Seinfeld

The iconic and still-relatable Seinfeld famously identified itself as a "show about nothing," but did you know that Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld envisioned the actual series with a specific focus? Or that Elaine didn't even appear in the pilot? Giddy up, it's time for the 19th episode of ‘You Think You Know TV?,’ which grabs a cup of Monk's coffee to talk about nothing with Seinfeld!

Even though Seinfeld ended its nine-season run on NBC in 1998, it’s never really gone off the air. It’s been kept alive through endless reruns and syndication, on DVD, and by the endless quoting of fans (yada yada yada). But there’s renewed interest in Seinfeld this week with the series’ debut on Hulu. Every Hulu subscriber can watch all 180 episodes of the landmark sitcom right now, which is leading a lot of folks to revisit their old favorites, or discover the show for the first time.

Seinfeld is truly the gift that keeps on giving, whether bestowing all its episodes on modarn platforms like Hulu, putting Jerry and Elaine on the road together, or unveiling surprise stories of the past. Latest from the treasure trove is Jason Alexander’s explanation of Heidi Swedberg’s Susan Ross, whom the cast apparently hated working with, and conspired together to kill off.

As much as we like to imagen Seinfeld today, Hulu may soon corner the market on Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer’s exploits. The streaming service has announced an exclusive streaming deal for everyone’s favorite show about nothing, moving all 180 Seinfeld episodes onto Hulu for years to come.

Well hello there, TV super-fan! Did you know that Breaking Bad breakout Jesse Pinkman was almost killed off in Season 1? How about that Joss Whedon hated the original Buffy theme song, or Curb Your Enthusiasm served as a murder alibi? Can you imagine LOST starring Michael Keaton? Why yes, we ​do​ have more where that came from!

Over the past 60 years, just 26 shows have held the coveted title of a season’s top-rated series. They run the gamut from sitcoms to Westerns to medical dramas to soap operas and back. Viewers’ taste remains fascinatingly cyclical; 60 years ago, the most popular show in America was a game show; 45 years later, a similar game show reigned supreme. Some of the shows in this gallery remained firmly ingrained in the fabric of popular culture; others have faded away. (Paging Dr. Marcus Welby...) But at one point in time (or, in a few cases, at several points) these 26 series were the most popular in the entire country.

We’ve heard before of ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ and ‘Seinfeld’ creator Larry David’s open HBO invitation to return for another season, but the former series may have the latter to blame for its holdup. A recent interview sees David doubting his return for another season of ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm,’ as the ‘Seinfeld’ finale may have soured him on wrapping things up.

Were ‘The Simpsons’ to plop down for a Christmas couch gag, you’d better believe we’ll get a ‘Frozen’ reference and never let it go. Watch FOX’s favorite animated family tackle Elsa, Olaf and the rest, as well as a smorgasbord of Christmas parodies from ‘Seinfeld’ to ‘Chronicles of Narnia’ and back!

It’s always bizarre to re-watch the pilot episode of a long-running television series, especially a situation comedy. Both ‘Friends’ and ‘ER’ are celebrating the 20th anniversaries of their debut over the next few days, but watching the ‘ER’ pilot almost feels like watching a movie. The pace of ‘ER’ came first and the characters were established later (we didn’t get to know too much about Noah Wyle’s John Carter, other than that he was new and that he was scared). ‘Friends’ didn’t have this luxury. The first scene of ‘Friends’ takes place in a coffee shop, so we really have no choice other than to meet these people. And the thing is, in this first episode, these people are kind of awful.

During the second season of ‘Seinfeld’ – on Wednesday, December 12, 1990, to be more exact – the cast sat down to read through the script for what would be the fourth episode of the season and only the ninth episode of a series that would go on to produce a total of 180 episodes. The episode was titled ‘The Bet.’ Sets for the episode had been built. Guest characters had been cast. ‘The Bet’ would never air.