ewers with its series of reality-based programs, including World's Scariest Police Chases 3, which have been critically denounced but which have been successful at building some viewers.
However, Seinfeld continues to be a key to helping NBC dominate the evening's ratings. Of the four sitcoms for the evening (the others are Friends, Union Square, and Veronica's Closet), Seinfeld draws the highest numbers. Seinfeld has become an instantly identifiable cultural symbol for popular comedy, and the network's willingness to stand by it during its earliest development has paid off handsomely.
Seinfeld's creators, Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, have repeatedly maintained that their show is enthusiastically, intentionally "about nothing." In practical terms, this is not strictly true, but the series does concentrate on small things: everyday embarrassments, such as being caught picking one's nose at a traffic light or "double dipping" in the onion dip at a party. One of its most honored episodes, written by David, involves masturbation, while managing never to use to word itself in the course of the half hour.
The show is built around the character of Jerry Seinfeld who, like his namesake, is a standup comedian. Less successful than his real-life counterpart, this Seinfeld nevertheless makes his living at his profession, occasionally travelling out of town for bookings or appearing on talk shows. The show is usually bracketed by clips of Seinfeld performing his act; several of these spots are videotaped before small studio audiences during the week, allowing the real Seinfeld to try out new material and then edit the clips down to the best jokes.
Since Seinfeld was not an experienced actor when he began the series, he and David decided to follow the lead of many oth
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