20 Mind-Blowing Facts You Didn't Know About Seinfeld

1. Seinfeld Wasn't Pitched As "A Show About Nothing"

Seinfeld Promo
NBC

If you ask Seinfeld fans to summarise the series, they'll probably say "It's a show about nothing." The episode, The Chinese Restaurant, is often used to highlight this statement since nothing of consequence happens. The gang wait in a queue for 20 minutes. They don't get into the restaurant. The end.

Because the gang never seem to learn from their mistakes, they don't really develop, emphasising once again that nothing important happens. The very first and last discussion is of George complaining to Jerry about a button to emphasise the characters haven't grown in any way over the last nine years.

According to Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, the series was never meant to be "about nothing". Seinfeld was originally pitched to show how a comedian gets his stand-up material. Although this is emphasised in earlier episodes, the stand-up bits were eventually phased out.

In Season 4, there is a meta-story where a studio asks Jerry if he is interested in starring in a show about his life. George tells Jerry the show should be about "nothing", which is how Seinfeld became associated with this concept.

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James Egan has been with Whatculture for five years and prominently works on Horror, Film, and Video Games. He's written over 80 books including 1000 Facts about Horror Movies Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about The Greatest Films Ever Made Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about Video Games Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts About James Bond 1000 Facts About TV Shows