"Seinfeld" wasn't always a sensation. Over its first few seasons (beginning in 1989), the sitcom about nothing felt like too much to do about nothing in the eyes of NBC executives. Did people really want to watch whole episodes of unpleasant people either bickering around a diner table or getting into deeply embarrassing trouble, while, say, making out during a screening of the Steven Spielberg masterpiece "Schindler's List?"

They did, but they didn't know it initially, which, again, caused series creators Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David some trouble with the leadership at the network.

It's a little bizarre that there was any consternation at all. The series wasn't a breakout hit, but it was routinely ranking somewhere in the 40s in the Nielsen ratings and garnering enthusiastic reviews from critics. The ensemble finally clicked once Julia Louis-Dreyfus' Elaine was made a regular member of the cast, and the writing was consistently strong if not inspired (as evidenced by the early-in-the-run classic "The Stake Out"). And yet "Seinfeld" kept finding itself on the chopping block, so much so that a sitcom veteran and A-list filmmaker had to finally step in to ensure the series' future on NBC.