For the nine years that SEINFELD aired it captivated its widespread audience like many shows couldn't. Receiving many awards and countless nominations throughout the mid 1990's, many viewers believe it to became one of the greatest sitcoms in the history of American television. Although SEINFELD had numerous memorable and hysterical episodes, some believe that "The Contest" (November, 8 1992) jump-started it to a whole new level, leading to all of its success.

In "The Contest", Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld), George (Jason Alexander), Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), and Kramer (Michael Richards) all have a bet to see how long they can go without masturbating. Tormented with constant temptation through various aspects of their lives, the group struggles to maintain their composure throughout the episode. Causing withdraws, insomnia, rage, and partial insanity, the pressure gets to each of the characters and they fold one by one.

I think this episode was so important to SEINFELD's success was for a few reasons. First of all, masturbation is seen as a very taboo and inappropriate part of our lives. It's also seen as a pastime and experimental phase of our adolescence. We all know that people do it, even adults. It's funny because they took something that was "of children" and through it in a very adult situation. Ironic maybe?

I think the way SEINFLD proposes this idea also showed how far the producers were willing to go to demonstrate their obsession with the daily minutia of life. This episode really spoke out to viewers because they were talking about something out in the open that we normally keep to ourselves in the privacy of our own bathrooms. Then, not only did they just talk about it, they completely made a joke out of it by making it a game. The funny part about it is that the word "masturbation" was not even used in the entire show. When you look at shows today, people just come out and say pretty much whatever they want. It think that slightly censoring itself made it that much more interesting. Herein lies the genius of SENFELD's creative staff. It is things like this that really made SEINFELD what it was, is, and will continue to be.