I never liked Seinfeld. The first episode I ever saw killed me. I watched Jerry ruin his nice new (and expensive) suede jacket because Elaine’s father forced him to wear it in the snow. I thought that was so messed up, poor Jerry’s jacket turned into an ugly blotchy mess for no apparent reason other than he happened to be going out to dinner with some jerk. That still bothers me a lot.

But I met Derrick, and Derrick has every single episode of Seinfeld. Derrick liked it, and I like Derrick, so I watched it with him. Seinfeld has become one of our staples in terms of before-bed viewing, and I’d say we’re at the point where we’ve cycled through the show eight or nine times. And guess what…I like Seinfeld!

Before, when I’d just randomly catch it on TV, I bought into the whole idea that it’s a show about nothing. Sure, it’s totally random meaningless day to day events in a lot of ways, and 80% of all episodes can stand alone, but watching them chronologically does lead to a much higher level of understanding in terms of character growth (even if they don’t grow much), reoccurring characters and story arcs involving specific relationships (Elaine and Puddy, George and Susan for example).

I still don’t like watching Jerry get screwed over, which seems to happen over and over, so sometimes I’ll have to cover my eyes or turn away from the television for a moment. I don’t like watching people be mean to each other. This seems strange in light of the fact that Jerry, Elaine, Kramer, and George are all at times very mean to each other, which of course leads to the controversial finale. I forgive them. And, if you couldn’t tell already, Jerry IS my favorite.

I am beginning to attempt compiling a list of my favorites. This might take a while, since I’ve just started season 8 and will have to cycle back around to make sure I haven’t missed any, but I wanted to go ahead and throw it out there. Generally speaking, here is what helps make up a favorite episode for me: episodes with Puddy, episodes where Kramer runs, and episodes where Jerry says “I don’t wanna…” I think my #1 would have to be the one where Jerry gets heckled, George encounters the clown, and Kramer heroically saves a pinky toe. Hard to beat that.

While this probably seems pretty random, Seinfeld’s been on the brain, as many characters from the TV show will be reprising their roles in some way during the upcoming season of Curb Your Enthusiasm. I’m not quite sure how this will be working yet,though I’ve theorized from the beginning that Larry will be working on a Seinfeld reunion show/Seinfeld 10 Years Later thing. Maybe we’ll find out if Jerry and Elaine finally end up together? I sure hope so.