Yesterday evening I caught the second half of a Seinfeld episode. It was strange. At first I thought it was some dream sequence or something. The apartment was different, Jerry acted funny, Kramer knocked, George was into real-estate, and there was no Elaine. It didn't have the little sound effects between scenes. The whole thing seemed 'cheap'. The guide said it was Good News, Bad News (1989).

I looked it up on IMDB and it turns out that was the very first episode. I had never seen it before. Man, that show sure changed. I am guessing that would be considered the pilot. Does that mean most of the changes occurred on the second episode? Things like Elaine, apartment, sound effects, etc.

I have not seen that one, that is the only one that i have never seen.

The apartment was different in the first couple seasons, IIRC.  

I like how they slyly changed out Jerrys father for a funnier father.

The first season was a bit weird, there was one episode where they used the wrong film stock so everything looked blurry and the colors were very bad.

Weird Seinfeld episode.

Isn't that redundant?

I think Jerry had a different father in the first few episodes as well.

Quoted: I think Jerry had a different father in the first few episodes as well.

yeah, whole first season maybe?

A little off-topic, but interesting .......... the woman who plays  Jerry's mother was the great love of James Dean's life. They were living together when he was killed in a car accident in 1955, and they were engaged to be married. She was on a Larry King show around the anniversary of Dean's death last year and talked about it.

She was an uber hottie in her day ...

Yep, that was pre-bad hair Krammer too.  Story line sucked.  Jokes were a little stale too.  Seinfeld's OE dad died in the second season.  Or a little sooner......or later.

That was the early version of Seinfeld when NBC was demanding they work certain things into the show. When Jerry and Larry David began saying "F.U." to the networks and doing the show the way they wanted, it became the stuff of legend.

Remember the episodes where Jerry and George finally get a pilot deal with NBC, but the network execs demand that it NOT be a show about nothing? They were referencing the similar situation that Jerry and Larry were in when they got a pilot for the real show.

The interview with Seinfeld on 60 Minutes about the show was pretty intersting.  As you can imagine, the network absolutely hated the show before it developed an audience.  They cut the deal from 6 shows after the pilot to 3, citing "a weak ensemble" of characters for the show.

The weirdest Seinfeld episode I saw was the wedding in India one, where the chain of event was told in reverse.

IMHO that show was was only popular because of zeitgeist. I loved the show back in the day - would laugh my butt off... but now when I hear that bass line when it comes on in re-runs I dash to find the remote.

That said, there are still SOME things that ring out to me... "Shrinkage", the one where George is at a bookstore and takes the book into the bathroom and they make him buy it, some stand the test of time... the rest though, do nothing for me anymore.