This Timeless Sitcom, Which Tested Poorly, Premiered 37 Years Ago Today

Larry David is still creating laugh-out-loud material on the small screen after all these years. Just look at HBO’s Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness as exhibit A.

Looking back, he once wrote for Saturday Night Live — and Sunday, July 5 marked exactly 37 years since the sitcom of all sitcoms premiered on TV, which he created with Jerry Seinfeld.

And fun fact: Seinfeld went by a different title at first. In 1989, The Seinfeld Chronicles is what households first witnessed.

“Good News, Bad News” was the pilot episode’s title, as fans might recall, though that might surprise some since virtually the rest of the installments that aired began with the word “the” (“The Contest,” “The Soup Nazi,” etc.).

Plus, die-hards might also remember that Emmy-winner Julia Louis-Dreyfus — AKA Elaine — didn’t even appear in the debut episode. Instead, we first meet Kramer (Michael Richards), Jerry (Seinfeld) and George (Jason Alexander), the latter two kicking off “Good News, Bad News” with a nit-picky conversation about a button-down shirt. Co-creator David, 79, calls back this topic in the series finale of Seinfeld when Jerry and George sit in a jail cell together — remember?

Luckily, television critics spoke highly of The Seinfeld Chronicles when it first aired, despite previous test audiences reacting negatively to the content, and Seinfeld ultimately took shape. The rest is history, with the entertainment website Collider recently calling the show about nothing “the greatest American TV show ever made” for many reasons, including the fact that it broke out of the cutesy, family-centric sitcom mold and thrived on unpredictability.

Meanwhile, David’s new HBO sketch series, which he co-created with former President Barack Obama, made headlines recently when its second episode featured the great Rob Reiner in his final role. In ultimate satirical form, the late actor and filmmaker is pitch perfect as George Washington. Find out more here.