The legacy of Seinfeld is nothing short of remarkable. Even though it went off-air in 1998, it has forever been cemented in pop culture. The show is endlessly re-watchable, which is why the cast and crew have made so much money. We still quote it... ALL THE TIME. The situations at still relatable. Hell, we're even fascinated by the friendship between co-creators Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David.

Even the creation of some of the show's most famous and controversial episodes intrigues us. But what about the creation of the show itself? Do most fans know the true origin of Seinfeld?

Curb Seinfeld reunion
San Antonio Express

How Jerry Met Larry

According to News.au, Jerry Seinfeld was first introduced to Larry David's comedy through their mutual friend, comedian Carol Leifer. Carol, who eventually became a writer on Seinfeld, was gifted some jokes from Larry who was a broke comedian at the time. However, Carol was too drunk to read his jokes at her birthday party to read what Larry had given her, so she handed them to Jerry... He read them and absolutely killed.

Related: Larry David's Terrible Experience On SNL Inspired An Episode Of Seinfeld

The two of them knew they had a similar sense of humor and some chemistry. Eventually, they went out to dinner and had a conversation about how they could collaborate. As they stressed, they figured out what was most entertaining was just listening to two funny people talk. This was the spark that seeded the idea for the "show about nothing". The same conversation was actually repeated in a later season of Seinfeld when Jerry and George come up with a show together.

At first, there was an attempt to stretch the concept to a 90-minute special, but sooner than later, the idea for it to become a 30-minute situation comedy was born.

Larry David and Jerry Seinfled comedians in cars
Her Moments

Related: What The Cast Of Seinfeld Really Think About The Show's Finale

Eventually, Larry and Jerry created a pilot for NBC called "Stand-Up". It featured Jason Alexander's George and Michael Richards' Kramer (albeit with a different character name). The 1989 show (which served as the pilot for Seinfeld) got in the door with NBC and was aired. However, it was A MASSIVE disappointment.

The Pilot Was Deemed "Weak"

While Seinfeld has become one of the most successful television shows of all time, earning over $3 billion in syndication, according to Den Of Geek, viewers didn't like the pilot. Not one bit. According to studies, it tested really low amongst adults and even lower with children, although the latter makes sense. All of this convinced NBC that the show sucked.

The audience also found the main character (the fictionalized Jerry) annoying and the whole thing "too New York", which everyone knew was really "too Jewy".

But even with anti-Semitism shot at them, Jerry and Larry knew that had something really special on their hands. Or, at the very least, something they thought was hilarious.

Related: Why Bryan Cranston Thinks Larry David Is A Genius

NBC decided to air the pilot (which was renamed "The Seinfeld Chronicles) in the "garbage dump theater" summer slot, which was a far cry from the coveted autumn airing season.

To nobody's surprise, the sitcom died then and there.

But it was later resurrected.

The Resurrection of Seinfeld

In the documentary Seinfeld: How It All Began, Larry David claimed that after the pilot died in the summer slot at NBC, he felt as though he would never see Jerry Seinfeld again.

Even Jason Alexander, who was happy for the role of George Constanza (a thinly veiled Larry David-esque character) thought nobody would ever want to watch anything remotely like Seinfeld. After all, the number one show at the time was ALF.

Larry and Jerry writing ideas
Rolling Stone

However, Larry and Jerry's fellow comedians did love the idea for the show. Eventually, NBC's Rick Ludwin was convinced by all the funny people around him that he should champion Seinfeld against the wishes of the rest of the executes at the network. And so he did...

Without NBC's Rick Ludwin taking a risky bet on Seinfeld, the show wouldn't have happened. It was his decision to pick up the show and piggy-back it on the success of Cheers to pick up some of the iconic sitcom's audience members. And it worked... slowly...

The show eventually picked up a massive audience, but this didn't happen until the middle of the show's run. And, of course, NBC, fought Larry and Jerry on a lot of their creative decisions. After all, these network executives had their heads' stuck in the "situation" part of "situation comedy" and Seinfeld was basically about nothing.

Regardless, Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David persevered and found creative ways of making themselves and everyone else happy. While it wasn't a smooth journey to success, Seinfeld ultimately became unrealistically successful and a show that will remain in the minds' of its fans forever.

Next: The Real Reason Why Seinfeld Ended