Season 5 was when it all came together for "Seinfeld." It was no longer a cult sitcom that couldn't crack the Nielsen ratings' top 20, but an appointment-viewing smash that finished third for the year overall. The following year, it would become the number one show on the air.

Why did it take so long for "Seinfeld" to break through to the mainstream? For starters, it truly lived up to its reputation as a show about nothing. While we now look at the season 2 episode "The Chinese Restaurant" as one of the greatest sitcom episodes ever, NBC executives sought to bury it because they thought an entire story built around the main characters waiting for a table was too slim of a narrative to appeal to viewers. When your network doesn't believe in your show, it's hard to build an audience.

"Seinfeld" needed to get traction in the popular culture, which shouldn't...