It’s impossible to say something about Seinfeld that hasn’t been said dozens of times before—the stories from the making of this now thirty-year-old series have been told time and again. But that’s all part of the fun.
The show is a tour-de-force; one of the most iconic sitcoms of all time, a microcosm of the 1990s, and the source of so many one-liners and memorable characters that even if you didn’t watch the show when it was on the air, you’ve definitely encountered a situation that stems directly from its influence.
The fandom around Seinfeld is so intense that it has elicited backlash from those who think the show has become overrated. Yes, many of the quirks of Seinfeld are a product of its time—there are plenty of storylines that a cell phone or the internet could have quickly solved. But the combination of Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld made the show’s increasingly ridiculous situations feel relatable. We all know a George, Elaine, and Kramer in our own lives.
It’s a show about nothing and simultaneously about everything.
Seinfeld has left no stone unturned either, basing episodes on taboo subjects like who can go the longest as “master of their domain” to mundane tasks like bringing a dish to share at a friend’s dinner party. Each episode, however, comes fully stocked with its own hijinks and undercover references—like Jerry’s sneakers—where a single word could send die-hards down a rabbit hole of quotes.
Narrowing more than 150 episodes down to the 10 best is a tall task that even the most devoted fans would have a hard time pulling off. While every episode of Seinfeld is worth watching, some of its most recognizable episodes aren’t actually the best. To figure out the upper echelon, we’ve considered every factor from cultural significance and storylines to outright comedy. Here are the 10 best episodes of Seinfeld, ranked.
10. “The Chinese Restaurant” (Season 2, Episode 11)
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In its early seasons, Seinfeld hadn’t quite found its rhythm, but “The Chinese Restaurant” stands out as a clear (and hilarious) indication of what was to come. This bottle episode, in which the gang waits impatiently for a table, doesn’t deliver the pure laughs that some other episodes do, but the premise and plot points of George failing miserably to get in contact with his girlfriend and Elaine trying to eat food from another diner’s plate make it required viewing.
9. “The Puffy Shirt” (Season 5, Episode 2)
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We’ve all nodded in agreement when we can’t hear someone properly, but no one has paid the price quite like Jerry did in this episode, when he accidentally agreed to wear a pirate’s shirt on The Today Show. That moment headlines the episode, but it’s George’s newfound career as a hand model that steals the show. His ability to avoid manual labor his entire finally pays off, until success is torn away from him after the “low-talker” shoves him into a still-hot iron and ruins his perfect hands.
8. “The Soup Nazi” (Season 7, Episode 6)
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The episode that spawned a recognizable character and an even more recognizable catchphrase, and hammes on the idea of a special neighborhood spot with an unspoken code. Elaine’s refusal to follow the code gets her banned from the picky soup shop—but what goes around comes around. Just days later, she exacts her revenge and drives the place out of business by exposing the secret recipes. The soup shop may be gone, but its memory lives on forever with every uttering of, “No soup for you.”
7. “The Hamptons” (Season 5, Episode 20)
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For every one of George’s bright moments, there are at least 10 spectacular lowlights, and “The Hamptons” is stacked with them. The embarrassment of his friends seeing his girlfriend topless is only magnified by his “shrinkage” from being in the pool. This banner moment, combined with an ugly baby and Kramer stealing lobsters, moves this episode to the top tier.
6. “The Dinner Party” (Season 5, Episode 13)
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This episode-long goose chase for a dish to bring to a friend’s dinner party leads to two separate but equally hilarious storylines. Between George surrendering his Gore-Tex coat to pay for broken bottles of wine, a black-and-white cookie forcing Jerry to break his 14-year-long no-vomit streak, a chocolate babka, and a double-parker who might be Saddam Hussein, the increasingly outlandish events highlight why these four characters really can’t go anywhere.
5. “The Bottle Deposit” (Season 7, Episodes 21 and 22)
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J. Peterman and Mr. Wilhelm provide the fuel for increasingly ridiculous plot lines in this two-parter. Elaine bidding on JFK’s golf clubs and George’s mysterious “downtown” project make for great subplots that could anchor their own episodes. But it’s Kramer and Newman’s scheme to game the bottle deposit system and cash in on Mother’s Day—”the mother of all mail days”—that ties everything together and delivers the off-the-rails insanity later Seinfeld seasons became known for.
4. “The Marine Biologist” (Season 5, Episode 14)
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This is perhaps George’s finest hour. Jerry tells a woman that George is a marine biologist and the episode is off to the races. His dedication to the lie takes over the episode and culminates in one of the greatest moments in the series, as he chronicles the dramatic tale of how he plucked a golf ball from the blowhole of a beached whale—which was accidentally lodged there after Kramer hit 600 golf balls into the ocean. Hole in one, indeed.
3. “The Summer of George” (Season 8, Episode 22)
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This one is end-to-end action that few sitcoms can successfully replicate. Elaine’s new coworker, Sam, doesn’t move her arms when she walks, which causes a “catfight” and sets the episode in motion. Meanwhile, Jerry and Kramer attend the Tonys, and Kramer somehow receives an award that he doesn’t want to give up.
George’s layoff from the Yankees gives him three months to “decompress” and do, well, nothing at all. That is, until Jerry recruits him to help manage all the work of his relationship. Things go smoothly at first, but then he slips on the stairs and winds up in physical therapy—next to Sam, who is learning to swing her arms.
2. “The Contest” (Season 4, Episode 11)
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“The Contest” is a true comedic landmark—an entire episode based on masturbation, without ever once saying the word. As the gang bets on who can go the longest without pleasuring themselves, they each encounter roadblocks and take extensive measures to avoid giving in. Full of euphemisms and innuendo, and a phrase that can be applied to almost any situation (“master of your domain”), “The Contest” lives up to the hype as a seminal episode with the lines to back it up.
1. “The Opposite” (Season 5, Episode 21)
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“The Opposite” amplifies everything already great about the series by turning the often detestable and pathetic George and Elaine into one another. George does the opposite of every instinct he has, to great results, and Elaine turns into a bumbling oaf on the verge of being evicted from her apartment building. As Jerry witnesses his two friends succeed and fail, he rides the middle, as “Even Steven.” Oh, and we can’t forget Kramer’s classic appearance on Regis and Kathie Lee to promote that coffee table book.
