Top 15 Seinfeld Episodes

Is Seinfeld the greatest show of all time? That’s a tricky question to answer. How do you even begin to compare an admittedly great sitcom to other fantastic programs of different genres like Game of Thrones, The Wire, Dr. Who and The Sopranos? Even calling it the greatest sitcom of all time is a lot considering you’d be placing it over Good Times, Cheers and Frasier. One thing is for sure though – Seinfeld is not only a legendary show but a highly influential one as well. It is telling that as at November 3, 2017, it was a trending topic worldwide on Twitter with #SeinfeldTaughtMe. This is a show that has been off the air for 19 years and is still relevant enough to trend on Twitter. But there’s a reason for that – people see themselves in these colorful characters. Whether you’re laid back like Jerry or petty like Elaine, or you’re as weird as Kramer or as socially inept as George, there is plenty to relate to even in 2017. This is a list of the very best episodes of what is to my mind, the greatest show of all time.

15. The Hamptons

The episode that brought “shrinkage” into the cultural zeitgeist. In this episode, the gang visits their friend in the Hamptons to see her new baby. Jerry and George also invite their girlfriends and needless to say, this causes a chain reaction of unfortunate and hilarious events for them. "The Hamptons" is notable for been shot outside the familiar settings of Jerry’s apartment and Monk’s. It just goes to show that you could take the four characters out of their familiar settings but they’d still attract chaos like moth to a flame.

14. The Summer of George

The season eight finale was significant for a couple of reasons. Not only did it represent the end of George’s employment with the Yankees – one of the most notable story arcs in the series – but it also references “The Invites”, the controversial season seven finale where Susan died. It is only fitting that George ends up falling prey to invitations. The episode also had features from Amanda Peet, a pre Scrubs Neil Flynn and the legendary Raquel Welch. Ye ye catfight!

13. The Fix-Up

This season 3 episode features Maggie Wheeler – Janice from Friends - as a romantic interest for George. Most of the episode’s hilarity stems from Jerry and Elaine working tirelessly behind the scenes to make the duo a couple. It marks a departure of sorts for Jerry and Elaine as they usually can’t be bothered helping anybody. Kramer plays a more understated (but still hilarious) role as he helps prevent a couple of bust ups.

12. The Parking Garage

Seinfeld didn’t often do bottle episodes but when they did they tended to be very memorable. Whether Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld ever really pitched Seinfeld as a show about nothing, episodes like this and “The Chinese Restaurant” prove that humor can be wrung out of the minutia of everyday activity. In this episode, a simple trip to a New Jersey mall to pick up a TV set turns needlessly complicated when nobody remembers to pay attention to where they parked. Jerry embarrasses himself, George lets his parents down and Elaine’s fish dies. All in all a wasted Saturday afternoon.

11. The Fusilli Jerry

It was a million to one shot doc, a million to one! When Kramer gets the wrong car plates and accordingly gets mistaken for the Assman, his life takes an interesting turn. Not only does he get good parking at the hospital, but he starts getting attention from plus sized women. This unfortunately leads to a physical confrontation between Kramer and Frank Costanza where the latter ends up with the Fusilli Jerry stuck up his ass. This episode also gets high points for featuring Patrick Warburton as Puddy for the first time.

10. The Merv Griffin Show

Seinfeld experimented more with their plots in the last two seasons of its run. Sometimes this experimentation worked and sometimes it didn’t. The Merv Griffin Show is a great example of the former. From Kramer deciding to reinvent himself as a talk show host from the seventies, to George’s standoff with pigeons and squirrels to Elaine’s “sidling” war with a work colleague, this episode is very wacky. But it is also very memorable and undeniably a fan favorite.

9. The Little Jerry

It’s true that of his three friends, Jerry has known George for the longest time and as such they are portrayed as best friends. But as episodes like this and “The Fusilli Jerry” show, Kramer and Jerry seem to share a bond that even transcends the latter’s with George. Would George ever build a tiny model for Jerry out of pasta? Would he name his pet rooster after Jerry? Probably not. But then again George would probably not get a rooster in a misguided attempt to get better eggs only to end up cockfighting. This episode also sees George dating a woman in jail and unsurprisingly enjoying the freedom it gives him.

8. The Switch

The episode is built on a simple enough premise – how does one successfully date their partner’s roommate? It is typical of George that he is able to conceive a brilliant solution and it is even more typical of Jerry to chicken out when it works too well. This episode encapsulates the George Jerry dynamic so well. The two men are all too aware of their immaturity and shortcomings as individuals, but when they decide to band together they are actually capable of greatness. This episode is also memorable for viewers finally learning Kramer’s first name. Cosmo! Nothing was ever the same.

7. The Strike

Otherwise known as the Festivus episode. This episode will always rank high in any list of this nature as it is the legendary Jerry Stiller’s finest performance on the show. All roads (and plotlines) lead to the Costanza household as the gang witness the bizarre holiday traditions of this made up holiday. It speaks to the enduring nature of the Festivus plot that some Seinfeld fans still celebrate it today. Probably not with the feats of strength, but still a Festivus for the rest of us!

6. The Implants

They’re real and they’re spectacular! Of all the notable quotes from the show, this is up there as one of the most memorable. So memorable in fact that it made an appearance in the finale. But famous quotable aside, this is one of the show’s best for several reasons. George tries and ultimately fails to get a bereavement discount for his airline ticket for his girlfriend’s grandfather’s wake. It’s so typical of George that he comes so close to executing his plan but fails because he insists on double dipping a chip.

5. The Bizarro Jerry

There’s no question about it, this episode is hands down the strangest episode of Seinfeld there has ever been. While it is no secret that Jerry Seinfeld (the man and the character) is a huge fan of the Superman comics, it is not something that featured in the plotlines often. So when the writers came up with a plot where Elaine makes friends with three men who happen to be the complete opposite versions of Jerry, George and Kramer, they may have realized that they were scripting a truly special plot. But when you consider that this is also the episode where Kramer randomly gets a 9-5 job, where George gets access to a world of beautiful people and where Jerry dates a woman with “man hands”, it becomes clear that this season eight entry is one for the record books. It’s weird, it’s strange and is one of Seinfeld’s best and most memorable.

4. The Puffy Shirt

But I don’t want to be a pirate! This season 5 episode – scripted by creator Larry David – dovetails so perfectly in the last few minutes. The four characters all have their separate plots and yet by the episode’s end, the way everything comes together so chaotically is vintage Seinfeld. Kramer’s “low talker” of a girlfriend asks Jerry to wear a puffy shirt to promote her clothing line on The Today Show where he’s supposed to raise money for Elaine’s charity. George quite literally stumbles into a career as a hand model and actually looks set for success until his big mouth sees him disfigure his money makers. Naturally the episode ends with George’s hands bandaged, Elaine failing to raise money for her charity, Kramer dumped and Jerry’s public profile in ruins. A hilarious end to a brilliant episode.

3. The Chinese Restaurant

The definitive bottle episode. Never has the frustrating process of waiting for a table at a busy restaurant been so funny. When Jerry, Elaine and George arrive at a Chinese restaurant for dinner, the last thing they – and the viewers - expect is that it would take twenty minutes to get a table. But it does and we get to see an episode unlike any other Seinfeld episode – an episode almost totally carried by verbal interaction. Of course, Seinfeld fans are familiar with the legend of the episode – where NBC were against broadcasting the episode due to its unusual structure. It speaks to the guts that Larry David had that he was willing to walk away if NBC dared alter his script. Even Kramer’s absence didn’t negatively influence this episode’s classic standing.

2. The Soup Nazi

There are certain phrases that have come to define the biggest shows. Phrases that have become such a part of mainstream lexicon that even people who’ve never seen an episode can use to readily identify the show.

Dynomite!

What you talking ‘bout?

Winter is coming.

Legen- wait for it – dary!

Bazinga!

Seinfeld has a few huge phrases but perhaps none are bigger than the “No soup for you!” bellowed by the Soup Nazi. It’s amazing to consider that this one-time character is as popular as he is in the Seinfeld universe. But when you consider the effect he has on every character (including Newman), it is not altogether surprising. His reign of tasty terror may have been brief but it was hilarious.

1. The Contest

Genius. Simply genius. This isn’t just Seinfeld’s greatest episode, but it is easily one of the most clever sitcom episodes of all time. It’s not just that Larry David scripted an episode about masturbation – it’s that he did it without using the m word. It was just one delightful euphemism after the other. As was the case for many of the show’s greatest episodes, the premise was simple. When George literally gets caught with his pants down by his mother, the four decide to embark on a contest of self-denial. Of course, the subject matter means the episode will always be timeless but it is worth remembering how risqué this episode was for its time. For his fantastic writing on this episode, David won an Emmy and a Writer’s Guild Award. The episode was also ranked by TV Guide as number 1 on their list of 100 Greatest Episodes of all time. And with that, in the iconic words of Cosmo Kramer, “I’m Out!”

#seinfeld #kramer #costanza #nbc