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The Office and 25 TV shows that were never supposed to be hits

By Kareem Gantt

MALIBU, CA - APRIL 14: Actors Rainn Wilson (L) and Steve Carell attend "The Office" 100th Episode Celebration at the Calamigos Ranch on April 14, 2009 in Malibu, California. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
MALIBU, CA - APRIL 14: Actors Rainn Wilson (L) and Steve Carell attend "The Office" 100th Episode Celebration at the Calamigos Ranch on April 14, 2009 in Malibu, California. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images) /
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NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 17: Comedian Jerry Seinfeld, actress Julia Louise-Dreyfus, and actor Michael Richards attend the DVD Release Party for the first three seasons of “Seinfeld” held on November 17, 2004 at the Rainbow Room in Rockefeller Center, New York City. (Photo by Fernando Leon/Getty Images)
NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 17: Comedian Jerry Seinfeld, actress Julia Louise-Dreyfus, and actor Michael Richards attend the DVD Release Party for the first three seasons of “Seinfeld” held on November 17, 2004 at the Rainbow Room in Rockefeller Center, New York City. (Photo by Fernando Leon/Getty Images) /

1. Seinfeld (NBC)

Series run: 1989-1998 (9 seasons/180 episodes)

The “show about nothing” turned out be an iconic “something” for NBC and television in general.

For those who haven’t been touch by the funny randomness of Seinfeld, one can question why this show was such an enormous hit, and one would be totally fair in that assessment. Heck, even some of the show’s more diehard fans have trouble explaining what was so magical about Seinfeld.

The magical nature of Seinfeld, though, can be traced back to its premise, as the show didn’t have a theme, and didn’t make any overt statements about the state of the world. Seinfeld was a show that was made simply to entertain and make people laugh and forget about the world around for 30-minutes, and that it did in spades.

When Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld was asked by NBC to develop a show for the network in 1988, they came up with The Seinfeld Chronicles. The Chronicles didn’t have a good first outing, and NBC declined to pick up the show.  David and Seinfeld then took it over to FOX, but they didn’t want it either. Help would come in the form of Rick Ludwin, who was the head of late night and special events at NBC.

Ludwin thought that, if given a chance, the show would be a success, so, he canceled the Bob Hope television special and shifted the money from that special to the production of Seinfeld. NBC then greenlit four episodes to see if the show would be a hit, and, to their surprise, it was.

Next. 101 TV shows to stream when you cut the cord. dark

The Seinfeld Chronicles would later be shortened to just Seinfeld, and the show was ordered for a full season, and the show continued to rise in popularity, setting the stage for NBC to rule primetime in the ’90s. Seinfeld was one of the top programs in television throughout its entire run and has become a pop culture staple, even to this very day.

That’s a lot of something for a show that was about nothing.

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