Jerry Seinfeld has stirred discussion among fans by revealing his top four favorite episodes from the beloved 1990s sitcom that bears his name. The comedian shared his selections during a panel at the Netflix is a Joke Festival in May, with the clip resurfacing recently on social media.
Seinfeld's chosen episodes are "The Contest" (Season 4, Episode 11), "The Soup Nazi" (Season 7, Episode 6), "The Merv Griffin Show" (Season 9, Episode 6), and "The Marine Biologist" (Season 5, Episode 14).
Fans have engaged in lively debate online, offering their own favorite episodes in response to Seinfeld's picks. While many of Seinfeld's choices align with popular opinion, some have raised eyebrows.
According to Ranker, a website that compiles crowd-sourced lists and fan-voted polls, "The Marine Biologist" is ranked No. 1, "The Soup Nazi" is No. 2, and "The Contest" is No. 4. Ranker's audience places "The Opposite" (Season 5, Episode 22) at No. 3, while Seinfeld's pick, "The Merv Griffin Show," is ranked much lower at No. 12.
Seinfeld has also spoken about the polarizing finale of the series, which aired in 1998. The final episode saw the four main characters—Jerry, Elaine, George, and Kramer—imprisoned after being convicted of breaking a small-town's Good Samaritan law. Seinfeld expressed regret over this ending, calling it "maybe our only mistake" during a recent appearance on the "Q with Tom Powers" podcast. He felt that leaving the characters in jail detracted from the show's usual tone.
Interestingly, Seinfeld and co-creator Larry David revisited this narrative arc in the finale of their subsequent HBO series, "Curb Your Enthusiasm," which aired in April 2024. In the "Curb" finale, David's character is found guilty of a similar offense and sentenced to prison, only to be freed due to a mistrial, mirroring a potential correction to the "Seinfeld" finale's perceived misstep.
Seinfeld described the "Curb Your Enthusiasm" finale as an opportunity to address the "Seinfeld" ending, stating that he, David, and writer Jeff Schaffer realized they could "fix it now" by creating a parallel storyline. David humorously addressed the "Curb" finale's connection to the "Seinfeld" ending, saying, "You didn't like the first one? F*** you!"
The original "Seinfeld" finale was a significant television event, drawing 76.3 million viewers in the U.S., making it the fourth-most-watched series finale at the time, following "MASH," "Cheers," and "The Fugitive."
In other recent commentary, Seinfeld suggested that the NBC sitcom "Friends" copied his show. Speaking at the Netflix Is a Joke festival, he posited that NBC created "Friends" as a response to "Seinfeld's" success, aiming to replicate it with a cast of "good-looking people."