page_title: Seinfeld
section_title: Seasons 1–3
hierarchical_section_title: Seinfeld / Episodes / Seasons 1–3
caption_attribution_description: English: In the American television series "Seinfeld", Jerry's apartment is supposed to be inside the brick building on the right. Only the exterior of the building is shown in the series. In this early morning shot, note the shadow of a Mexican fan palm from across the street on the building. To avoid this shadow, as the building is supposed to be in New York City, the building shots are always in the afternoon or when the sky is cloudy. The building address is 757 S. New Hampshire Avenue, in the Koreatown neighborhood of Los Angeles, California.
context_page_description: Seinfeld is an American sitcom television series created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld for NBC. As a comedian rising in popularity in the late 1980s, Seinfeld was presented with an opportunity to create a show with NBC. Seinfeld asked fellow comedian and friend Larry David to help create a premise for a sitcom. The show stars Seinfeld as a fictionalized version of himself, and mostly focuses on his personal life with a handful of friends and acquaintances, including best friend George Costanza, friend and former girlfriend Elaine Benes, and neighbor across the hall Cosmo Kramer. Seinfeld is set predominantly in an apartment building in Manhattan's Upper West Side in New York City. It is often described as being "a show about nothing", as many of its episodes are about the minutiae of daily life.
  Seinfeld was produced by West-Shapiro Productions and Castle Rock Entertainment and ran from 1989 to 1998. The series was distributed by Columbia Pictures Television.
context_section_description: The show premiered as The Seinfeld Chronicles on July 5, 1989. After it aired, a pickup by NBC seemed unlikely and the show was offered to Fox, which declined to pick it up. Rick Ludwin, head of late night and special events for NBC, however, diverted money from his budget by canceling a Bob Hope television special, and the next 4 episodes were filmed. These episodes were highly rated as they followed summer re-runs of Cheers on Thursdays at 9:30 p.m., and the series was finally picked up. At one point NBC considered airing these episodes on Saturdays at 10:30 p.m., but gave that slot to a short-lived sitcom called FM. The series was renamed simply Seinfeld after the failure of short-lived 1990 ABC series The Marshall Chronicles. After airing the remaining four episodes of its first season the summer of 1990, NBC ordered thirteen more episodes. Larry David believed that he and Jerry Seinfeld had no more stories to tell, and advised Seinfeld to turn down the order, but Seinfeld agreed to the additional episodes. Season two was bumped off its scheduled premiere of January 16, 1991, due to the outbreak of the Persian Gulf War. It settled into a regular time slot on Wednesdays at 9:30 p.m. and eventually flipped with veteran series Night Court to 9:00.
  TV critics championed Seinfeld in its early seasons, even as it was slow to cultivate a substantial audience. For the first three seasons, Jerry's stand-up comedy act would bookend an episode, even functioning as cut scenes during the show. A few episodes set a benchmark for later seasons. "The Deal" establishes Jerry and Elaine's relationship by setting rules about sleeping together and remaining friends. "The Parking Garage" was the first episode shot with no audience for the episode and, after "The Chinese Restaurant", with not showing Jerry's apartment.  "The Keys" contains a crossover to CBS show Murphy Brown, marking the first such cooperation between rival networks. "The Busboy" introduces George, Kramer and Elaine as having their own storylines for the first time. Although Castle Rock Entertainment's Glenn Padnick thought Jerry Seinfeld was too generous, showcasing his co-stars' comedic talent became a trademark throughout the series.
  Larry Charles wrote an episode for season two, "The Bet", in which Elaine buys a gun from Kramer's friend. This episode wasn't filmed because the content was deemed unacceptable, and was replaced by the episode "The Phone Message". "The Stranded", aired in season three, was intended for season two. In the beginning of this episode, Jerry clears up the continuity error over George's real estate job.
caption: The Los Angeles building used to depict the exterior of Jerry's apartment building at 129 West 81st Street, Manhattan
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