Jason Alexander And Several Executives Were Concerned About Seinfeld's Most Beloved Arc

The first few seasons of "Seinfeld" did okay in the ratings, but it wasn't until season 4 that it became a whole cultural phenomenon. Part of that's because of the season's structure: season 4 was still episodic like the seasons before, but this time it had an ongoing arc of Jerry and George pitching their own TV show to NBC. It was a confident (and meta) move for the show to pull, one that made clear "Seinfeld" wouldn't be running out of steam any time soon. 

But not everyone on the production was originally happy about the idea. Jason Alexander, in a 2005 documentary reflecting on the series, admitted he thought the idea was a bit much. "When it was presented that season four was going to have an arc, and that the arc was going to be the creation of the Jerry show, I thought we had taken a step in the wrong direction," Alexander confessed. "You can't arc a whole season into a self-aggrandized, 'This is how we did our show.' That's insane."

Executive Glenn Padnick shared his concern that the show wasn't popular or established enough to be doing something so meta. "Here we were doing inside baseball on a show that most people didn't know existed," he said. All the skeptics involved soon changed their tune, however, in light of season 4 being such a clear success. "I really know how to launch a series," Alexander joked, "So, you know, listen to me."

Part of why creator Larry David was able to commit to such a big swing is that he barely seemed to mind if the show lived or died. "I don't really remember caring that much," he said when asked about the ratings for the early seasons. "I was just amazed that we were doing these shows. And they were turning out so well, and people really seemed to like them."

Seinfeld himself concurred. "We kind of assumed that we had an audience that liked what we did. And we weren't thinking about maybe we should do things and make sure everybody gets it. And there was a little core group out there that we were playing to." 

Sure enough, while the full meta nature of Jerry and George's "show about nothing" pitch might've been lost on casual viewers tuning in for the first time, it wasn't lost on any of the loyal viewers who'd already been around for years. Not only did those viewers enjoy it, but to everyone else, the storyline gave off the vibe of a show with much stronger ratings than it actually had. Only a successful show could pull off a meta arc like this; therefore, "Seinfeld" must be a successful show worth watching. By the end of season 4, "Seinfeld" had cemented itself as one of the most popular shows on television, and it would keep that mantle for the next five years.

"This was really one of Larry's most brilliant ideas for the show, these arcs," Seinfeld said about season 4. "And this was one of the best ones ... And he also had that great confidence of knowing that somehow we'd be able to sustain it. He saw that there was enough meat on that bone that it would sustain over a number of episodes."

The final five seasons of "Seinfeld" would also contain some sort of arc that extended throughout the whole season, but rarely were they as meticulous as this one. As one fan of the show noted in great detail on the show's subreddit, season 4 is serialized on a level unique to the series, with only season 7 (with the arc of George's impending marriage to poor Lily) coming anywhere close. 

If you want another season-long storyline on the same level as "Seinfeld" season 4, you'll have to go to Larry David's next sitcom, "Curb Your Enthusiasm." A lot of the seasons on that show had an arc, with some of them being pretty loose (like Larry thinking he's adopted in season 5) and some being too serialized for their own good (like season 9's fatwa storyline). The best season arc was season 7, which followed Larry deciding to pull off a "Seinfeld" reunion special in an attempt to win back his ex-wife Cheryl. The season's not just filled with fun fan service for "Seinfeld" fans; it's a tightly written, serialized gem in its own right. "Seinfeld" itself could never outdo its fourth season, and "Curb Your Enthusiasm" could never quite outdo its seventh.