This column appeared with The Red & Black on June 27, 2015 and can be found here.

NBC’s “Seinfeld,” one of the most popular sitcoms in television history, heads to Hulu this week. While the video-on-demand site paid a pretty penny to make it happen, it will learn firsthand why it needed to start the insanity.

The television show starring Jerry Seinfeld, Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Michael Richards was a phenomenon during its 10-season run and remains popular in syndication 17 years after the series finale aired. Hulu’s $160 million deal with Sony TV, Time Warner’s Castle Rock and “Seinfeld” profit participants shows how confident the site is fans will sign up. What is it about a show about nothing that still means so much to viewers today? The answer includes several different reasons.

One of the major advantages of the show-about-nothing strategy was “Seinfeld” remains timeless. It didn’t follow a certain format common of its era; it wasn’t a show about a male lead chasing the female lead like the 1980s’ “Cheers” and Who’s the Boss?” There were instances of recurring themes like Elaine and Jerry’s relationship, but for the most part each episode was its own adventure. The show did its own thing in 22-minute allotments. Series about friends going through life like this just weren’t popular before.

The ability to write without last week’s plot being necessary also helps with streaming 10 seasons worth of shows. Not satisfied with the start of Season 5? Just skip around and there will be very few repercussions. It goes back to co-creator Larry David’s stance that the characters never learn from their mistakes. By avoiding the feel-good endings where a character knew to do better next time, David and the other writers allowed themselves to whip up even wilder and unrelated events.

“Seinfeld” never took itself seriously, which also drew in fans. When you had characters like Kramer who bounced around the set like a rubber ball, Newman who equally loved food and ruining Jerry’s plans or Elaine who mocked strangers frequently, there’s no overload threat. It’s hard to make it redundant to the point where someone says, “You’ve seen one episode and you’ve seen them all.” Each interaction with the characters is separate and hilarious, leaving the audience wanting more. Zaniness like that is hard to come by. Shows like “Mulaney” try to replicate the magic today, but they pale in comparison.

A huge component in the whacky characters is the bizarre scenarios they found themselves in. I would pay a king’s ransom to have heard pitches to some of the episodes. Who green-lights a plot about a misprint in a trivia game or a gang named after a U.S. President? The show’s ability to make random seem reasonable time and again will have customers signing up with Hulu in a hurry. After all, with 180 episodes to go through, it’s hard to be content with the few that show up on cable every so often.

Dialogue can make or break any sitcom, and the writing for “Seinfeld” stands as one of the most intelligent of all time. The point when this is truly obvious comes when the characters are talking about something without specifically saying what it is. This often happened with sexually-driven storylines, which included “The Contest” and “The Stand In.” The censors must have hated this show because it pushed the envelope as far as it could go numerous times.

The ability to say something without saying something makes it entertaining almost two decades later. This made the dialogue funnier than if the forbidden word was uttered. It was quick to catch fans’ attentions, and it led to some of the shows’ most popular catchphrases, including “Master of your domain.” David used this on his show “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” but it got away with much more than his previous show did. In a way, that explains why “Enthusiasm” couldn’t be as good: it was too easy to make jokes.

“Seinfeld” accomplished so much in the span of 10 years that it’s remarkable it wasn’t one of the first shows to be streamed. That being said, Hulu used great timing with its launch. With hot days on the horizon for another few months, people can be expected to stay inside and turn on the television. Now they can watch the show from beginning to end, a challenge quite a few will take on in the coming weeks.

This truly is the Summer of George.