• Jason Alexander received seven Emmy nominations for his role as George Costanza on the series. Seinfeld
  • Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander, Michael Richards and Jerry Seinfeld contributed to the show’s huge success.
  • Jason Alexander threatened to leave Seinfeld when his character’s role began to diminish, but Larry David made sure he remained on the show, allowing George to become a fan favorite and giving Alexander the opportunity to become a sitcom legend.

Ask Seinfeld fans who their favorite character is and you’re sure to get plenty of answers. Ironically, the man behind this title… Jerry Seinfeld, is usually not at the top of the list. Based on the co-creator of the series Larry David, Jason Alexander’s George Costanza may be the best because he’s the worst. The guy was relieved when he found out that his fiancee Susan (Heidi Swedberg), died from toxic poisoning after licking the envelopes with their wedding invitations. He was Jerry’s best friend, but not a good friend. George’s wishes came first and it was fun to watch him fail and get his comeuppance in almost every episode.

Jason Alexander was so great as George that he was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series seven years in a row, but somehow never won. These nominations showed just how much integrity there was in the character of George and the man who played him. Seinfeld. He was as important as Jerry himself (as Michael Richards like Kramer and Julia Louis-Dreyfus like Elaine). It couldn’t be Seinfeld without George Costanza, but it almost happened when in the third season Jason Alexander approached Larry David and threatened to leave for a reason that is now difficult to imagine.

Seinfeld TV show poster

Seinfeld

The ongoing misadventures of neurotic New York stand-up comedian Jerry Seinfeld and his equally neurotic New York friends.

Date of issue
July 5, 1989

Throw
Jerry Seinfeld, Jason Alexander, Michael Richards, Julia Louis-Dreyfus

Main genre
Comedy

Genres
Comedy

Rating
TV-PG

Seasons
9

Studio
NBK

Elaine’s popularity on Seinfeld was taken away from George

When the series began in 1989, it was a series far removed from what it became. SeinfeldThe 1989 pilot wasn’t even called Seinfeld. Instead it was named Seinfeld Chronicles. George and Jerry were there, but Elaine wasn’t, and Kramer was creepier and less nice than the next-door neighbor named Kessler. Elaine Benes will appear as Jerry’s ex-girlfriend in the next episode. There was a bit of traditional will-they-won’t-they sitcom romance teasing between them in the beginning, but luckily it came to nothing as Jerry and Elaine realized they were better off as friends. Seinfeld It was not about tradition, and there was certainly no room for long-term romance.

It was not difficult for Elaine to stand out as the only woman in a group of friends. This minority status was not the only reason why Elaine became such an important part of Seinfeld. Instead, she avoided sitcom stereotypes and could be just as dirty, vindictive and self-absorbed as the men. The Jerry and George dynamic of two guy best friends complaining about their lives was nothing new, but an opposite-sex friendship where neither of them wanted to be with the other romantically was something we didn’t see in that era. Julia Louis-Dreyfus was so good as Elaine that she was nominated for seven Emmy Awards and even took home the trophy in 1996.

So many episodes Seinfeld throughout seasons 2 and 3 focus more on Jerry and Elaine, such as Jerry’s concern about Elaine possibly living so close to him in “The Apartment” or the time they briefly met again in “The Deal”. This doesn’t mean George disappeared. He still had a lot of great moments, but there were often times when his job was to react to someone else’s story by expressing a funny reaction to the whole thing. Then the time came when George, to my shock, was not in Seinfeld overall episode.

Jason Alexander told Larry David he wasn’t feeling well.

Third episode of the third season Seinfeld was called “Pero”. Here, Jerry and Elaine leave New York to travel to Florida to visit Jerry’s parents at the retirement village where they live. It’s not one of the best episodes of the series, but it’s still a good one, with the plot centered on the Villager giving Jerry a pen that can write upside down, like an astronaut’s pen. Taking Jerry’s pen was a bad thing., because he shouldn’t have accepted it. Poor Elaine also has to sleep on the guest sofa, and the bar runs across it so awkwardly that her back hurts and she can’t sleep. However, there are two huge parts missing from this episode. There is no George or Kramer. (Kramer wasn’t in Season 2’s “Chinese Restaurant” either.)

This was incredibly frustrating for Jason Alexander. He had already seen his role as George Costanza begin to diminish, and now he was somehow not even in the episode at all. That’s when he decided to turn to Larry David, the man on whom his character was based. In accordance with Jennifer Keishin Armstrongbook, Seinfeldia: How the show “About Nothing” changed everythingAlexander told David: “If you write me out again, do it forever.” When Larry David tried to explain how difficult it was to make room for four main characters in each episode, Alexander snapped at him. “Don’t tell me about your problems. If you don’t want me here, I don’t want to stay here.”

Jason Alexander confirmed that this is true. In an interview with Access to Hollywood in 2017, he said he told David: “If you do it again, do it forever. If you didn’t need me here every week, I’d go straight home and do what I did.” Alexander talked about how he could return to working in the theater, which is what he did before he received Seinfeld concert. He added: “Thank God (David) didn’t say go camping because I would have had no life or career.”

‘Seinfeld’ Found a Way to Include All Four Characters

It was a bold move for Jason Alexander to make such a comment as he was not the star he was expected to become. The history of TV shows is littered with actors who thought they were bigger than the show, only to find themselves punished for their behavior. However, Alexander was not an egoist on the level of George Costanza. He didn’t necessarily think he was more than Seinfeldbut he just wanted to be a part of it. Larry David didn’t punish Alexander by eliminating him from more episodes or reducing his role. Jason Alexander not only appeared in all Seinfeld episode until the end of its run, but his character also grew and became more whole, evolving into someone even more wildly neurotic, to the point where he became a beloved character for many of the series’ biggest fans.

It was season 4 when Seinfeld truly became a pop culture phenomenon. That’s when things really started to come together, primarily thanks to the most famous episode, “The Contest.” More and more, Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer were always together, and when they weren’t, their separate stories somehow intersected with each other, bringing everything back to normal. Season 4 when Seinfeld really let go. By the week it had already gotten better, but 1992 and 1993 is when the show caught fire. viewers because he decided to throw everything at the wall and nine times out of ten it stuck.

Most of George Costanza’s best (and sometimes, unfortunately, memorable) moments come from season three onwards. Season five focused on George with classic episodes like “The Marine Biologist” and “The Opposite.” Later we get to see George’s great storyline with Susan and all the fun episodes highlighting his time with the New York Yankees. That’s when Jason Alexander’s annual Emmy nomination happened. All would be lost if Jason Alexander left. Instead of being a sitcom legend, he would still be a stage actor. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Seinfeld is available to stream on Netflix in the US.

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