Nothing Wrong at All - Why People Dig Seinfeld

Right up there with famous quotes such as "say hello to my little friend," "here's Johnny," "That's hot" and "I see dead people," are expressions from a show as American as taking from the poor and giving back to the rich. Thanks to the uber-popular 90s "show about nothing," Seinfeld, expressions such as "sponge-worthy," "I don't wanna be a pirate" and "No soup for you," not to mention the popularity of junior mints candy, have become permanently affixed to our collective lexicon.

TV Guide hails Seinfeld, which begat in 1989 and ran until 1998, as the greatest sit-com of all time and one of the best television shows in history. It was wildly popular while it was still being made and, thanks to the advent of the TV on DVD box set, now boasts a mammoth loyal cult following. I, myself, an admitted sit-com afficianado, count my Seinfeld box sets as the ones receiving the heaviest rotation in my DVD player. And certainly, I am not alone.

In talking of this one day with a couple of friends, a question one of them had for me was something to the effect of, "well, there are a gazillion sit-coms out there and comedians getting their own shows surely isn't something new. What does Seinfeld have that others don't?" After a couple of seconds, I had a good answer. First, I clarified that I am an avid sit-com buff and will basically watch any of them that are funny and have a good plot. Then, I offered a couple of major reasons as to why Seinfeld tops my list of not only favorite sit-coms, but also favorite overall shows.