Things You Didn't Know About the Seinfeld Show

a waitress named "Claire" was supposed to be the lead female character in the show. David referred to her as the character of "Claire the waitress". after the pilot aired, one of the thing they changed was the appearance of Elaine Benes as the executives of the show wanted to see a stronger female lead in the series. Rosie O'Donnell auditioned for the role of Elaine, so did Mariska Hargitay, Megan Mullally, Patricia Heaton and Amy Yasbeck. None of them were successful and the part eventually went to comedy genius Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

Jerry Seinfeld has an obsession with the number 9 and that's why the originally came on the air at 9 pm every week and had 9 seasons rather than 10.

a lot of the characteristics of Kramer where originalted from Kenny. they were about to name the neighbor "Kessler" in the show but Kenny let them use the name "Kramer" for $1000. throughout the series the character of Cosmo Kramer is very loosely based on Larry David's real-life neighbour, Kenny Kramer.

it was based on a kitchen operator based in NYC named Al Yeganeh who was a famously rude and who had a set of rules very similar to that of the Soup Nazi. Yeganeh didn't take to his unflattering portrayal in Seinfeld very kindly at all... He told CNN that Seinfeld was a "clown" who use of the N word "the Nazi word-is disgraceful." He also claimed that he had made Jerry Seinfeld famous, not the other way around.

Steve Buscemi was suppose to do the part. and later David Alan Grier was also in the running, as was David Letterman's bandleader Paul Shaffer. Jason Alexander certainly wasn't Seinfeld's first choice to play George. Instead the comedian begged his friend and fellow stand-up comic Jake Johannsen to star in the show - but Johannsen refused. eventually Jason got the role, mostly because of his talent.

Although Seinfeld and David have always maintained that George Costanza is loosely based on Larry David himself, some people don't see it that way. Jerry Seinfeld's had a friend named Michael Costanza and he sued Seinfeld, David and NBC for $100 million claiming that his likeness was used in the show. the court sided with Seinfeld and David, but Michael wrote a book about the issue entitled The Real Seinfeld (As Told by the Real Costanza). in his book he wrote:"George is bald. I am bald. George is stocky. I am stocky. George and I both went to Queens College with Jerry. George's high-school teacher nicknamed him'Can't stand ya.' So did mine. George had a thing about bathrooms and parking spaces. So do I."

Rumour has it that network executives offered Seinfeld a nearly $5 million per episode for a tenth season, which would have come to $110 million over all. Jerry Seinfeld turned Seinfeld turned it down, and executives got the message that it was time for their money-making machine to come to an end.

Seinfeld comes full circle in the end, with the same chat as the first of a series: about buttons. In both the pilot and the finale, Jerry and George are sitting together and talking about a poorly-placed button on a jacket.