The telly, the boob tube, the goggle box, the idiot box, the T.V., whatever you want to call it, it's an essential part of the everyday life of every American. The television programs have shaped some fundamental parts of American culture. One show in particular has had a profound effect on the lives of many and brightened the outlook for countless faces. It is going off the air after about ten years, and we will all miss it very much. The show was Seinfeld.

Seinfeld's popularity can be attributed to many factors. Its sets were nothing fancy, just a basic New York apartment, a diner, and occasionally an office or some outdoor scene in the city. There was really not much to them. In the apartment hung the usual things that a thirty-something single bachelor would have lying around- the ferns, the stereo, the unused mountain bike. The refrigerator was always stocked with milk, beer, or some other refreshment. But there was really nothing special. The diner was not unique. In fact, all the sets were purposely made to be common places. The reason for this could have been that the script was so good that the show somehow didn't need anything else to keep your attention.

Seinfeld will be remembered for its dialogue, characters, and absurd situations. The show reveled in incongruous phrases and brought up questions of how we ought to say things. Who had ever heard of a "double-dipper" or a "re-gifter" before Seinfeld? Seinfeld brought with it humor unsurpassed by any television program before it. The characters were an equally integral part of the anatomy of Seinfeld. These quirky characters - George, Jerry, Elaine, and Kramer allowed the show to drift off into uncharted comedic wilderness. The smaller characters - Newman, The Soup Nazi, Jerry & George's parents, Elaine's boyfriend, and others allowed for those absurd situations which left us all rolling on the living room floor.

And who can forget the music? What other show in recent or ancient memory had such an unintelligible and un-hummable baseline as Seinfeld's theme song? If you were to ask someone on the street to sing the Seinfeld theme song, they couldn't do it, probably either because the song was different for every segment and every episode, or that it was too darn silly. Just having an aspect as funny as that would probably make any new show's ratings go through the roof.

So, yadda, yadda, yadda...Yes, Seinfeld was a pretty darn funny show. That's really all there is to it. We watched, we laughed, we believed what was happening, and we laughed at it's ridiculousness. It was, and will be for years to come, a masterpiece of television comedy.