8 Ways Test Audiences Changed TV Shows

Seinfeld didn't get off to what you'd class as the best of starts when it came to unleashing the likes of Jerry Seinfeld, George Constanza, and Cosmo Kramer onto the unsuspecting test public. In short, the pilot went down like a led balloon.

Audiences even went as far as to lump the comedy with the "honour" of being one of the lowest-testing pilots ever brought into existence, with those early viewers not holding back when claiming, "It's not funny."

Against all the odds, though, the show was still somehow picked up for a whopping four episodes. But while the core group of men who hadn't exactly endeared themselves to those initial testers were kept on, it was the later inclusion of Elaine Benes to the gang which proved to be the real game-changer.

Had it not been for those original terrible responses to the largely unlikeable trio of dudes, the showrunners likely wouldn't have been made to embrace the personality of Elaine in the way they ultimately did as Julia Louis-Dreyfus' character would go on to become an entry point of sorts when it came to understanding the various oddities on the show.

It also came to light later down the line that NBC had demanded the casting of a female lead after feeling the show was simply too male-centric after that early pilot flop. See, sometimes executive meddling can be a good thing. Honest.