At what episode did you come on board?

Jan 24, 199827 posts by 25 posters
Question😂 Loved it

Fans share which episodes first hooked them on Seinfeld, with most crediting specific early or middle-season episodes rather than the pilot.

27 posts
VPaterno

Channel 11 in NY showed "The Outing" (a.k.a. the "not that there's anything wrong with that" episode), and I recall seeing it as my first "Seinfeld" episode in prime-time. From then on, I've been hooked.

Just curious: What episode was the one that converted you to the show's legion of admirers? This isn't a loyalty test, so don't feel compelled to say the first episode. Be honest. This is the "little series that could"--and did--and I'm wondering, now as it nears the end of the line, at what point did you board the "Seinfeld" trolley? Tell us your stories!

I think mine would have been the airport one where Jerry tells Elaine that she runs like a woman. Then Kramer tells George the same thing. C'mon, get your knees up. You run like a girl? I think this was it. And it was watched with cousins who last were at my house in late-May of 93. Is this when the episode first aired?

My first one was "The Outing", when it was first run on NBC. Not that there's anything wrong with that..

The second was a network rerun of "The Bet". My (now ex-)wife got offended and demanded that the TV be turned off, when she heard the line "Come on, Kramer, you won't make it past the check". (I watched anyway.) That's when I realized I was watching a classic...

DaveDixon Hayes

It was early in 1991, I was at my gf's house, what do you want to do tonight? I dunno, what do YOU want to do? I don't know. Fine. I'm just gonna sit here and click through the channels until you decide. Fine. Click, click, click, What's this? There's this guy in a car with a woman. She invites him "up for coffee" and he says, "No thanks. Coffee keeps me awake at night." I'm thinking, "What kind of an idiot would say that?" Well, 160 some odd episodes later, I know EXACTLY what kind of idiot would say that!

Costanza, Lord of the Idiots.

Yup, "The Phone Message" was my first.
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BTW, thanks for the thread idea, VPaterno. It's nice to read/write stuff like this instead of all the name calling and bickering we often wind up doing.

LordFleshDave

The first full episode I watched on a 3 inch portable whilst driving cab ..it was "The Contest"

Dave <[email] > wrote in article ...

The first episode I came on board was The Invitations where George's fiance dies from licking stamps. I loved it, it was a great episode that gave you great examination into the characters and the whole plot was wonderful, it just got funnier as it got along. From then on, I fell in love with Seinfeld and have watched every episode ever since.

Ronie J Whalen

On Fri, 30 Jan 1998 16:01:49 -0800, "Ronald J. Whalen" wrote:

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Well, Ronie, I hope you take the opportunity to watch the show in re-runs because that season-ending episode a couple years ago in which Susan died marked the beginning of the decline in "Seinfeld", IMHO. Yes, I still love the show and truly hate to see it go, but even its most ardent fans have to admit that it's not quite up to the level established when Larry David was around.

The Soup Nazi...Shrinkage....the Keith Hernandez "JFK" parody....and many, many more were far above anything else on television. It'll be interesting to see how the humor holds up over the years.... I think it'll go down as one of TV's finest comedies.

To answer the original question, though, I don't remember when I became a regular viewer of "Seinfeld". I've seen the reruns so many times that I've lost all track of those episodes which I've seen in rerun only and those which I saw "first run", so to speak. It was definitely 2 or 3 years into the show's run, though, before I started watching. This is probably a little blasphemous to say in this group, but I'd seen Jerry's standup act and never thought he was that terribly funny. But with the supporting cast of Michael Richards, Jason Alexander, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, "Seinfeld" was (and is) absolutely hilarious.

Missing it already, Ray Pezzi

Ray Pezzi wrote:

<snip>

<snippety snip>

Encore une fois?

"This is so played" :-)

Jonathan

Dear Jonathan: 2 observations:

a) was the guy writing to you the Italian Pez distributor?? (hint: look at his name) b) technically you should have said "Encore une AUTRE fois???"

Au Revoir Paul

Paul52751 wrote:

a) peutetre mon ami!

b) I'm not sure. I was quoting the song "Encore Une Fois" by "Sash!". The way the phrase is used in the song I suspect I'm right. I'll dig out the French/ English dictionary............ah, yes here we are:

Encore une fois = (once) again, once more, one more time.

I always translated it as: again, one more time.

a bientot,

Jonathan

The episode I came aboard on was either The Boyfriend or The Pez Dispenser, I don't remeber which.

"If God dropped acid, would he see people?" -- Steven Wright

Don't know the name of it but it was an early one where George gets Jerry to invest in some company and when it starts to go down Jerry panics and pulls out while George makes a killing. Or maybe it was the other way around...seems more fitting having Jerry make the killing.

elad9VPaterno

Global TV here in Canada had a Sunday Night Seinfeld Marathon a few years back. I had nothing to do that evening so I sat down and watched. I had been watching Seinfeld here and there but not regularly. The first episode they showed that night was the Chinese Restaurant one. I loved it, and that's the one that got me hooked

Elad Benari

Milan Gokhaleelad9

E & U Benari wrote:

Hi Elad,

Yes, I too got my first taste of Seinfeld with that Global TV Marathon. IIRC, the four episodes they showed were: The Parking Garage, The Chinese Restaurant, The Mango, and The Contest. To be honest, it was The Mango that kept me watching. Then I saw The Outing and from there on in, I was a sucker for life.

Milan Gokhale

Scott PVPaterno

On 24 Jan 1998 04:48:20 GMT, [email] (VPaterno) wrote:

I had flipped past the show a few times and bits and pieces seemed to be funny. But one day I sat down and watched my first entire half-hour, "The Opera." It was one of the funniest damn shows I ever saw! Since that day, between VCRs and actually being availible, I haven't missed a first run episode.

Scott

THe first episode I ever saw was the cigar store Indian. I started watching regularly in Sept, 95

Fat LarryVPaterno

VPaterno wrote in message ...

legion

did--and

board

Hello

My first was `The contest' v.funny at the time but because of the UK scheduling mess ups I've now seen it at least four times, and it doesn't quite stand up to repeated viewing like say `The outing'. Incidentally the woman playing the Virgin in `The Contest' and wassername in Frasier has the worst line in accents I've ever heard, even though she's English. The Frasier Manchester accent is so way off, it's painful to listen to.

James

The Chinese Restaurant..."look at him...his little socks match his little scarf"

My first Seinfeld. Aah, so many memories. I was in the sixth grade, and I stayed up (The show is on later here in Newfoundland), and watched the one with Keith Hernandez (what was the title? I forget.) Now I'm in university, all grown up, and Sienfeld has decided to forsake the lost generation he made laugh when we thought we would not... *sobbing uncontrollably*

Yeah, that's right. Ask the eight-ball!

I have been on the case since 7/5/89 when it was the Seinfeld Chronicles. Before that I watched Jerry for a lot of years on Letterman and The Tonight Show.

Neha333

I was hooked after watching the episode where George parks cars. The scene where Sid asks George who puts his pants on every morning has me in hysterics everytime! :)

Lady Neha's Tribute to Sting - http://members.aol.com/neha333/metsting.html

The first episode I ever saw was The Pen, and this was after the episode originally aired. That has to be the funniest thing I've ever seen yet it's so painfully realistic. We've all had to deal with uncomfortable sleeper sofas, and I speak from experience when I say my grandmother in South Florida NEVER turns on her air conditioner, no matter the temperature. She doesn't live in "Del Boca Vista" but a place eerily similar. (a stones throw from that mayven heaven, Boca Raton.)

Also, who could ever forget Elaine on muscle relaxers screaming "STELLA!!!"

Sheldon Levin

I can't remember which episode I saw first. It was either the Parking Garage or The Dream Cafe episode

Sheldon Levin, [email]

I had been watching Seinfeld on and off, but when I saw the "The Subway," I was hooked. I just loved the part when the Subway breaks down when Elaine is on it and she loses it. "What's so hard about putting on deoderant? You just pop the cap off and roll it on..."