“Yada, yada, yada.” “Not
that there’s anything wrong with that.” “No soup for you!”
Whether you faithfully watched
Seinfeld back in the ‘90s, have caught
it on reruns, or have never seen a single episode, chances are you know a few
of its catchphrases anyway. Seinfeld
was such a dominant hit, advertising on its 1998 finale cost more than Super
Bowl spots that year. The overall success of the show gave NBC the money to
diversify, invest in new technologies, and secure long-term rights to the
Olympics just before the Internet and on-demand programming bottomed out the
market on broadcast TV.
However, the effect of
the “show about nothing” on our culture is about more than mere business. Why
else would people still celebrate Festivus, a holiday that belonged to one
comedian’s family until he wrote an episode about it and introduced it to the
world? Or line up to get the autograph of a guy who guest-starred as the Soup
Nazi? Likewise, Kenny Kramer once lived next door to show co-creator Larry
David, but for the past twenty years, he has been running Seinfeld-themed bus tours of New York City, based mostly on
recognition from the character he shares a last name with.
Seinfeldia has taken over our
world. This book merely examines how it happened.
Reviewed
by Lynn Heitkamp
 |
| Click here to find this book |
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