Seinfeld

1989

Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld built nine seasons from 1989 to 1998 around four New Yorkers and a standing rule against sentiment or growth. Episodes turn on parking spots, soup lines, and waiting for a table, and the plots braid together instead of resolving cleanly. Seinfeld plays a version of himself alongside Jason Alexander as George, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Elaine, and Michael Richards as Kramer. The show about nothing reshaped what a sitcom was allowed to be, largely by refusing to let anyone learn anything.