The Seinfeld Chronicles

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“The Seinfeld Chronicles”
Seinfeld episode
Jerry and George in Pete's Luncheonette.
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 1
Written by	Larry David Jerry Seinfeld
Directed by	Art Wolff
Guest stars	Pamela Brull
Production no.	101
Original airdate	July 5, 1989
Season 1 episodes
Seinfeld - Season 1 July 1989 - June 1990
"The Seinfeld Chronicles" "The Stake Out" "The Robbery" "Male Unbonding" "The Stock Tip"
List of Seinfeld episodes

"The Seinfeld Chronicles" (also known as "Good News, Bad News" for syndication)^[1] is the pilot episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. The pilot, the first of the 180 Seinfeld episodes, was written by creators Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, and was directed by Art Wolff. It originally aired on July 5, 1989, and was re-broadcast July 5, 1990, after the show had been picked up as a series. The pilot guest stars Pamela Brull.^[2]

When first broadcast, the pilot was watched by nearly 11% of American households. These ratings were high enough to secure the show's first season.^[1] Seinfeld later went on to become one of the most successful sitcoms made, with one poll in 2002, naming Seinfeld as the greatest American television program of all time.^[3] A 2006 sitcom industry poll conducted by the British Channel 4 voted Seinfeld as the third best sitcom ever.^[4]

The pilot episode features several differences to the rest of the series. The character of Cosmo Kramer is named "Kessler". Elaine Benes does not appear in the episode. Jerry and George eat at "Pete's Luncheonette" as opposed to Monk's Cafe. The character of Claire the waitress (Lee Garlington) was originally planned as a regular but was dropped.^[1]

Contents 1 Plot 2 Production 3 Reception 4 References in later episodes 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Plot

Jerry and his friend George Costanza are seated at "Pete's Luncheonette", debating the placement of a shirt button. The waitress, Claire, pours each of them a cup of coffee. George frets about whether Claire is giving him regular or decaf, saying he does not want caffeine in his coffee. Claire later implies that she gave him regular to annoy him. Jerry then tells George about a woman he met in Michigan, named Laura, who is coming to New York. Jerry wonders if she has romantic intentions. The two continue to talk about her after they leave the luncheonette and go to the laundry.

The next evening, Jerry tells his neighbor, Kessler (Kramer), that he thinks he misunderstood the situation with Laura. 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. George and Jerry continue to debate the issue, with Jerry determined to find the true nature of her visit.

At the airport, George and Jerry continue to try to identify the possible signals Laura might give upon her arrival, with George explaining the meaning of various greetings. However, when Laura arrives, her greeting offers no hints. Jerry and Laura arrive at the apartment. Laura then removes some excess clothing to get comfortable, asks for wine, turns down the light and asks if she can stay over a second night. As Jerry begins to grow confident, the phone rings for Laura. 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 — and his one-bedroom apartment — to an entire weekend with her.

[edit] Production

Seinfeld said that the idea of the episode was to show there are "gaps in society where … there are no rules."^[5] The pilot was filmed at Stage 8 of Desilu Cahuenga studios, the same studio where The Dick Van Dyke Show was filmed (this was seen by the crew as a good omen),^[6]) and was recorded at Ren-Mar Studios in Hollywood.^[1] The stand-up element of the pilot was seen as a distinctive feature; however, some of this material was not included in the broadcast version. In the pilot, Kessler has a dog called Ralph, included so a stand-up routine Seinfeld had written about dogs could be used. However, this routine was cut, and as a result Ralph was never explained, and did not appear in any other episodes.^[7]

Originally, the pilot was to feature George, as well as Jerry, as a comedian. Early versions of the script featured George, named "Bennett", discussing his stand-up performance. However, this idea was abandoned, and George became a real estate broker. Claire the waitress was originally called "Meg". The character of Kramer did not appear in the first draft of the script. In later scripts, he appears as "Kramer". However, as Kramer was named after a real person he was called "Hoffman", and later "Kessler", because of worries about the rights to use the name. The original title of the pilot was Stand Up. This later was changed to The Jerry Seinfeld Show, then Good News, Bad News. However, the production staff and writers refer to the pilot as The Seinfeld Chronicles, to avoid confusion with a later Seinfeld episode called "The Pilot". Other titles considered included Signals and The Airport Pick-Up. The pilot features different title music, written by Jep Epstein. Some of the people in the studio audience were paid extras, but all the laughter heard is genuine.^[1]

There is a deleted scene which features Jerry and George driving to the airport, where they talk about changing lanes on the road and giving "Thank you waves". This was reused in a later episode, "The Good Samaritan". Some parts of the stand-up material featured in the pilot were filmed for an episode in the second season, "The Ex-Girlfriend", but were cut from the episode.^[1]

[edit] Reception

On its initial showing, July 5, 1989,The Seinfeld Chronicles was received poorly by audience testing groups. Comments included, "You can't get too excited about two guys going to the laundromat"; "Jerry's loser friend George is not a forceful character"; "Jerry needs a stronger supporting cast"; and "Why are they interrupting the stand-up for these stupid stories?"^[1] Other people complained that the show was "too Jewish" and "too New York".^[8] Jerry was seen as naive, dense and powerless. As a result, NBC passed on the show. However, NBC executive Rick Ludwin believed the series had potential. He therefore gave Seinfeld a budget to create four more episodes, which formed the rest of season 1.^[9] This is the smallest sitcom order in television history.^[1] Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Elaine) has claimed that she was not aware of the pilot before she became a regular on Seinfeld. Out of superstition, she has claimed she will never watch the episode.^[10]

When it was broadcast, the pilot received a Nielsen Rating of 10.9/19, meaning that the pilot was watched by 10.9% of American households, and that 19% of all televisions in use at the time were tuned into it. When it was first repeated on July 5, 1990, it received a rating of 13.9/26. These ratings were high enough to secure a second season.^[1] 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.^[11] One DVD reviewer, Britt Gillette, wrote that "this initial episode exhibits the flashes of brilliance that made Seinfeld a cultural phenomenon."^[12]

Another review, by Colin Jacobson of DVD Movie Guide, said, "As one watches the pilot, it's hard to believe Seinfeld ever became so great. Okay – that's not wholly true, as one can see the sparks of the series' later inventiveness. However, the pilot is almost totally free from humor, as little about it seems amusing. It's got potential but little else."^[13] Benjamin Willcock from DVD Active wrote that, "The pilot episode entitled "The Seinfeld Chronicles" was actually not exclusive to the show, it does not, for example have most of the acting talent as seen later on in the show, and some of the references might not make sense at first. It's still a good way to get things rolling, but for the real meat you'll want to check out the remainder of the first season, as vastly abbreviated as it is."^[14]

[edit] References in later episodes

The pilot was a reference point for various incidents and storylines in later episodes of Seinfeld. The opening scene in which Jerry and George talk about the placement of a shirt button is repeated almost word for word in the final scene of "The Finale (Part 2)", the final episode of Seinfeld. The process of making the pilot became the inspiration for the main story arc in season 4, in which Jerry and George write a sitcom pilot for NBC called Jerry. Jerry's calling Kramer "Kessler" is explained in "The Betrayal", the "backwards episode" in season 9. This features a scene from 11 years in the past, in which Jerry moves into his new apartment. Jerry calls Kramer "Kessler", but Kramer explains that it is only the name on his apartment buzzer. George's philosophy of doing the opposite to his natural instincts reappears in the episode "The Opposite".^[1]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Episode script

v • d • e Seinfeld Cast Jerry Seinfeld · Jason Alexander · Julia Louis-Dreyfus · Michael Richards Crew Larry David · George Shapiro · Tom Cherones · Andy Ackerman Characters Jerry Seinfeld · George Costanza · Elaine Benes · Cosmo Kramer · Recurring minor characters Seasons List of episodes · 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 Related articles List of DVD releases · Festivus · List of fictional films · Kenny Kramer · Monk's Cafe · Regift · Seinfeld awards and nominations