The best episodes of 'Seinfeld' as classic sitcom arrives on Netflix
It’s been hailed as the greatest sitcom of all time.
Seinfeld, the show famously about "nothing” is about to get a huge revival in the UK as it drops on Netflix for the first time.
Fans of the classic 90s comedy created by stand up Jerry Seinfeld and pal Larry David will be celebrating. But for younger generations who missed its first runs on Sky One and BBC2 several decades ago - what is all the fuss about?
The show was based on a fictional version of comedian Jerry Seinfeld and David’s lives, essentially just getting into trouble thanks to a series of social faux, various foibles and idiosyncrasies.
Read more: Is this the moment the UK falls in love with Seinfeld?
It made stars not just of Seinfeld himself, but fellow leads Jason Alexander (George), Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michael Richards (Kramer) and co-creator David, who followed it up with the brilliant Curb Your Enthusiasm, which also once featured a fictional Seinfeld reunion special.
To get you up to speed, here are the five best episodes from the nine seasons of America’s favourite awful people.
The Contest
Always at the top of every Seinfeld list, they bravely managed to create an entire prime time network television programme about masturbation – and never mentioned the word once.
Through brilliant writing and acting, we watch the four pals challenge themselves to a competition to see who can abstain from self-love for the longest period. The innuendo and subtlety is a delight, and the punch lines are superb. Unbeatable.
The Chinese Restaurant
One of the best and most notable examples of a ‘bottle’ episode — an American TV tradition where an episode is filmed almost entirely in one location or set — sees the four pals pacing about a restaurant lobby waiting to be seated.
Read more: No plans for Seinfeld reunion, says Jerry Seinfeld
A brilliant and memorable stage play type episode, the banter and laughs between the four are priceless, and it’s one of the best showcases for their individual comic talents, but mostly their brilliant chemistry.
The Summer of George
After improbably finding himself as head of the New York Yankees baseball team, George suddenly finds himself getting fired, but with full pay gardening leave severance package. He embarks on a full scale, indulgent, lazy, hedonistic ‘Summer of George’.
A great showcase for Alexander’s brilliant George Costanza — based on the real life Larry David — and his comic neuroses.
The Marine Biologist
Sometimes the show was set around a tiny incident, and sometimes it had a sweeping complex narrative, with different threads which all folded in. The best example of this is the amazing story when George tries to impress a woman by telling her he is a marine biologist.
Meanwhile Kramer develops a love of using the beach as his own personal driving range. The two stories conclude for one of the greatest closing punchlines in the history of comedy.
The Soup Nazi
Apparently based on a real life soup kiosk famous in 90s Manhattan, this episode followed Kramer’s obsession with a harsh soup chef. Known as the soup nazi for the way he’d make people queue in line and order in his own particular way, the episode had some of the best interactions between the four crazy leads.
Famous for the brilliant, quotable line, meted out to transgressors: “No soup for you!”
Every episode of Seinfeld is now streaming on Netflix.
WATCH: Netflix's Seinfeld trailer.