The Nineties: A Book

by Chuck Klosterman

Almost everything about how television was perceived in the early nineties can be encapsulated within one three-second clip from the fourth season of Seinfeld. The premise of the two-part episode, titled “The Pitch,” is built around its two main characters, Jerry and George, pitching a sitcom to NBC based on the banality of their day-to-day lives. The brilliance of the concept was the depth of its meta-commentary: Seinfeld was an NBC sitcom based on the day-to-day banality of Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, who were now concocting a story line where the fictional versions of themselves were trying to concoct a fictional version of their already fictional life. This level of self-awareness was virtually nonexistent in the television topography of the time. It was legitimately innovative. But the episode’s make-or-break moment comes from an exchange between George (whose character was based on David) and Russell Dalrymple, the fictional NBC president (based on the real-life NBC executive Warren Littlefield). George is explaining the potential show to NBC and adamantly insisting the program will be “about nothing.” There will be no stories and no conflicts. At one point, he suggests the show may feature characters silently reading. The point, according to George, is that this will be a TV show where nothing happens, ever. “Well, why am I watching it?” asks Dalrymple. “Because it’s on TV,” replies George.