nevertheless, Seinfeld is widely credited by marketers and advertisers
   with effecting a change in attitude toward product placement in US
   primetime TV shows. Product placement became more common in TV shows
   after Seinfeld demonstrated that a successful show could work specific
   products into its plots and dialogue.

   Although not exactly product placements, several episodes feature a
   Porsche-themed painting (depicting a 904 GTS race car competing in the
   1964 Targa Florio race in Italy, which it won) on a wall in Seinfeld's
   apartment. An issue of Excellence magazine, a Porsche-centered
   publication, is also featured prominently on an outdoor magazine rack.

   For details of a study on the effectiveness of product placement
   (without respect to whether it was paid for or intended to promote
   products), see "Television Programs and Advertising: Measuring the
   Effectiveness of Product Placement Within Seinfeld." by Dana T. Weaver
   of Penn State University.

   Two other types of advertising also capitalized on Seinfeld. One is a
   "Webisode," a reverse form of product placement. In this form, instead
   of inserting its product into an episode, American Express "inserted"
   Jerry Seinfeld and an animated Superman (voiced by Patrick Warburton,
   who also acted on the show, playing the role of David Puddy) into its
   commercial. The second type is the commercial use of the show's actors,
   such as Jason Alexander in a Chrysler commercial. In this type, which
   ran after the series ended, Alexander behaves much like his character
   George, and his relationship with Lee Iacocca plays on his George's
   relationship with George Steinbrenner. Similarly, Michael Richards was
   the focus of a series of advertisements for Vodafone which ran in
   Australia where he dressed and behaved exactly like Kramer, including
   the trademark bumbling pratfalls.

Trivia

     * Superman appears in every episode of Seinfeld, whether in
       character, or as an homage to the hero (i.e., Jerry often wears red
       and blue, the colors of Superman's costume).
     * All Seinfeld episodes start with the word ' The', with the
       exception of " Male Unbonding" (episode 4 from Season 1).
     * Jerry Seinfeld appears in every episode. Jason Alexander did not
       have a part in " The Pen". Michael Richards was absent from " The
       Pen" and " The Chinese Restaurant". Julia Louis-Dreyfus was missing
       from " The Pilot", " The Trip, Part 1", and " The Trip, Part 2".

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