<\/p>\n
In its time (1989-1998), Seinfeld<\/em> <\/a>famously touted itself as a \u201cshow about nothing,\u201d when in fact it was a show about everything. In 2025, though, it feels more like a show about everything \u201890s. Video rentals, in-store shopping, and not being able to get in touch with your friends at a moment\u2019s notice are some of the main causes of Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer\u2019s plight, and propel some of the most famous storylines in television<\/a> history.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Many of these scenarios are still totally possible (for example, sporting event outings that result<\/a> in national embarrassment\u2014hello, Coldplay concert couple<\/a>!). But nearly four decades later, it\u2019s striking how much of the action revolves specifically around technology we don\u2019t really use anymore: payphones, over-the-air television, and answering machines (so<\/em> many answering machines).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Here are the 10 most iconic episodes where the chaos is driven by oh-so-\u201890s devices and the dilemmas they cause.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n A B-plot to a larger story about Elaine hosting a baby shower for a friend who once went on a disastrous date with George, Kramer convinces Jerry to steal cable after his TV antenna goes on the fritz. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Today, the closest equivalent would be mooching off your friend\u2019s HBO Max account\u2014frowned upon by streaming companies, but still possible with a little cloak-and-dagger. However, that carries far less harsh punishment than Jerry meets when the feds show up at his apartment and gun him down (OK, it was in a dream, but still).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n George leaves an angry message on his date\u2019s answering machine that he later regrets, resulting in a complicated caper to steal the cassette (remember those?) from her apartment when she gets home from the Hamptons, where she, it\u2019s specifically noted, doesn\u2019t have her beeper (remember those, too?). George and Jerry are successful in switching out the tape for a blank one, but nowadays this scenario wouldn\u2019t prompt such sneaking around\u2014George would just have to brace for the blowback.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Jerry\u2019s malodorous car interior, sullied by a BO-ridden valet, is the well-known centerpiece of this episode, but while that\u2019s happening, George finds out his ex-girlfriend Susan is now dating a woman. That\u2019s not the \u201890s part, though: he finds this out in a video store, an institution largely wiped from the landscape in a post-streaming world. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Later, with Susan present, he gets hit with a hefty charge for losing a videotape\u2014a smutty foreign film that he\u2019d now be able to watch in the privacy of his own home. He\u2019d be spared the shame and<\/em> the $98.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Kramer gets a new number that\u2019s just one digit off from 555-FILM\u2014the number for Moviefone<\/a>, a movie listing service, and decides to pose as the Moviefone voice rather than change it. (For all you young\u2019ns<\/a> that somehow ended up here: back in the day, the only way to find out when movies were playing was by looking in a real, actual newspaper, going to the theater itself, or calling up Moviefone so a recorded voice could read you your options.) <\/p>\n <\/p>\n On first watch, this one seems<\/em> like the biggest relic of the \u201890s\u2014except that Moviefone still exists, now as a searchable website acquired in 2018<\/a> by the owner of the ill-fated MoviePass. MoviePass died, but Moviefone lives on, perhaps in part because of this legendary episode.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n\u201cThe Baby Shower,\u201d Season 2<\/h2>\n
\u201cThe Phone Message,\u201d Season 2<\/h2>\n
\u201cThe Smelly Car,\u201d Season 4<\/h2>\n
\u201cThe Pool Guy,\u201d Season 7<\/h2>\n
\u201cThe Muffin Tops,\u201d Season 8<\/h2>\n