The Seinfeld Pilot Was Hated By Check Audiences

The wildest half about “Seinfeld” is that it most likely should not have aired within the first place. The sitcom, which might run for 9 seasons and conclude with a finale watched by practically 80 million folks, began off with a pilot episode that was near-entirely panned by take a look at audiences. The community despatched the primary episode (initially named “The Seinfeld Chronicles”) to 400 take a look at viewers, and TV Information would later report the suggestions they acquired. 

The complaints included feedback like “No phase of the viewers was keen to observe the present once more,” “Not one of the [supporting characters] had been significantly favored, and viewers felt that Jerry wanted a greater backup ensemble,” and “Viewers had been unclear whether or not Jerry labored as a comic or if his routines occurred outdoors of the present as commentaries. The motion again and fourth was additionally thought of abrupt and considerably disorienting, significantly to older viewers.”

A number of NBC pilots acquired weak responses, however the “Seinfeld” pilot was reportedly distinctive in how panned it was. “It was a dagger to the center,” mentioned Warren Littlefield, who would develop into president of NBC quickly after. “We had been afraid to go ahead with one thing that was so strongly rejected by analysis.”

The response is not too stunning, contemplating that even “Seinfeld” followers will agree that the primary episode wasn’t nice. There is not any Elaine, which is a criminal offense in and of itself, however even George and Kramer hadn’t fairly developed into the characters we keep in mind them as. (For George specifically, it is clear that Jason Alexander hadn’t but realized his character was principally a Larry David stand-in.) The pacing all through the pilot was additionally uniquely sluggish by the present’s requirements, and the episode devoted approach an excessive amount of time to Jerry’s stand-up routines. It is common for TV pilots to really feel weaker than what would come later as showrunners work out the kinks, however not often is the distinction this obtrusive. 

As a lot as I do not just like the pilot, it carried out surprisingly properly when NBC premiered it anyway on July 5, 1989, with first rate viewership numbers and principally optimistic critiques. The Related Press wrote on the time, “[Larry] David, who was a writer-performer on ABC’s ‘Fridays’ and a author on ‘Saturday Evening Dwell,’ does a stand-up act that appears to be so private, it may be nearly painful to observe. Pair him with the extra mainstream Seinfeld, and the result’s an sincere, heat and amusing examination of life within the late ’80s.”

The present nonetheless did not get picked up for a full season, nonetheless. It was renewed for under 4 episodes, which did not air till practically a 12 months afterward, in Could 1990. The rankings had been equally modest and the critiques had been simply encouraging sufficient to get them picked up for a twelve-episode second season. One factor that helped was the addition of Elaine within the second episode. TV critic Robert Strauss wrote on the time, “Former girlfriends often make fast visitor appearances in exhibits like ‘Cheers’ and ‘Cosby,’ however I actually like the concept of an previous flame who sticks round just like the residue of melted wax on the south finish of the candle.” 

Elaine, and the present’s complete lack of curiosity in any form of will they/received’t-they dynamic between her and Jerry, is a part of what helped set “Seinfeld” aside from so lots of its friends. Not everybody jived with the present’s unsentimental method at first, however they might nonetheless acknowledge it as one thing new and totally different. It helped that “Seinfeld” existed in a TV panorama that was a bit extra forgiving of exhibits that weren’t huge hits straight out of the gate; whereas fashionable Netflix would unceremoniously cancel it inside a month or two, the heads at NBC noticed the potential in “Seinfeld” and determined to let it preserve going for practically 4 seasons earlier than the present totally took off. 

Though the present appeared to have taken the recommendation from these early pilot viewers and developed the sequence to one thing extra palatable, Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David by no means truly noticed the take a look at screening suggestions till the present had already develop into successful, when the criticisms had misplaced any of the sting they as soon as may’ve had. “Larry and I each hung it up close to our bogs,” Seinfeld mentioned on the time. “We thought if somebody goes in to make use of this lavatory, that is one thing they need to see. It matches that second.”