Seinfeld

Well here it is, the show the site/term/idiom gets its namesake from.  Season 3 episode 11 “The Alternate Side” is where I think the show pretzeled.  I know some people think it was the very beginning and a case can be made for the Chinese restaurant episode or the parking garage, but I feel like those just don’t hold up and really weren’t engrossing from the start.  You could also make an argument that it pretzeled when Andy Ackerman took over directing in season 6 and the gang got into even more over the top crazy hi-jinx.  This episode had it all.  All the characters have their own stories going that intertwined by the end.  George takes over the odd job for parking cars, Kramer is in a Woody Allen movie and Elaine is taking care of her elderly boyfriend.  Kramer’s kookiness in this episode really shines through and becomes a staple for future episodes.  Also, of course the famous quotable line of “these pretzels are making me thirsty” was said by all four main characters.   Seinfeld really started to find its groove after this.  Some great episodes followed and the plots began to allow each character to have a subplot that gets tied up at the end.