The best. Ever. The writing was brilliant (best I have ever seen), the casting was amazing (especially for the minor characters like Newman, Bania, and J. Peterman), and the acting was great overall. What else do you want?
For the people that give reviews more than "It sucked", I have found that people generally give one of a few responses. Here are my responses to those:
1. "I never got into it." For the most part this means you watched a part of an episode without much thought, never bothering to absorb the ideas and critiques that were being discussed. Yes, a majority of the show is spent discussing trivial issues at the coffee shop or Jerry's apartment, but that does not make it boring except to those that have an ADHD-like need for action. The subtleties to the comedy and characters make the show great.
2. "The characters were unlikeable/detestable/crude/etc." That's the point. Every other sitcom at the time had characters with a ridiculous lack of flaws, and Seinfeld went the opposite way. It showed people that had taken their obsessions and neuroses a little too far, and that is what drove the show. The need for likeable characters shows how viewers had been trained to seek out these types in their shows, creating the mass followings for much worse shows like Friends.
3. "It just wasn't funny." Seinfeld did have a very specific sense of humor, one that lent itself to the educated and well-informed. Many jokes were made using foreign political figures or significant issues of the time. For those lacking this type of knowledge I can see why the show appeared "unfunny". The show was also based upon being clever and quick-witted, different from many shows that relied upon overt punchlines or characters being too stupid to handle even basic social interaction (see: Friends).
I will always hold Seinfeld in the highest of regards. I hope their episodes air on television for many more years and as long as they do I will watch.
