25 Things That Producers Of 'Seinfeld' Hid From Viewers

The audiences response to the pilot episode was not to good

Famously referred to as "a show about nothing", in reality, Seinfeld is about so much more. Capturing the awkwardness of day-to-day life, the intricacies of dating and the ways in which other people are often just the worst, it remains a well-observed sitcom. Okay so the technology and those damn outfits might have aged rather disgracefully but the situations are still as easily recognizable as they always were.

Here are 25 things you may have not known about 'Seinfeld'.
Sample feedback: "You can't get too excited about two guys going to the laundromat", "Jerry's loser friend George is not a forceful character" and "Why are they interrupting the stand-up for these stupid stories?"

Elaine was not originally in the pilot


A waitress called Claire did. She was originally supposed to be a regular cast member but she made the mistake of telling Larry David that she had “a few ideas” about the show...

There were several others considered for the role of Elaine

Jerry Seinfeld was obsessed with the number 9

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He was born in 1954 (5+4=9), graduated from high school in 1972 (7+2=9) and first appeared on The Tonight Show in 1981 (8+1=9).

Seinfeld would come on at 9pm and he decided the show should end when it did because, yep, it was the ninth season.

Elaine’s father, an author, was inspired by Richard Yates, who wrote Revolutionary Road

There are a whopping 180 episodes


There are a whopping 180 episodes of the show which has led to over $3 billion in syndication royalties worldwide

One of the final episodes ever, ‘The Puerto Rican Day’, also became one of the most controversial

Jerry Seinfeld is the only character to show up in every episode


Which makes sense since the show is titled after his last name...

The Note’, the first episode of season three used a different version of the theme song

George was almost played by other well known actors


Other actors considered for the role of George included Nathan Lane and Steve Buscemi.

Could you imagine anyone else as George?

Jerry Seinfeld has a least favorite episode

Larry David, the show's co-creator, originally provided the voice for Newman in season two


When Wayne Knight came on to play him in season three, he dubbed the voiceover for the syndicated episode.

David also supplied the voice of John F Kennedy Jr in 'The Contest'.

Seinfeld was offered a nice chunk of change to do a season 10

Junior Mint was not the first candy of choice in the famous 'The Junior Mint' episode


'The Junior Mint' episode memorably sees Kramer and Jerry accidentally drop a Junior Mint into the middle of an operation.

Originally the producers spoke to M&Ms and Lifesavers but were turned down as they found the idea distasteful.

Arguably the most well-known episode 'The Soup Nazi' revolves around a strict owner of a soup stand

'The Soup Nazi' episode also inspired an entire soup chain called Soup Nutsy

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It opened in 1996 in NYC and still exists in Toronto.

While not officially affiliated with the show, there are two themed soups, "Jerry's Favorite" and "Kramer's Favorite".

At age 22, LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy was offered a job writing for Seinfeld

When George's finance Susan died from licking to many envelopes, it caused the episode to be taken off air momentarily


The shocking death of George's fiancé Susan from licking the glue from low quality envelopes was temporarily pulled from syndication after anthrax attacks in 2001.

Frank Sinatra's death coincided with the series finale

George and Kramer wore certain outfits to make them appear a certain way


Jason Alexander wore clothes that were too small to make George appear uncool while Michael Richards wore clothes that were too big to make Kramer appear laid-back.

George's last name was inspired by Michael Costanza, a college classmate of Jerry Seinfeld

Peter Dinklage made a brief appearance in one of the episodes


Peter Dinklage, aka your favorite actor on Game of Thrones, had a very early appearance in 'The Wink' where he played the wake-up service guy who Elaine falls for.

There are several other actors who made brief appearances before they made it big

The guy who was upset with George at a funeral went on to write some big screenplays


The guy who berated George for double-dipping a tortilla chip at a funeral went on to write the screenplay for Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.