Seinfeld - Season 4

Seinfeld DVDs

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Movie DVD

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It's hard to believe, but for the first three seasons nobody really knew that Seinfeld was about, well, you know. It wasn't until season 4--unleashed here in a four-disc set that's equal in scope, quality, and quantity of bonus material to its predecessors--that the show really became something. In a series which can claim every installment as classic, the two-parter on disc 1 titled "The Pitch/The Ticket" truly stands out as a defining episode and, in retrospect, marked Seinfeld 4 as the breakthrough season. It's the one where (fake) NBC executives express their interest in working with Jerry Seinfeld on a TV show, then moves to the who's-on-first shtick of George successfully pitching Jerry on creating "a show about nothing." Scattered throughout the discs in commentaries by cast and creators and in numerous "Inside Look" documentaries, nearly everyone expresses some anxiety about the season having a story "arc" depicting Jerry and his "real" life becoming a sitcom. The show had been only marginally successful up to that point anyway, and with the edict, "no hugging, no learning," still in place, maybe messing with nothing was a bad idea. What makes the arc so arch is the self-reflexive way it details the reality of Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David coming up with the concept and pitching it to (real) NBC executives as a show that really was about, well, you know. In one of the many informally informative interview segments, Jerry remembers hitting a stride during this time when a lot of crazy ideas started to make sense. "Everything was just a wild guess," he says, "and it takes a while to get confident that you're guessing pretty good. I think sometime in season 4 we realized we were guessing pretty good." Oh, that we could all be so good at nothing.

Season 4 also gave us the episodes "The Bubble Boy" ("He lives in a bubble!"), "The Pick" ("There was no pick!"), and, perhaps most memorably, "The Contest." Recalling how nervous he thought NBC might be about a show based on how long a person can remain--ahem--master of his domain, Larry David says that he kept the idea hidden for a long time. He may have had NBC sweating, but the episode goes by without anyone uttering the word that it's really about. The curmudgeonly David also observes that another famous season 4 episode, "The Outing," only made it on the air due to a network "note" about making sure it wouldn't be offensive to homosexuals. Hence we have the addition of another standard to the Seinfeld lexicon of American pop culture: "Not that there's anything wrong with that!" Not only wasn't there anything wrong with it, the episode won a GLAAD Media Award. Season 4 also brought Seinfeldits first Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series. Stay tuned for season 5 (and a move to the coveted Thursday-at-9 slot) when the volcano we now know was always brewing really blew its comedic top. --Ted Fry

Season 4: 1992–93
Main article: Seinfeld (season 4)
# Title Director Writer(s) Original AirDate[5] Production Code[26]
41 "The Trip, Part 1" Tom Cherones Larry Charles August 12, 1992 401
42 "The Trip, Part 2" Tom Cherones Larry Charles August 19, 1992 402
43 "The Pitch" Tom Cherones Larry David September 16, 1992 403
44 "The Ticket" Tom Cherones Larry David September 16, 1992 404
45 "The Wallet" Tom Cherones Larry David September 23, 1992 405
46 "The Watch" Tom Cherones Larry David September 30, 1992 406
47 "The Bubble Boy" Tom Cherones Larry David & Larry Charles October 7, 1992 407
48 "The Cheever Letters" Tom Cherones Larry David October 28, 1992 408
49 "The Opera" Tom Cherones Larry Charles November 4, 1992 409
50 "The Virgin" Tom Cherones Peter Mehlman November 11, 1992 410
51 "The Contest" Tom Cherones Larry David November 18, 1992 411
52 "The Airport" Tom Cherones Larry Charles November 25, 1992 412
53 "The Pick" Tom Cherones Larry David December 16, 1992 413
54 "The Movie" Tom Cherones Steve Skrovan & Bill Masters and John Hayman January 6, 1993 415
55 "The Visa" Tom Cherones Peter Mehlman January 27, 1993 414
56 "The Shoes" Tom Cherones Larry David & Jerry Seinfeld February 4, 1993 417
57 "The Outing" Tom Cherones Larry Charles February 11, 1993 416
58 "The Old Man" Tom Cherones Larry Charles February 18, 1993 418
59 "The Implant" Tom Cherones Peter Mehlman February 25, 1993 419
60 "The Junior Mint" Tom Cherones Andy Robin March 18, 1993 421
61 "The Smelly Car" Tom Cherones Larry David and Peter Mehlman April 15, 1993 422
62 "The Handicap Spot" Tom Cherones Larry David May 13, 1993 420
63 "The Pilot, Part 1" Tom Cherones Larry David May 20, 1993 423
64 "The Pilot, Part 2" Tom Cherones Larry David May 20, 1993 424