During these rough times of COVID 19, civil unrest, and political divisiveness in our country, I thought it was time for a little levity. One of the unforeseen positives of staying home during this pandemic was allowing me to binge watch re-runs of Seinfeld on TBS. It once again made me appreciate why this tv series was so good! Seinfeld was such a ground-breaking show that arguably dominated 1990s television. Based out of Manhattan New York, Seinfeld, a sit-com that was supposedly “about nothing” has stood the test of time and it's just as funny today as it was during its nine-season run that ended in 1998. Unlike a lot of other tv shows where the quality sputters over time, Seinfeld seemed to improve with each passing season and left us wanting more.
The genius of Seinfeld was that the four main characters were very relatable in that you could see yourself in each of them along with the every-day situations that they found themselves in. Furthermore, the writing (largely co-written by creators Seinfeld and Larry David) was exceptional.
In addition, Seinfeld continued to impact our culture by introducing a vast amount of slang and funny sayings into the English language, many of which are still used today even after the series ended such as “shrinkage”, “spongeworthy”, “re-gifter”, “close-talker”, “Serenity Now” !, etc.
Now I know that this was an extremely difficult task to try to whittle down the ten best episodes out of 172 shows when there are so many greats to choose from. Inevitably, fans will argue why wasn’t this one or that one included? In selecting the list below, I tried to assemble what I consider to be the creme dela crème signature episodes that really defined what the series was about. So without further ado, Sighunt’s top ten:

10) The Chinese Restaurant (this one was a tie with the Parking Garage episode)- The whole episode centers around Jerry, Elaine and George patiently and frustratingly waiting for a table at a Chinese restaurant, on their way to see a one-night showing of a movie.
9) The Junior Mint-Elaine decides to visit her former boyfriend, who is in the hospital for a serious operation; Kramer and Jerry have an accident with a Junior Mint; Jerry has a date with a woman whose name rhymes with a female body part. Quote: “Who's gonna turn down a Junior Mint? It's chocolate, it's peppermint...it's delicious!”
8) The Yada Yada-George's new girlfriend keeps including "Yada Yada" in her stories. Jerry is offended by Tim Whatley's Jewish jokes. Elaine tries to help her friends adopt a baby. Kramer and Mickey fight over two women.
7) The Hamptons-Jerry and the gang go to the Hamptons for the weekend to see their friend's baby. George gets upset when he realizes that his date went topless on the beach. In exchange for Jerry having seen her breasts, George wants to see Jerry's date naked. Instead, Rachel walks in on George undressing after a swim, and she witnesses his post-swim "shrinkage". Quote: “I was in the pool!”
6) The Opposite- To change his lifelong bad luck, George determines to do everything the opposite. As a result, he winds up dating a fabulous woman and secures a job with the New York Yankees.
5) The Puffy Shirt-When Kramer and his soft-spoken girlfriend go out to dinner with Elaine and Jerry, Jerry unwittingly agrees to wear a puffy shirt that she designed on The Today Show. Quote: “I don't wanna be a pirate!”
4) The Soup Nazi-A soup stand owner obsesses about his customers' ordering procedure, but his soup is so good that people line up down the block for it anyway. Quote: "No soup for you one year!,"
3) The Marine Biologist-George starts dating a college friend who, thanks to Jerry, thinks George is now a marine biologist. Quote: "The sea was angry that day, my friends, like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli...”
2) The Outing-A prank by Elaine leads a newspaper journalist to think that Jerry and George are gay. Quote: “Not That There's Anything Wrong With That.”

And finally, drum roll please….Sighunt’s #1 pick for the single best episode of Seinfeld. Can there be any other? (Hint: it dealt with the taboo subject of self-gratification and never even mentioned the m word during the whole episode) and the one that arguably generated the most water cooler conversation amongst your co-workers the next day after it was aired.
1) The Contest- George's mother throws her back out when she falls down after catching him doing "..you know. I was alone.” When George says he'll never do it again, Jerry challenges him to a contest of self-denial, when he accepts, Elaine and Kramer want in on the action, or rather the lack of it. Quote: "But the question is, are you still master of your domain?”

I would love to hear your thoughts about these picks along with other essential episodes you think should have been included....

References utilized for this post:
IMDb
Famous Seinfeld quotes
TVIV
List of Seinfeld episodes Wikipedia



Edited 8 time(s). Last edit at 2020-06-24 22:22 by Sighunt.

"These preztels are making me thirsty!"

"Hazel really puts your mother to shame."

How about the episode with the cashmere sweeter with the red dot on it ? The issue about if you are on the wagon or you fell off and are no longer sober .That was a funny episode . Also what about the episode about the fat free yogurt ? With the funny remark from the kid that got caught swearing by his mother because he heard Jerry swear when the kid breaks Jerry's cassette with his jokes on it . The bra episode -that was very funny with Elaine's friend Sue Ellen Mishki , who does not wear a bra and I think Elaine buys her one and she precedes to wear it as her "top" or shirt . Sue Ellen also I believe causes an accident as well ? The episode when George supposedly dies and Steinbrenner goes to deliver the news to George's parents and Georges father says you traded Jay Buhner for Ken Phelps ? The episode from 1996 when the Yankees win the world series and George has Jeter and Bernie taking batting practice and one player says we won the world series and George says yeah in 6 games -priceless ! The episode where Paul O Neill guests and Kramer sneaks into the Yankees clubhouse to ask O Neill to hit 2 home runs for the sick kid and Paul says to him how did you get in here ? The tooth brush episode with the actress from Sex and the City where Jerry drops her toothbrush in the toilet and Jerry refuses to kiss her .

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TheGreek
How about the episode with the cashmere sweeter with the red dot on it ? The issue about if you are on the wagon or you fell off and are no longer sober .That was a funny episode . Also what about the episode about the fat free yogurt ? With the funny remark from the kid that got caught swearing by his mother because he heard Jerry swear when the kid breaks Jerry's cassette with his jokes on it . The bra episode -that was very funny with Elaine's friend Sue Ellen Mishki , who does not wear a bra and I think Elaine buys her one and she precedes to wear it as her "top" or shirt . Sue Ellen also I believe causes an accident as well ? The episode when George supposedly dies and Steinbrenner goes to deliver the news to George's parents and Georges father says you traded Jay Buhner for Ken Phelps ? The episode from 1996 when the Yankees win the world series and George has Jeter and Bernie taking batting practice and one player says we won the world series and George says yeah in 6 games -priceless ! The episode where Paul O Neill guests and Kramer sneaks into the Yankees clubhouse to ask O Neill to hit 2 home runs for the sick kid and Paul says to him how did you get in here ? The tooth brush episode with the actress from Sex and the City where Jerry drops her toothbrush in the toilet and Jerry refuses to kiss her .

There are just so many great episodes!!

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Sighunt

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TheGreek
How about the episode with the cashmere sweeter with the red dot on it ? The issue about if you are on the wagon or you fell off and are no longer sober .That was a funny episode . Also what about the episode about the fat free yogurt ? With the funny remark from the kid that got caught swearing by his mother because he heard Jerry swear when the kid breaks Jerry's cassette with his jokes on it . The bra episode -that was very funny with Elaine's friend Sue Ellen Mishki , who does not wear a bra and I think Elaine buys her one and she precedes to wear it as her "top" or shirt . Sue Ellen also I believe causes an accident as well ? The episode when George supposedly dies and Steinbrenner goes to deliver the news to George's parents and Georges father says you traded Jay Buhner for Ken Phelps ? The episode from 1996 when the Yankees win the world series and George has Jeter and Bernie taking batting practice and one player says we won the world series and George says yeah in 6 games -priceless ! The episode where Paul O Neill guests and Kramer sneaks into the Yankees clubhouse to ask O Neill to hit 2 home runs for the sick kid and Paul says to him how did you get in here ? The tooth brush episode with the actress from Sex and the City where Jerry drops her toothbrush in the toilet and Jerry refuses to kiss her .

There are just so many great episodes!!

It would be better if I knew the titles of the episodes I referenced .

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TheGreek

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Sighunt

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TheGreek
How about the episode with the cashmere sweeter with the red dot on it ? The issue about if you are on the wagon or you fell off and are no longer sober .That was a funny episode . Also what about the episode about the fat free yogurt ? With the funny remark from the kid that got caught swearing by his mother because he heard Jerry swear when the kid breaks Jerry's cassette with his jokes on it . The bra episode -that was very funny with Elaine's friend Sue Ellen Mishki , who does not wear a bra and I think Elaine buys her one and she precedes to wear it as her "top" or shirt . Sue Ellen also I believe causes an accident as well ? The episode when George supposedly dies and Steinbrenner goes to deliver the news to George's parents and Georges father says you traded Jay Buhner for Ken Phelps ? The episode from 1996 when the Yankees win the world series and George has Jeter and Bernie taking batting practice and one player says we won the world series and George says yeah in 6 games -priceless ! The episode where Paul O Neill guests and Kramer sneaks into the Yankees clubhouse to ask O Neill to hit 2 home runs for the sick kid and Paul says to him how did you get in here ? The tooth brush episode with the actress from Sex and the City where Jerry drops her toothbrush in the toilet and Jerry refuses to kiss her .

There are just so many great episodes!!

It would be better if I knew the titles of the episodes I referenced .

I can identify three of them:

The Red Dot, The NonFat Yogurt, and the Caddy (Sue Ellen Mischke bra episode)...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2020-06-24 20:56 by Sighunt.

One, twice, three times a laaady...

Seinfeld is without doubt my favourite TV show. I love it; binge watched dozens last summer after a few years not seeing it. Still as funny as ever.

So many classic episodes! Serenit now babyyy

My all time fave episode I think is The Heart Attack from Season 2 episode 8 - I feel like this episode caught the vibe of the later episodes.

The SciFi movie start with Larry as the alien
The Hospital / Kramer comments
Tor the healer cracks me up every time
The Ambulance fight

Agree that there are way too many great episodes to single out..
Kramer Moviefone... The stall - Love Tony Elaine's Boyfriend - the other Episode when they go Rock climbing.
The Sponge - watch em all!
The Big screen TV
Too many!

I like "Seinfeld". Never was a Seinfeld nerd though. It's like the thinking man's "Friends". There are a lot of re-runs though. I often catch one of those. Perfect to watch when there's nothing else to watch on the tv.
One minor thing: I like the fact that he drives a Saab 900 convertible. Black. I'm sorry that that didn't help poor SAAB to survive though. GM cut Saab:s lifeline in the end.

Seinfeld is gold ! Jerry... Gold !

Very enjoyable sitcom and funny characters although Seinfeld himself doesn't make me laugh all the time......I think I seen most of them in nineties and lately on you tube........{now I'm watching All in the Family with the great Archie Bunker}

__________________________

The best scene is when they're in the hospital as George's fiancee has croaked. George's face expression as he realizes he's off the hook is just HILARIOUS! "Let's go for a coffee..."

I like the Overdue Library Book.Piss me self watching that.
Started Rewatching in Lockdown.

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MadMax
The best scene is when they're in the hospital as George's fiancee has croaked. George's face expression as he realizes he's off the hook is just HILARIOUS! "Let's go for a coffee..."

I got a chuckle out of my wife's reaction when she watched that episode (I think she sympathized with poor Susan- the fiancee of George who meets her demise after licking the toxic wedding envelopes). From that point on, she thought the character of George Costanza was an ass hole (LOL)!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2020-06-25 16:27 by Sighunt.

Thanks a lot for opening such a joybringing topic here, Sighunt!

I gladly add some of my favorite episodes / scenes as well:

The Red Dot
George has an akward sitdown with his boss, Mr. Lippman, who says it had come to his attention that George had engaged in sexual intercourse with the cleaning lady on his desk and asks George if this was true.

George then half ashamed, half playing the innocent, stays silent for a moment , puts on an ignorant face and finally asks:
"Was that wrong? Should I have not done that? I tell you I gotta plead ingnorance on this thing because if anyone had said anything to me at all when I first started here that that sort of thing was frouned upon, you know, cause I've worked in a lot of offices and I tell you peope do that all the time."

Thats just so funny!

The Old Man
Elaine, George and Jerry are talking about finding some meaning in their lives and Elaine goes on to tell about her experience in volunteer work helping an older woman.
While George totally can see himself doing it, Jerry dismisses the idea expressing a bit bored: "naa, it's just not for me".
To which George responds in disgust: "what kind of person are you?"
Jerry shuts him up by smiling and calmly answering: "I think I'am pretty much like you, only succsesful!" ><

Hilarious comedy, one of my favorite sitcoms. A big plus: no cellphones all the time in the plot!!

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calipachangero
Thanks a lot for opening such a joybringing topic here, Sighunt!

I gladly add some of my favorite episodes / scenes as well:

The Red Dot
George has an akward sitdown with his boss, Mr. Lippman, who says it had come to his attention that George had engaged in sexual intercourse with the cleaning lady on his desk and asks George if this was true.

George then half ashamed, half playing the innocent, stays silent for a moment , puts on an ignorant face and finally asks:
"Was that wrong? Should I have not done that? I tell you I gotta plead ingnorance on this thing because if anyone had said anything to me at all when I first started here that that sort of thing was frouned upon, you know, cause I've worked in a lot of offices and I tell you peope do that all the time."

Thats just so funny!

If I had to do a top twenty list (LOL) of Seinfeld shows, I would have included the Red Dot on it! It really was hilarious from start to finish! It is actually not surprising to me from comments that I have received from friends of mine over the years who grew up liking Seinfeld that their favorite episodes were the ones that showcased Jason Alexander (George Costanza).



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2020-06-25 18:48 by Sighunt.

Gotta put the "Bubble Boy" episode in my top five..
Between George getting into it with the "bubble boy" and Kramer burning down Susan's parents cabin... hilarity ensues.

Jerry: He's a bubble-boy!
George: A bubble-boy?
Jerry: Yes, a bubble-boy.
Susan: What's a bubble-boy?
Jerry: He lives in a bubble.
George: Boy!

"Bubble Boy: The Moors.
George: I'm sorry the answer we were looking for was "Moops."

Season 9, Episode 2 “The Voice”-this is the episode with Kramerica.

[en.m.wikipedia.org])

Almost of these episodes were from the early years of Seinfeld, which, in my view, were not nearly as funny or clever as the latter years of the show. I like The Merv Griffin Show, The Dealership, Fusilli Jerry, The Wig Master, Serenity Now far more than the episodes listed. But, again, it is a matter of personal taste. It was all fun and laughter and not to be taken too seriously.

Great show - loved the 'reunion" done within "Curb Your Enthusiasm" too.

Elaine's Christmas card is a classic. Nice camerawork Kramer!

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DaveG
Almost of these episodes were from the early years of Seinfeld, which, in my view, were not nearly as funny or clever as the latter years of the show. I like The Merv Griffin Show, The Dealership, Fusilli Jerry, The Wig Master, Serenity Now far more than the episodes listed. But, again, it is a matter of personal taste. It was all fun and laughter and not to be taken too seriously.

I agree with this. The last couple of seasons the episodes had some duds but the good ones are among the best. I remember the first time watching "The Merv Griffin Show" with Kramer as host laughing as hard as I ever have.

I will mention the pact where George gets engaged but Jerry bows out because his girlfriend "eats her peas one at a time, but she scooped the corn niblets. That was what was so vexing".

Another great one is the fire where "Eric" the clown puts it out with his big red shoe.

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999
Seinfeld is gold ! Jerry... Gold !

soup is not a meal.

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MadMax
The best scene is when they're in the hospital as George's fiancee has croaked. George's face expression as he realizes he's off the hook is just HILARIOUS! "Let's go for a coffee..."

That's funny...for me that was one of the few times in the show that it didn't come off as authentic. I'm not sure what direction I would have preferred but I didn't like Jason Alexander's acting there.

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DaveG
Almost of these episodes were from the early years of Seinfeld, which, in my view, were not nearly as funny or clever as the latter years of the show. I like The Merv Griffin Show, The Dealership, Fusilli Jerry, The Wig Master, Serenity Now far more than the episodes listed. But, again, it is a matter of personal taste. It was all fun and laughter and not to be taken too seriously.

Your comments actually reinforce the notion that a lot of Seinfeld fans and critics have that the series actually got better over time. Seinfeld himself stated on several occasions that he wanted the show to end on top and reportedly turned down serious money by the network to continue with another season or two.

picking a Seinfeld top 10 is like picking a Stones top 10

was that a "pick"?

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LeonidP
picking a Seinfeld top 10 is like picking a Stones top 10

was that a "pick"?

Jerry: "No pick, no pick!" Model GF: "I know what I saw"


Kramer & his intern + a chicken, making lunch plans w/Jerry.

The Giant ball of Oil..."Hello, la la la"


George w/toupee: "I'm not attracted to bald women, I can't date her". Elaine: (steals toupee) "You're Bald!"


Serenity Now!

A Festivus for the Rest Of Us... & the Festivus Miracle.

Mr. Costanza: "I went to the toy store to buy a Doll for my son"

"I find tinsel distracting".

Frank: "Festivus isn't over 'til you pin me George.". George: (please make it stop).


Manzeer vs. Bro


Dr. Van Nostrand

Elaine drawing false eyebrows on Uncle Leo, with a sharpie.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2020-06-26 04:50 by KevinM.

... And you wanna be my latex salesman!