Some more Seinfeld trivia:
Many Seinfeld episodes are based on the writers' real-life experiences, with the experiences re-interpreted for the characters' storyline. For example, George's storyline, "The Revenge", is based on Larry David's experience at Saturday Night Live. "The Contest" is also based on David's experiences. "The Smelly Car", storyline, is based on Peter Mehlman's lawyer friend, who could not get a bad smell out of his car. "The Strike" is based on Dan O'Keefe's dad, who made up his own holiday—Festivus. Some stories were inspired by headlines and rumors. In "The Maestro", Kramer's lawsuit is roughly similar to the McDonald's coffee case. "The Outing" is based primarily on rumors that Larry Charles heard about Jerry Seinfeld's sexuality.
In the very first episode, the first conversation was between George and Jerry about a button. In the very last episode, when they were sitting in jail, the last conversation they had was the same thing about the button.
Larry Charles wrote an episode for season two, "The Bet", in which Elaine buys a gun from Kramer's friend. This episode was not filmed because the content was deemed unacceptable, and was replaced by the episode "The Phone Message".
A major controversy caused in the final season was the accidental burning of a Puerto Rican flag by Kramer in "The Puerto Rican Day" episode. This scene caused a furor among Puerto Ricans, and as a result, NBC showed this episode only once.
Much publicity followed the controversial episode, "The Contest", an Emmy Award-winning episode written by co-creator Larry David, whose subject matter was considered inappropriate for prime time network television. To circumvent this taboo, the word "masturbation" was never used in the script, instead substituted by a variety of oblique references.
Elaine (Julie Louis-Dreyfus) did not appear in the pilot episode. Seinfeld‘s first conception of the ‘woman’ role was a sassy waitress named Clair played by actress Lee Garlington. After the pilot was filmed, however, the creators felt Garlington wasn’t a good fit and began seeking replacement roles/ actresses.
The puffy shirt used in "The Puffy Shirt" episode is currently placed in the Smithsonian.
Though Larry David played George Steinbrenner, the actual George M. Steinbrenner III was filmed playing himself for use in an episode. However, the scene was never shown on the series.
Jerry Seinfeld wears white sneakers as a nod to Joe Namath (Jets) and Bill Cosby (I Spy), his childhood fashion icons.
Jerry says "Hello, Newman" only 15 times in the entire series.
In 2002, TV Guide named Seinfeld the greatest television program of all time.
"The Contest" was ranked #1 on the same magazine's list of TV's Top 100 Episodes of All Time.
The final episode enjoyed a huge audience, estimated at 76 million viewers, making it the third most watched finale in television history, behind M*A*S*H and Cheers.
When the final episode aired on May 14, 1998, the TV Land network honored the occasion by airing no programming in the show's timeslot. Instead the network just showed a still photo of a closed office door. MTV aired original cartoons that were specially timed to fit into the finale's commercial breaks, so that viewers could freely watch both of them and not worry about missing anything.
Jerry Seinfeld turned down an offer from NBC that would have made him $110 million for a tenth season of the show.
As of June 2014, the series has earned $4 billion in worldwide revenue, making it the second most lucrative show in television history behind Friends.