Nicholas Mirzoeff

One of the most popular tv sitcoms ever broadcast, "Seinfeld "(1990-1998) was ostensibly a show "about nothing," with its creator Larry David decreeing that it should contain "no hugging, no learning." Nicholas Mirzoeff's insightful and engaging study of the series argues that "Seinfeld" was very much about something, as Jerry Seinfeld and his friends Elaine, George and Kramer constantly seek to establish a set of rules for everyday life. In a series of thematic chapters, Mirzoeff explores "Seinfeld"'s obsession with "the rules" in the key areas of comedy itself, dating and relationships, Jewishness and how to be a New Yorker, wherever you happen to live. Mirzoeff situates "Seinfeld" as an expression of Clinton-era America, from its consistently ironic take on social life and its fixation on how to describe it, to the changing culture of sexuality and ethnicity. In the spirit of "Seinfeld" itself, this is a reflective, funny and occasionally digressive account of what it is to watch television.

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