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Seinfeld marks a TV departure in other ways as well. Brandon Tartikoff, former president of NBC Entertainment, who helped develop both shows, notes the ethnic gulf: "Cheers is the most goyish show on TV; Seinfeld is the most Jewish." The series, moreover, tackles sensitive subjects with almost brazen matter-of-factness. In this season's most famous episode, the group bet on which one of them could refrain from masturbating the longest. "I compare the show to The Twilight Zone," says supervising producer Larry Charles. "It is about behaviors that we don't like to admit about ourselves -- that we are sometimes greedy, sometimes selfish. Jerry is like Rod Serling -- a guide to take us to those lower depths." Out of those lower depths, Seinfeld is starting to soar.
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CREDIT: TIME Graphic by Steve Hart
CAPTION: Cheers Seinfeld