I was a late arrival to Seinfeld fandom.

S4E4 - The Wallet

Though the first episode was aired in the US in 1989, there would be a four-year delay until it was broadcast in the UK. As a teenager, and with the show lurking in the shadows of BBC’s late-night schedules, it passed me by.

It wasn't until I was in my 30s when Seinfeld reappeared on UK TV in a prime-time slot. Fully aware of the show's standing in the canon of popular culture this was my best opportunity to tune in.

1989

Seinfeld first aired on NBC in the USA

1993

Seinfeld first aired on BBC2 in the UK

2012

Seinfeld returns to prime-time on Sky TV in the UK

It only took a handful of episodes for me to find myself completely hooked. Seinfeld was written in a different key, deviating from the traditional rules of sitcoms, focusing on - and amplifying of - the minutiae of daily life, earning its reputation as the show about nothing.

S4E3 - The Pitch

S8E3 - The Bizzaro Jerry

I loved the irreverent characters - with their absurd obsessions and neurotic tendencies - and the hilariously avoidable situations they found themselves in.

It rejected the classic three-act story, sidestepping sentimentality and the pursuit of resolution. With its mantra of no hugging*, no learning the lead characters were insecure and entertainingly flawed, lacking any desire and capability for personal growth.

* the earlier clip not withstanding!

S9E24 - The Good Samaritan Law

As with any shows from its time, as culture and society evolve a contemporary lens exposes negative stereotypes and flashes of chauvinism and sizeism, to name but two isms. The amoral instincts of these anti-heroes was most on-show in their romantic encounters and when faced with the slightest adversity or irrational annoyance.

S3E9 - The Nose Job

And then there’s the dancing.

S8E4 - The Little Kicks

As I progressed through the episodes my fascination with the creative process behind the show grew. It was the musicality of the writing and its delivery that I particularly loved, orchestrated by the comedic talents of co-creators Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David.

Like music, situation comedy has rhythm and it has texture: rhythm is shaped by a show’s timing, its scene-structures, and its pacing; textures are created by the ‘instruments’ of characters and their locations, which amalgamate to create the situations from which the comedy manifests.

S5E4 - The Sniffing Accountant

S8E12 - The Money

S1E4 - Male Unbonding

S3E2 - The Truth

S7E21 - The Wait Out

My curiosity transcended just reading more about the show, it was now time to go deep. I decided to immerse myself in an entirely unnecessary, self-motivated, long-running, data-driven exploration of every episode of Seinfeld. Why not!

The first product of this work was my 2020 publishing of The Seinfeld Chronicles, a limited-edition printed book presenting all my extensive analysis. With 176 copies released, matching the number of written episodes, this reached a small but exclusive audience. In 2024 I decided it was time to work on a new product, to reach a wider audience with a completely new format: The Seinfeld Chronicles digital edition.

Cover of the book The Seinfeld Chronicles.

Calendar of the nine seasons of Seinfeld.

Data visualizations of the laughs caused by the four main characters.

Data visualizations of the peak performances of the four main characters.

Data visualization of season 4 episode 11 'The Contest'.

Data visualization of season 7 episode 6 'The Soup Nazi'.

The Seinfield Chronicles

An unnecessary data exploration by Andy Kirk Portrait of Andy Kirk ,
Anne-Marie Dufour Portrait of Anne-Marie Dufour , and Loud Numbers Loud Numbers logo

1989-90

1990-91

1991-92

1992-93

1993-94

1994-95

1995-96

1996-97

1997-98

Let’s go back to the start. Seinfeld aired on US TV for the first time on Wednesday 5th July 1989, with a pilot episode titled Good News, Bad News (it was also known as The Seinfeld Chronicles, the inspiration for the title of this project).

Though it was watched by 15.4M viewers, the early reviews were mixed - test audiences hated, TV critics liked it - so its future was initially uncertain. However, thanks to the perseverance and persuasion of NBC executive Rick Ludwin, four more episodes were belatedly ordered to complete the unusually short first season.

This opening season belatedly wrapped a year later, in the summer of 1990, and was received with healthy ratings from critics and audiences alike. This response was positive enough to convince NBC to commission a second season, this time comprising 12 episodes.

Despite a slightly rocky start with Season Two, critical reviews and audience ratings continued to improve giving NBC reason to not only green-light a third season but to move the show into the sought-after Fall schedule, where buzz, anticipation, and advertising revenues peak.

Towards the middle of Season Four the show was moved to Thursdays, straight after Cheers, in the most popular prime-time slot. When the final episode was broadcast, on 14th May 1998, it brought to an end nine seasons and a total of 176 episodes (plus four specials).

Methodology

The data used in this study did not exist; it had to be manually captured by watching every episode and logging the times, categories, and characteristics of different events within each.

Typically, each episode's data was gathered via two full viewings. The first viewing noted the times of discrete scenes starting and finishing, the locations in which the scenes were set, and the characters who appeared (and when). The second viewing validated the data and recorded which characters caused the laughs (and when). This was a pragmatic solution to ensure the best quality data could be obtained in the most efficient way.

To help with the efficiency of the data collecting, all periods of screen time were recorded in units of 5-second durations. This felt like a sufficient granularity of detail to accurately quantify any character's appearance (and aligned with the typical length of time recorded for the duration of a laugh). To qualify as a period of screen time, a character did not necessarily need to be speaking or even interacting, just that they at least played some role in the storyline's progression.

Additional data was collected about broadcast dates, viewing figures, plot synopses and ratings via IMDb. Further qualitative enquiries about joke topics, specific patterns in language, and themes of representation were tempting to pursue but were considered beyond the scope of the enquiry.

Access the data

Credits

Andy Kirk

Ideation, Data Analysis, Data Visualisation & Original Design

Anne-Marie Dufour

Data Visualisation, Digital Design & Development

Loud Numbers

Sonification

Mark Knott

Illustrations

Rob Barker

Data Collection & Research