Jason Alexander and several executives were worried about the most beloved arc of Seinfeld

He made a few “Seinfeld” seasons right in the score, but it was not until season 4 that it became a whole cultural phenomenon. Part of that is due to the structure of the season: Season 4 was still episodic as the seasons before, but this time he had a continuous arc of Jerry and George set their own TV show to NBC. He was confident (and meta) Move to the draw show, one that made it clear that “Seinfeld” would not soon run out of steam at any time.

But not everyone on the production was originally happy about the idea. Jason Alexander, In a documentary in 2005 Reflecting on the series, he admitted that he believed the idea was a bit. “When that season was introduced four were going to get an arc, and that the arc was going to be creating a Jerry show, I thought we had taken a step in the wrong direction,” admitted Alexander. “You can’t arc a whole season into self-worship, ‘This is how we did our show.’ That is crazy. “

The Glenn Padnick executive shared his concern that the show was not popular or set up enough to be doing something so meta. “Here we were doing inside a baseball on a show that most people didn’t know it existed,” he said. All the skeptics involved soon changed, however, in the light of season 4 as such a clear success. “I really know how to launch a series,” joking Alexander, “so, you know, listen to me.”

Part of why Creator Larry David managed to commit to such a large swing is that the show hardly appears to live or die. “I don’t really remember caring that much,” he said when he was asked about the score for the early seasons. “I was just amazed that we were doing these shows. And they turned out so well, and people seemed to like them.”

Seinfeld himself agreed. “We kind of assumed we had an audience who liked what we did. And we didn’t think we should do things and make sure everyone got it. And there was a little core group out there we were playing for.”

Surely, although Jerry and George’s fully meta nature “Show About Nothing” may have been lost on casual viewers tuning in for the first time, he was not lost on any of the loyal spectators who had already been around for years. Not only did those viewers enjoy, but for everyone else, the story line gave a show tone with a much stronger score than it really was. Only a successful show could take off a meta arc; Therefore, “Seinfeld” must be a successful show worth watching. By the end of season 4, “Seinfeld” had confirmed itself as one of the most popular shows on television, and would keep that mantle for the next five years.

“This was actually one of Larry’s brightest ideas for the show, these arcs,” said Seinfeld for season 4. “And this was one of the best … and he also had that great confidence in knowing that we would somehow could maintain.

The final five seasons of “Seinfeld” would also include some kind of arc that stretched throughout the whole season, but were rarely as careful as this one. As one fan of the show noted in great detail on the show’s subbreddit, season 4 is serialized at a level unique to the series, with only season 7 (with George’s Arc an upcoming marriage with a poor lily) come anywhere close.

If you want another season’s story line at the same level as a 4 “Seinfeld” season, you’ll have to go to Larry David’s next comedy, “Curb Your Endusiasm.” Many of the seasons on that show got an arc, some of them quite free (as Larry thought it was adopted in season 5) and some too serial for their own benefit (such as the Story line of Fatwa Season 9). The best season arc was season 7, which Larry followed deciding to remove a special “Seinfeld” reunion in an attempt to win his ex-wife Cheryl back. Not just the season filled with a fun fan service for “Seinfeld” fans; It is a serial pearl written tightly in itself. “Seinfeld” itself could never surpass his fourth seasonand “restrain your enthusiasm” could never surpass his seventh.