It's hard to believe, but for the first three seasons nobody really knew that Seinfeld was about, well, you know. It wasn't until season 4--unleashed here in a four-disc set that's equal in scope, quality, and quantity of bonus material to its predecessors--that the show really became something. In a series which can claim every installment as classic, the two-parter on disc 1 titled "The Pitch/The Ticket" truly stands out as a defining episode and, in retrospect, marked Seinfeld 4 as the breakthrough season. It's the one where (fake) NBC executives express their interest in working with Jerry Seinfeld on a TV show, then moves to the who's-on-first shtick of George successfully pitching Jerry on creating "a show about nothing." Scattered throughout the discs in commentaries by cast and creators and in numerous "Inside Look" documentaries, nearly everyone expresses some anxiety about the season having a story "arc" depicting Jerry and his "real" life becoming a sitcom. The show had been only marginally successful up to that point anyway, and with the edict, "no hugging, no learning," still in place, maybe messing with nothing was a bad idea. What makes the arc so arch is the self-reflexive way it details the reality of Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David coming up with the concept and pitching it to (real) NBC executives as a show that really was about, well, you know. In one of the many informally informative interview segments, Jerry remembers hitting a stride during this time when a lot of crazy ideas started to make sense. "Everything was just a wild guess," he says, "and it takes a while to get confident that you're guessing pretty good. I think sometime in season 4 we realized we were guessing pretty good." Oh, that we could all be so good at nothing.

Season 4 also gave us the episodes "The Bubble Boy" ("He lives in a bubble!"), "The Pick" ("There was no pick!"), and, perhaps most memorably, "The Contest." Recalling how nervous he thought NBC might be about a show based on how long a person can remain--ahem--master of his domain, Larry David says that he kept the idea hidden for a long time. He may have had NBC sweating, but the episode goes by without anyone uttering the word that it's really about. The curmudgeonly David also observes that another famous season 4 episode, "The Outing," only made it on the air due to a network "note" about making sure it wouldn't be offensive to homosexuals. Hence we have the addition of another standard to the Seinfeld lexicon of American pop culture: "Not that there's anything wrong with that!" Not only wasn't there anything wrong with it, the episode won a GLAAD Media Award. Season 4 also brought Seinfeldits first Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series. Stay tuned for season 5 (and a move to the coveted Thursday-at-9 slot) when the volcano we now know was always brewing really blew its comedic top. --Ted Fry, Amazon.com

Sub-titles are in English for the Hard of Hearing, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Norwegian, Portuguese and Swedish.

Season 4 of Seinfeld in 1992-93 really was the breakthrough series. Everything from the acting/characters to the innovation in story-writing by Larry David went up a notch in terms of comedy. It's increasing popularity is reflected by the appearance of many guest stars (see below), a trend that follows in all the later series. After Kramer left for Hollywood at the end of season 3, this season starts off with Jerry going to L.A. for a stand-up job, but with George tagging along. On the studio set George annoys Corbin Bersen and George Wendt while Jerry bombs in his comedy routine. Meanwhile Kramer finds success in Hollywood is hard to come by and ends up wanted for murder; ultimately he decides to join Jerry and George by returning to New York.

Back in familiar surroundings the story develops around Jerry getting offered the chance to do a pilot NBC sit-com. With no ideas in sight George decides they should do "a show about nothing", which became the show's defining label. The plot is based around the non-events that occur in Jerry's apartment between Jerry and his friends. This proves to be quite a hard sell with the NBC executives in the episode The Pitch.

There are many other memorable episodes such as The Outing, The Airport, The Bubble Boy (it's Moops!), The Junior Mint and The Implant, to name a few. Jerry and co. upset pretty much every person they run into - Newman, The Bubble Boy, Babu Bhatt, Dolores, Susan Ross and her family, etc. We also meet George's parents for the first time in The Handicap spot and The Contest. The season ends with casting for the pilot (the guy playing Kramer is hilarious) and then airing of the show. It ultimately gets shelved and things are back to where they started with no-one having matured or progressed in any sense. Nonetheless you will be crying out for more of the same, and the following seasons don't disappoint. A warning - you have to wait a very long time (the season 9 finale) for finger-wagging Babu Bhatt to get his planned revenge on Jerry and friends!

To sum up, I really enjoyed this DVD series and watched it in less than a week. The DVD menus were really nicely done and the extras (interviews & deleted scenes) were a treat too.

By season four of seinfeld the show was in full flow mode,the characters had been fleshed out,there was nothing to do but go out and have fun with them and thats what we get here,a very consistent series with some great laughs and very memorable moments.
The four main characters of the show jerry,elaine,george and kramer all have key roles here and it must be noted that the supporting cast gain some freedom as well to come into their own,the episodes are all solid with some being better than others but an undoubted sense of belief in itself remains.
Co-creator larry david writes the majority of the finest episodes and i do enjoy larrys work and he makes cameos as always,a great series and im looking forward to whipping season 5 into my dvd player next so i am.

This collection starts with a superb exras documentary titled "The Breakthrough Season" and it's clear why.
The show about nothing suddenly exploded out of the restaurant and Jerry's apartment.
Seinfeld had really pretty much passed me by when it was on but having been addicted to Curb I wanted to explore Larry David's original creation.

I'm so glad I did watching all the episodes in order greatly increases the viewing pleasure as jokes about previous episodes would have just drifted over your head this is the reward for loyal fans of the show.

There are 22 episodes on this season and I disagree I don't think there are many weak episodes.
Stand outs are The Contest - still arguably one of the best episodes ever where the four compete to see who can lasr without reliveing themselves first. Kramer walking out of Jerry's apartment to arrive back minutes later and slap his money on the counter is hilarious no matter how many times you watch it.

The Bubble Boy is a superb George episode, The Outing showcases the perfect double act of George and Jerry and shows that by saying the same line again and again it gets funnier.

The Pick with Elaine's releaving Christmas card and The junior Mint are both timeless.

I think though the real star with this series is the locations by releasing Kramer from out of Jerry's flat the series moves up several gears. Whilst the running plot lines of George and Jerry trying to make a show about nothing for NBC and crazy joe hunting Jerry make you want to watch every episode.

Great value for over 500 minutes of laugh out loud hunour, and how can some reviewers moan about canned luaghter when the show if you watch the extras is clearly filmed in front of a studio audience is beyond me. That's not canned laughter you don't need false laughs when the scripts and performances are this good. That's the sound of people bursting with laughter as you will be too when you watch this.

The release of the first three series of Seinfeld on DVD was wonderful. This, though, is even more exciting, as Series 4 is where things completely take off. It's consistently hilarious, even on repeated viewing, and by now the 4 main characters, and particularly our fave hipster dufus Kramer, are all extremely well-drawn and confident. Jerry's arch-nemesis neighbour Newman also starts to make more regular appearances...

If you haven't seen 'The Virgin', 'The Contest' and 'The Bubble Boy' before then quite simply you are yet to experience just how good a half hour (or even a 23 minute) sitcom can be. These are real creative peaks, packed full of memorable lines and moments.

Seinfeld fans out there (and yes, despite what the BBC seemed to believe, we DO exist by the million in the UK), will be happy to know that similar to the first three series on DVD, this one has plenty of extras, which include interviews with the cast, a 20 minute documentary, outtakes and commentaries. The episodes have again been remastered so that they look completely perfect and very sharp and yes, there's audience laughter on the soundtrack - but this has always been present.

Series 4 through to Series 7, which is when (I think) Larry David left are all completely superb and these are the series to get, as they are released one by one, to enjoy the finest sitcom ever made.

Don't hesitate - this will be the best DVD purchase you make in 2005.