Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “Seinfeldia: How a Show About Nothing Changed Everything” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

Seinfeldia: How a Show About Nothing Changed Everything

Jennifer Keishin Armstrong (Goodreads Author)

3.70 · Rating details · 8,439 ratings · 1,084 reviews

The hilarious behind-the-scenes story of two guys who went out for coffee and dreamed up Seinfeld—the cultural sensation that changed television and bled into the real world, altering the lives of everyone it touched.

Comedians Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld never thought anyone would watch their silly little sitcom about a New York comedian sitting around talking to his fr ...more

Get A Copy

Hardcover, 307 pages

Published July 5th 2016 by Simon Schuster

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about Seinfeldia, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

The Revolution Was Televised by Alan Sepinwall

Books about TV

296 books — 43 voters

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

Thinging

993 books — 36 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

Showing 1-30

Average rating 3.70 ·

Rating details

· 8,439 ratings · 1,084 reviews

More filters

Sort order

Start your review of Seinfeldia: How a Show About Nothing Changed Everything

Jun 23, 2016 Dan Schwent rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2016-books, 2016, confession-time

Seinfeldia is the story of Seinfeld, the TV show that went from being watched by a handful of people to being a pop culture phenomenon.

Confession Time: There was a period of my life that Seinfeld was my favorite show. I watched it religiously in syndication and in prime time as new episodes aired. Actually, religiously probably isn't the right word since I never missed Seinfeld but ditched church at every opportunity, sometimes while reading Sein Language. To this day, I still watch episodes in ...more

flag 110 likes · Like · see review

May 14, 2018 Brina rated it really liked it

Shelves: celebrity, comedy, nonfiction

About a week ago I was discussing the merits of double dipping tortilla chips into salsa with a few of my kids. They seemed puzzled; family germs do not count in the grand scheme of things, having told them this myself many times. Family germs aside, I found the Seinfeld double dipping episode and had my kids laughing hysterically. It is hard to believe that Seinfeld has been off of the air for twenty years this week. My husband has seen each episode countless times, and the show enters our vern About a week ago I was discussing the merits of double dipping tortilla chips into salsa with a few of my kids. They seemed puzzled; family germs do not count in the grand scheme of things, having told them this myself many times. Family germs aside, I found the Seinfeld double dipping episode and had my kids laughing hysterically. It is hard to believe that Seinfeld has been off of the air for twenty years this week. My husband has seen each episode countless times, and the show enters our vernacular on at least a weekly basis. When I saw Jennifer Keishin Armstrong's book Seinfeldia: How a Show About Nothing Changed Everything at my library last week, I knew it was a book that I had to borrow. Like the show itself, the book and the memories it brought back had me laughing in stitches.

Seinfeld is still around in syndication twenty years later, but what few people realize is that the show was barely picked up by its network NBC. In 1990, Cheers and the Cosby Show had its better days behind them, and television ratings were changing key demographics, to a generation disillusioned by the Reagan administration. Enter Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, two comedians who pitched a sitcom about the minutiae of everyday life. Executives were skeptical-- the show was too New York, too Jewish, and nothing happened in it. Allowing the project to go forward, the creators filmed a pilot of The Seinfeld Chronicles, titled Jerry. One network pundit found the show promising and allowed for four more episodes to be filmed, and homes from a cross section of America were given the chance to voice their opinions of this new sitcom. The results were better than expected, and David and Seinfeld were given the green light to go forward with their project. It was the break of their careers, and the show that no one thought would succeed ended up on NBC in a key Thursday night time slot for nine years, carrying the network back to prominence.

Jerry, George, Kramer, and Elaine and the actors who played them became more known for their on air personas than the people who played them in real life. The show produced classics as "The Junior Mint," "The Soup Nazi," and countless other episodes that live on in syndication and DVD sales. George one time worked for the New York Yankees. The quartet once got into an argument about parking in a handicapped spot at a mall parking garage; one time an entire episode focused on them waiting for a table at a Chinese restaurant. Once Elaine through out her back sleeping on a hideaway bed at Jerry's parents condo in Florida. What made this show about nothing relatable is that these episodes were all taken from the real lives of Larry David and his team of writers. The line between reality and fiction was so blurred that twenty years later, the actors, including guest stars, are still known for these signature roles.

As with all long running programs, the business of producing a successful product inevitable lead to the show to end after nine seasons. Yet, Seinfeld lives on in syndication and in real life. Bit actors like Larry Thomas the Soup Nazi and the real life Kenny Kramer still cash in on their roles. The Brooklyn Cyclones minor league baseball team held a Seinfeld themed night. With syndication, the show is still on in most markets on a nightly basis, allowing new generations of viewers to witness the antics of this show that was supposed to be about nothing. While not spectacular writing, Jennifer Keishin Armstrong brought back the sitcom and its comedy and it had me in stitches, reminding me that Seinfeld was a one of a kind show, the best of its generation.

Jerry Seinfeld has returned to his roots as a stand up comedian. He has produced a show for Netflix called Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, which is charmingly hilarious but still does not measure up to his twenty two minute show about nothing. With syndication, I still see the show, and it is as still as funny as it was twenty years ago, but like the actors, I have moved on in real time. I still do not turn down an opportunity to see Seinfeld if it is convenient for me to do so. Jennifer Keishin Armstrong brought back the show in this book, that, despite being about nothing, was at its best humorous.

4 stars ...more

flag 100 likes · Like · see review

Apr 13, 2016 Jessica J. rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley, pop-culture

If there's one thing I guess you should know about me other than that I'm a huge bookworm, it's that I love sitcoms. I love thoughtful analysis of sitcoms, I love nostalgia and trivia associated with sitcoms, I love quoting sitcoms and making references to them on an annoyingly regular basis. So I was crazy excited to snag an ARC of this. Armstrong's previous book on The Mary Tyler Moore Show received such high praise and it goes without saying that I am a huge Seinfeld fan. I even have a Theory If there's one thing I guess you should know about me other than that I'm a huge bookworm, it's that I love sitcoms. I love thoughtful analysis of sitcoms, I love nostalgia and trivia associated with sitcoms, I love quoting sitcoms and making references to them on an annoyingly regular basis. So I was crazy excited to snag an ARC of this. Armstrong's previous book on The Mary Tyler Moore Show received such high praise and it goes without saying that I am a huge Seinfeld fan. I even have a Theory of Life based on the show: you can make a reference to Seinfeld out of nearly every experience you have, and that episode will show up on your television with 24 hours. The theory has held up so much, that my husband once found a reference in an article on Slate that had been published less than 10 minutes before he and I watched the episode that it referenced.

So you might think that this is the perfect book for me. But I have some pretty mixed feelings about it and I'm struggling to figure out how to articulate them. On the one hand, it was well-written and interesting. On the other hand, I just couldn't shake the fact that large chunks of it seemed to be just regurgitating anecdotes from DVD bonus features.

Literally, sentence after sentence after sentence are credited to DVD features in the bibliography. So many ibids. That would be fine, I guess, if it felt like Armstrong added anything to those anecdotes. But she didn't really do that. No commentary, no analysis, very little in the way of tying the anecdotes into a bigger point. She clearly didn't have access to any of the big players -- no interviews with the four main cast members or Larry David or anyone more important than a guy who wrote for more than two consecutive seasons (the show's reliance on events plucked from writers' real lives meant a high turnover rate as they burned through their personal wells of funny stories and Larry David's tight creative control couldn't have been fun, so lasting more than a year or two was rare). And that just meant that she relied primarily on those commentary reels and old newspaper interviews filled with now-familiar tidbits. Even descriptions of Jerry's pre-NBC stand-up routines seem to be limited to what had been included in bonus features.

The back half of the book shifts from a narrative of how the show was conceived and produced to a modest exploration of the show's influence in the two decades (!) since it went off the air. But again, much of this was just an exploration of familiar anecdotes--how John O'Hurley became an investor in the real Peterman catalog, how the real Soup Nazi hated the show. Very little original analysis of how the show has affected television, in terms of both the business side and the content side.

And so, instead of this:

I walked away from the book feeling a little more:

Maybe the book would be more enjoyable had I not immediately recognized so much of its content from videos like this one? I don't know. As it is, I was really just...underwhelmed. ...more

flag 75 likes · Like · see review

Jun 15, 2016 Trudi rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: laugh-out-loud, 2016, non-fiction, netgalley

A free copy was provided through Netgalley in exchange for review.

I think anyone who picks up this book is most likely going to be a rabid Seinfeld fan, and I'm no exception. We are in the midst of PeakTV -- a new heralded Golden Age of Television -- and there's a very persuasive argument to be made that it all started with a small show about nothing, that did in fact, change everything. Despite the avalanche of remarkable and groundbreaking TV that's hit our small screens since Seinfeld exited ...more

flag 44 likes · Like · see review

Jan 25, 2020 Brian rated it liked it

Shelves: non-fiction

“From there, things started to get weird. No, really this time.” (2.5 stars)

“Seinfeldia” is not really a good book. But with a few exceptions I enjoyed reading it, thus the 3 star rating. “Seinfeld” is the only television sitcom that I own the entire series on DVD. I love it, but have not watched any episodes in a long time. This book reminded me why I love the show.
Stylistically “Seinfeldia” is very average. It reads like a popular magazine. The author wrote for magazines for many years, makes ...more

flag 31 likes · Like · see review

Oct 03, 2022 Jonathan K (Plot & Characters Matter) rated it really liked it

Written for the true Seinfeld fans of which there are millions, this highly detailed accounting of its various stages is revealing in many ways.

Having grossed over $3B, Seinfeld is hailed at THE MOST successful TV program in the history of television and remains as the leader today. The 'show about nothing' blossomed when NBC executives were lead to a comedy club where Jerry performed. Much as its seen in the series, they suggest a meeting at their offices. It's here he contacts Larry David, a Written for the true Seinfeld fans of which there are millions, this highly detailed accounting of its various stages is revealing in many ways.

Having grossed over $3B, Seinfeld is hailed at THE MOST successful TV program in the history of television and remains as the leader today. The 'show about nothing' blossomed when NBC executives were lead to a comedy club where Jerry performed. Much as its seen in the series, they suggest a meeting at their offices. It's here he contacts Larry David, a fellow stand up comedian not only to share the excitement, but enroll him as a co-writer; what transpires from there is history.

In real life, Larry lives in a rent controlled apartment building in NY, across the hall from Kenny Kramer. As he and Jerry brainstorm they realize Kramer would be a great character for the series due to his quirkiness, obtuse business ideas and persona. After numerous meetings NBC offers a pilot which while exciting presents a problem. How do stand up comics who've never written for TV succeed? Larry David and the NBC staff interview comics from every area of the business and choose those who have oddball personal stories rather than writing experience. Among the writers chosen was Peter Mehlman who's personal stories launched countless memes including 'the low talker, re-gifter and countless others. More importantly, Larry established himself as the quirkiest, introverted head writer in television who cycled through writers every season.

Having cast Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Michael Richards as the ensemble, Jerry insisted the show should be shot in front of a live audience. And for those who have seen Seinfeld, his opening stand-up material became a standard. As the show gained popularity, it became the golden child of NBC reigning in advertisers willing to pay $1M for a 30-second spot setting a precedent never before achieved. With the ballooning ad revenue, NBC invested in big budget sets including Monk's Restaurant, NY streets and others.

After 6 seasons, Larry had had enough and left the show making Jerry the lead of the show as well as head writer. As a result, his pay blossomed to $1M/episode causing a rift with the rest of the ensemble. When the last shows of the ninth season neared production, NBC offered Jerry $5M/episode to continue but it was ultimately turned down.

And while Seinfeld was nominated countless times for Emmy's, "Frasier" pulled in most of them which for someone like myself seems crazy. Most recently Hulu paid $160M for the rights setting yet another precedent for a show the 'about nothing' from the 90's. Few if any shows have established quirky characters that include The Soup Nazi, J. Peterman, Watley (Brian Cranston) and others who still live on today, though Kramer remains #1.

Years after the show's final episode, the ensemble had severe difficulties finding work having been type cast for nine years. In particular, Michael Richards had the hardest time which resulted in psychological difficulties.

From here the rest is history though. This review would be pages if I went into all the details and then why would you need to read the book?

Highly recommended whether you're a fan or not, since it's rare we experience a show about nothing that still lives on today! ...more

flag 29 likes · Like · see review

Dec 13, 2018 Chris rated it it was amazing

I can recite whole scenes from Seinfeld. It will always be among my very favorite sit-coms. And so I savored all these off-camera anecdotes and stories, and the origin of so many expressions and observations that now pepper my wife's and my conversations. ...more

flag 23 likes · Like · see review

Jul 10, 2016 Joy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction, library-has-it, can-t-wait, humor, seinfeld-books, saw-it-on-tv, i-loved-this, looks-like-fun, comedy

This book is right up my street! I'm a huge Seinfeld fan!! I consider myself a devoted fan of everything related to Seinfeld, which this book refers to as Seinfeldia. Even as devoted to the series and the actors as I have been all these years, I still learned things I didn't know from this excellent book. The author delves into how the series became so groundbreaking and why it's so important in the history of situation comedies. If you are a fan of the show, this book is truly a must read!

I'll ...more

flag 17 likes · Like · see review

Feb 05, 2017 Richard rated it liked it

Shelves: arc, nonfiction

I like Seinfeld, it's a funny show. I watched all of them on DVD and cherry picked my way around my favourites in quiter TV times (few and far between these days). What doesn't necessarily work, or at least not for someone who likes the show and not love it, is a whole load of tales about some of the writing staff and there struggles to stay fresh.

You could call it a coffe table book, something to dip in and out of. That's what I did, read ten pages at a time for a quick fix. It was nice to reme ...more

flag 14 likes · Like · see review

Jul 01, 2017 Olive Fellows (abookolive) rated it really liked it

Shelves: pop-culture

Click here to hear my thoughts on this book over on my Booktube channel, abookolive!

...more

flag 23 likes · Like · see review

Sep 03, 2017 Don rated it liked it

Shelves: comedy

One GoodReads reviewer complains that large chunks of Seinfeldia seem to be mere regurgitations of "anecdotes from DVD bonus features" and that the author "clearly didn't have access to any of the big players," including Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David. These complaints are all completely valid. Luckily, I knew little about the show's backstory, and so I found the first few chapters of this book -- in which we learn about the show's origins and Seinfeld and David's creative process -- to be a pur ...more

flag 12 likes · Like · see review

Aug 14, 2016 David rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Unfortunately this book amounted to little more than click bait.

I enjoyed Seinfeld in its original run and still enjoy it in syndication and was hoping to learn some interesting behind-the-scenes information, but that hope was largely unmet. I did get lots of uninteresting and forgettable stories however.

Going into the book I did fear any mention of Kenny Kramer, a human fire hose of annoying unfunniness and Seinfeld monetizing. Not only were there KK stories but there were pictures too. One sta Unfortunately this book amounted to little more than click bait.

I enjoyed Seinfeld in its original run and still enjoy it in syndication and was hoping to learn some interesting behind-the-scenes information, but that hope was largely unmet. I did get lots of uninteresting and forgettable stories however.

Going into the book I did fear any mention of Kenny Kramer, a human fire hose of annoying unfunniness and Seinfeld monetizing. Not only were there KK stories but there were pictures too. One star off for each offense. Sorry but the fictional Kramer was generally funny because he had a talented group of writers scripting his lines and scenes. The real Kramer clearly does not.

Other uninteresting storylines include fans rehashing catchphrases, the experiences of some writers, some more dull fan stories and a story about the woman in the Rochelle, Rochelle poster (she’s an accountant in California). The stories about the lead actors weren’t insightful or interesting and weren’t helped by their portrayal as self-absorbed jerks.

There were some mildly interesting parts about the show’s last two stinkers: the Puerto Rican Day Parade episode and the finale. I recall watching them and wondering how they ever made it on television. I wish the author had dug into those subjects a lot more because they were true outliers to me. (Although the season with Mr. Pitt (season 5?) was dreadfully unfunny from first to last episode. It also suffered from a steady stream of the horrid overacting (the loud, dramatic pronouncements that went on too long) that plagued the show from time to time in other seasons.)

A few easy suggestions for improving the book:

* Stop using the term “meta” every other sentence.
* An appendix with a list of shows (by title) for each season with a brief synopsis for each episode.
* A list of original viewer figures for each episode. (Shares? Percentages? Number of viewers? Some way to quantify the growing success of the show.)
* The writing and directing credits for each episode.
* A viewer rating for each episode. There must be a reliable source somewhere on the Web.

These wouldn’t make the book worth reading but it would have provided some interesting data to give the book some value. ...more

flag 10 likes · Like · see review

Jun 27, 2016 Brandon Forsyth rated it it was ok

Reminded me in a lot of ways of Caseen Gaines' WE DON'T NEED ROADS, in that if you're a fan of the property, you've heard a lot of this stuff before. There are moments when this book transcends "funny stories of working on Seinfeld", but the book never lives up to the subtitle "how a show about nothing changed everything". There's a loose narrative about how the show has changed people's lives and manifested itself in the real world, but there's just not enough here to recommend. For die-hards o ...more

flag 10 likes · Like · see review

Nov 29, 2016 ❄️AngeLovesToRead❄️ rated it it was ok

Like a great many people in my age bracket, I tend to think in Seinfeld-isms. Barely a day goes by that I don't see a parallel with some ridiculous situation from the show, or hear a quote from it in my head: Goofing off on the job? I'm working on the Penske file. Eating soup? Soup Nazi. Encounter someone I don't care for? "Hello, Newman."

Anyway, my point is that I am a huge Seinfeld fan, so this book didn't have to do much to delight me. And it did even less than that. The author obviously did ...more

flag 9 likes · Like · see review

Dec 06, 2016 Myrna rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks, read-in-2016, nonfiction

Interesting facts and behind-the-scenes story from the point of view of the writers and directors.

flag 9 likes · Like · see review

Sep 14, 2022 Christine Boyer rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Ha! This may be one of those times where I had the bar set so low that the only way to go was up! I thought this was going to be cheesy and lame. Maybe because of the cover? But I can't believe that I actually enjoyed it!

The writing is nothing special at all. Felt like an average magazine article. Also, if you're not a true, die hard fan of Seinfeld, don't even bother. But I loved all the old references and reading about how Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld created it, how they changed the way sit Ha! This may be one of those times where I had the bar set so low that the only way to go was up! I thought this was going to be cheesy and lame. Maybe because of the cover? But I can't believe that I actually enjoyed it!

The writing is nothing special at all. Felt like an average magazine article. Also, if you're not a true, die hard fan of Seinfeld, don't even bother. But I loved all the old references and reading about how Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld created it, how they changed the way sitcoms were done, and all the inside stories about the various writers throughout the years.

It made me feel good and brought back lots of memories. I actually remember the airing of the pilot in 1989! I wasn't even married yet, and I was at my boyfriend's house. When the episode ended, we just kind of looked at each other like - meh. And yet.... and yet... later that evening we both said - there's something different here. The show was like no other comedy that we had seen. And the rest was history. I watched every episode for the next 9 years. During the show's run I moved from Florida to Idaho, got married, switched jobs 3 times, but my constant was always Thursday night on NBC! Those half hours were sacred. And now, of course, I've seen the series over and over in syndication. In fact, my husband and I were just on a road trip watching TV in the motel room and we caught it on three different channels!

One of the points the authors makes is that very few people have ever been as committed to a show since Seinfeld. That's me. I've enjoyed other sitcoms - probably "The Office" comes close, but nothing like Seinfeld. Ms. Armstrong also wrote at first that the executives kept saying "too Jewish", "too New York", but that never affected its popularity. I agree. But I did notice when I moved to the west that not as many people that I'd talk to watched the show or thought it was as hilarious as I did. I grew up in south Florida where I was friends with many people who were Jewish and from New York. I KNEW these characters! Lastly, I had to laugh when the author mentioned that fans have a tendency to be able to draw a parallel from their own lives to any or every scene from the show - but they have to be careful because it becomes annoying quickly. Ha! If my sister, Julie, is reading this, she will recognize the two of us in that statement!

I guess the fact we're talking about a show and quoting scenes 24 years after its ending says it all. ...more

flag 7 likes · Like · see review

Jun 23, 2016 Erin rated it it was amazing

Shelves: nonfiction, entertainment, arc-review

ARC for review - EPD - July 5, 2016.

I love and adore Seinfeld so I was really looking forward to this book and my expectations were rewarded - just like with the show we are taken through the minutiae of all things having to do with the genesis of the show, its run and its aftermath - and maybe everyone isn't interested in that level of detail about the show, but I certainly was.

At this point the show has been off the air almost twice as long as it was on the air, yet just a few days ago one o ARC for review - EPD - July 5, 2016.

I love and adore Seinfeld so I was really looking forward to this book and my expectations were rewarded - just like with the show we are taken through the minutiae of all things having to do with the genesis of the show, its run and its aftermath - and maybe everyone isn't interested in that level of detail about the show, but I certainly was.

At this point the show has been off the air almost twice as long as it was on the air, yet just a few days ago one of my Facebook friends posted a question asking for people's favorite Seinfeld quote or reference. I'm not kidding when I say that I doubt that a week goes by when I don't think about something from the show (it's probably pretty telling that it's most often, "Serenity Now!") so it's definitely a part of my life that I share with millions of others. Through the book we come to appreciate this gem, created by the genius of Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld (likely mostly David) - they "loved to fixate of tiny life annoyances" and that, in a nutshell, IS Seinfeld, starring Jerry, Larry (in the form of George), Larry's friend Kenny Kramer (in the form of Kramer) and "the girl" (Elaine) who was always treated as one of the guys.

NBC originally had no faith in the show, first airing it as a comedy special, then putting in only a small order. It took some time for Seinfeld to find its footing, but when it did it became a juggernaut, TV's number one rated show, NBC's savior after the departure of The Cosby Show and Cheers and, eventually the show TV Guide voted the best comedy of all time - it was popular like no other show before it, eventually commanding astonishing amounts for advertising, matched only by the Super Bowl. The turning point? Season 4 and the episode entitled "The Contest" - fans of the show know exactly what I'm talking about. The book gives us the full story on all the main writers for the show (and there were a ton of them - to keep the show fresh David and Seinfeld insisted on nearly an entirely new batch each season) as well as the back stories for many of our favorite moments - the Soup Nazi, Festivus, "Crazy" Joe Davola, "sponge-worthy" and on and on.

The book also carries us through the lives of the primary and many of the secondary characters and staff post-show, and I always love a good "where are they now?" story. This aficionado tore through this interesting tale of one of my favorite shows like it was a great marble rye. Fans will love it. ...more

flag 7 likes · Like · see review

Feb 22, 2017 Peter Derk rated it really liked it · review of another edition

What's so special about Seinfeld? What about that show makes it so different?

"No hugging, no learning."

This was the rule, the mantra of Seinfeld writers, started by Larry David.

No matter what happened, the characters did not hug, and they did not learn.

It takes a special kinda show and a special group of people to commit to that. I've always felt that Seinfeld's success came from being very funny, and because it was different from so many other shows in that the characters are reprehensible. Se ...more

flag 7 likes · Like · see review

Jul 01, 2016 Toni rated it really liked it

If you were or are a Seinfeld fan, you should definitely read this book. The best parts are the behind the scenes info, especially about the writing staff, that apparently changed every year. (with the exception of one guy.) Larry David was the writing genius behind closed doors, who single-handily edited every single writers script himself. Jerry Seinfeld was and still is the comedic performing genius and co-collaborator on every episode. After Larry left the show after season 7 or 8 (?),
he had ...more

flag 8 likes · Like · see review

Aug 13, 2016 Bridgit rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2016

Seinfeld is one of my favorite shows of all-time, so it was fun to read about the behind-the-scenes stuff!

flag 7 likes · Like · see review

Jun 07, 2018 Jill Hutchinson rated it it was amazing

Shelves: humor

I have only one thing so say about this book......if you love the classic comedy Seinfeld. READ THIS BOOK!!!!! A true joy for the Seinfeld fan.

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

Feb 17, 2016 Alex Andrasik rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: humor, nonfiction, history, biography, e-book, media, arcs

A great history of the "show about nothing." When I started this book, I was looking forward to it, but a little skeptical of its claim to demonstrate how Seinfeld "changed everything." Well, I was wrong, as I soon remembered! There's the technical aspect, where Seinfeld's crew pioneered film-style single-camera shooting. There's the creative aspect, where the concept of the showrunner gained more power and prestige compared to TV execs and in the eyes of the public. There's the character aspect ...more

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

Jan 26, 2022 Ben Brown rated it really liked it

Shelves: books-nonfiction

A must-read for fans of “Seinfeld,” Jennifer Keishin Armstrong’s “Seinfeldia’ is the best kind of pop-culture deep-dive – funny, touching, and deeply introspective in all of the best ways. Armstrong doesn’t settle for the typical surface-level, lightweight examinations that characterizes most “tell all” television reminiscences (i.e. interesting but semi-trifling anecdotes, fun behind-the-scene details that explain how your favorite moments/characters came to be), although it does contain enough ...more

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

Mar 23, 2017 Dan rated it liked it

Shelves: journalism, entertainment

Armstrong traces the history of the television show and the culture that grew around it, from the original concept that emerged out of a conversation in Lee's Market between Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, through the production of the show over nine seasons, to the finale, and beyond--the Curb Your Enthusiasm "reunion," for instance, as well as the emergence of Internet fan sites, such as the Twitter sites Modern Seinfeld and Seinfeld Current Day.

The book is not a work of criticism, so although Armstrong traces the history of the television show and the culture that grew around it, from the original concept that emerged out of a conversation in Lee's Market between Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, through the production of the show over nine seasons, to the finale, and beyond--the Curb Your Enthusiasm "reunion," for instance, as well as the emergence of Internet fan sites, such as the Twitter sites Modern Seinfeld and Seinfeld Current Day.

The book is not a work of criticism, so although various episodes are mentioned, they are not discussed in detail. Nor is the book a reference work or a collection of trivia: it mentions, for instance, a few of the catchphrases associated with the show, and names some of the celebrity guest stars, but does not attempt comprehensiveness with these or other comparable subjects. And although Armstrong interviewed numerous subjects in researching the book, it is not a collection of reminiscences by the main actors.

In fact, it appears that Armstrong did not interview Seinfeld, David, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander or Michael Richards for her book. Instead, many of her interviewees include both writers who worked on the show and people on whom different characters were based. In this way, Armstrong explores something she terms "Seinfeldia," a space between the show and reality where the lines between the two become blurred, such as in those moments in the show that, while seemingly surreal, were in fact based on real events, or in those instances in which fans continue to interact with the show, even almost twenty years after the last episode aired. For example, (view spoiler)

I laughed a few times while reading the book. At one point, I interrupted reading to re-watch one of the episodes.

Extra points for the inclusion in the text of George's marine biologist monologue.

Acquired Mar 2, 2017
Gift from Jenn ...more

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Aug 04, 2019 Mike rated it really liked it

Shelves: reviewed, also-a-tv-show, history, humor, pop-culture

This book was an enlightening read, even for a Seinfeld fan like myself. In addition to relating the tale of the show Armstrong also delves into the social impact of the show as well as how a little show about nothing helped propel NBC to new heights of ratings and syndication revenues.

The story of Seinfeld begins well before the show started airing and I was fascinated to see just how many different directions the show could have gone in before it solidified into what we know of it today. The f ...more

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Jul 13, 2016 Sonya rated it liked it

Shelves: 2016

Meh. This a labored book that stretches its thesis beyond "inside stories of the Seinfeld years." It's like a very long magazine piece that relies on interviews of just a few of Seinfeld's writers. Simple anecdotes are conflated into long passages. I wish I'd waited to get it from the library. (Disclosure: I am a lifelong Seinfeld fan. My husband and I have seen the episodes countless times. We just binged the entire series. We have an infographic poster of all the Seinfeld characters ever in ou ...more

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Dec 31, 2019 TraceyL rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, humor

An in-depth look at how the TV show Seinfeld was made and the impact it had on pop culture. It goes without saying, you need to be a fan of the show to get the most out of this book. I think I've seen just about every episode via reruns, but I didn't know very much about how it was made, or how much of an impact it really had on other TV shows.

The audiobook narrator sounds a little weird because she tries to imitate the characters' voices whenever she quotes the show, and I don't think she was v ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Feb 26, 2018 Lauren rated it really liked it

Shelves: audio-book

A fun and well-narrated (audiobook) history of Seinfeld. Hardcore fans won’t find much here since it all seems to be pulled from available sources and not new interviews. I’m not a hardcore fan, so it was all new to me. This covers everything you’d want to know from creation to the “where are they now.” Well paced and always just the right amount of detail

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

May 10, 2017 Boudewijn rated it liked it

Shelves: english, non-fiction, ebook, on-ereader, downloaded

This book was sent to me as an advanced reading copy by somebody from Vandelay Industries and yada, yada, yada ... here is the review

This book is a tale about the show about nothing. So how can you write a book about nothing? Well, Jennifer Keishin Armstrong can apparently. So let's shift into soup mode for this review, and see if we'll get some soup. The sea was angry the day I started this book and I got a real sense of it before I looked away. Jennifer surely controls her mail, and therefore ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Jun 24, 2016 Randee rated it it was amazing

Shelves: no-business-like-show-business

There never was and never will be a sitcom like Seinfeld. A true example of when artists are allowed to create without the interference of 'suits' and 'corporate snakes,' something original, interesting and iconic can transpire. I was a fan from the beginning when 'The Seinfeld Chronicles' were hardly seen by anyone only because I had become a fan of Jerry Seinfeld's stand up. I thought it was a wonderfully odd show from the beginning and pestered everyone I knew to watch it. Anyone who really l ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Non-Fictional Memoir	1	3	Apr 05, 2018 08:59AM
Non-Fictional Memoir	1	1	Apr 05, 2018 08:55AM

Readers also enjoyed

See similar books…

Genres

Nonfiction

351 users

Humor

96 users

Culture > Pop Culture

50 users

Audiobook

49 users

Humor > Comedy

48 users

Media Tie In > Tv

38 users

History

35 users

Biography

21 users

Cultural

13 users

Adult

12 users

See top shelves…

About Jennifer Keishin Armstrong

Jennifer Keishin Armstrong

184 followers

Jennifer Keishin Armstrong is the New York Times bestselling author of Seinfeldia; Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted; Pop Star Goddesses; When Women Invented Television; and Sex and the City and Us. She spent a decade on staff at Entertainment Weekly and has since written for many publications, including BBC Culture, The New York Times Book Review, Vice, New York magazine, and Billboard.

Books by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong

Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted: And All the Brilliant Minds Who Made The Mary Tyler Moore Show a Classic

Sex and the City and Us: How Four Single Women Changed the Way We Think, Live, and Love

When Women Invented Television: The Untold Story of the Female Powerhouses Who Pioneered the Way We Watch Today

Why? Because We Still Like You: An Oral History of the Mickey Mouse Club

Sexy Feminism: A Girl's Guide to Love, Success, and Style

More…

64 Top Nonfiction Books to Read for Women's History Month

March is Women’s History Month, dedicated to the study, observance, and celebration of the vital role of women in American history. Some...

Quotes from Seinfeldia: How a...

“BY 2013, SEINFELD WOULD BECOME the most successful show ever in syndication. Networks buy reruns in packages sold in “cycles,” and Seinfeld was the first show in history to get to a fifth cycle, taking its rerun sales through 2017—nearly twenty years since its finale.” — 6 likes

“It is the story of two men whose sitcom—full of minute observations and despicable characters—snuck through the network system to become a hit that changed TV’s most cherished rules; from then on, antiheroes would rise to prominence, unique voices would invade the airwaves, and the creative forces behind shows would often gain as much power and fame as the faces in front of the cameras. Seinfeld” — 3 likes

More quotes…

See a Problem?

Preview — Seinfeldia by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong

Seinfeldia: How a Show About Nothing Changed Everything

Get A Copy

Friend Reviews

Reader Q&A

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topic
Discuss This Book

Readers also enjoyed

Genres

About Jennifer Keishin Armstrong

Books by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong

Related Articles

Quotes from Seinfeldia: How a...

See a Problem?

Preview — Seinfeldia by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong

Seinfeldia: How a Show About Nothing Changed Everything

Get A Copy

Friend Reviews

Reader Q&A

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topicDiscuss This Book

Readers also enjoyed

Genres

About Jennifer Keishin Armstrong

Books by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong

Related Articles

Quotes from Seinfeldia: How a...

new topic
Discuss This Book