neurons firing from a keyboard

Seinfeld wasn’t always the heavily-syndicated network cash cow it is today. The hit show started as an experiment for Jerry and Larry David. They wanted to write a show to describe the life of a comedian in New York, namely, Jerry’s. Despite Jerry’s limited acting and writing experience, they wrote their pilot in the late 1980’s and sold it as “The Jerry Chronicles,” which NBC made its first national appearance of on July 1989.

I’ll spare you the details, but eventually the crew found their beat and, shortly afterwards, historic levels of success. but I will say this: every episode of Seinfeld was based off of, and written by, a personal story from someone on its writing staff. Compared to the sitcom-by-committee shows that prevailed during the time, this was a small, but drastic, change that eventually made its way into the mainstream. (For example, every cast member on The Office, a favorite of mine, wrote their own episode; some more than once.)