The Deal (Seinfeld) The Deal (Seinfeld) "The Deal" is the ninth episode of the second season of NBC's "Seinfeld", and the show's 14th episode overall. The episode centers on protagonists Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld) and Elaine Benes (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) who decide to have a sexual relationship, with a set of ground rules. However, as their "relationship" progresses, they experience difficulties maintaining their original friendship. Series co-creator Larry David wrote the episode in a response to NBC's continued efforts to get the two characters back together. The main inspiration behind the episode was a similar agreement David once made with a woman. The episode, which
Seinfeld showed that the show was popular with young male adults, a demographic sought after by advertisers. This gave NBC an incentive to keep broadcasting the show. One DVD reviewer, Britt Gillette, wrote that "this initial episode exhibits the flashes of brilliance that made "Seinfeld" a cultural phenomenon." There are two high-definition versions of "Seinfeld". The first is that of the network TV (non-syndicated) versions in the original aspect ratio of 4:3 that were downscaled for the DVD releases. Syndicated broadcast stations and the cable network TBS began airing the syndicated version of "Seinfeld" in HD. Unlike the version used for