The Seinfeld Chronicles

"The Seinfeld Chronicles" (also known as "Good News, Bad News" for syndication or even "Pilot") is the pilot episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. The pilot, the first of the 180 Seinfeld episodes, was written by show creators Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld (the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself), and was directed by Art Wolff. During the episode, Jerry frets over the romantic intentions of a woman who requests to stay with him while she’s in town on business. It originally aired on July 5, 1989, and was re-broadcast June 28, 1990, after the show had been picked up as a series.

When first broadcast, the pilot was watched by nearly 11% of American households. These ratings were high enough to secure the show's first season, which consisted of five episodes, including the pilot. Seinfeld later went on to become one of the most successful sitcoms in television history.

The pilot episode features several differences from the rest of the series. The character of series regular Cosmo Kramer (played by Michael Richards) is named "Kessler," although this inconsistency is later addressed in the season 9 episode "The Betrayal". Another regular character, Elaine Benes, does not appear in the episode. The main characters, Jerry Seinfeld and George Costanza (Jason Alexander), eat at "Pete's Luncheonette" (a set that had its exterior left over from The Muppets Take Manhattan), as opposed to Monk's Café. Differences between how the characters behave in the pilot and the rest of the series have also been noted, as well as the different theme song.

The character of Claire the waitress (Lee Garlington) was originally planned as a regular but was dropped and replaced with Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). The pilot guest stars Pamela Brull as Laura.