Superman on Television

Superman meets Seinfeld

Jerry Seinfeld teamed up with Superman for an AMERICAN EXPRESS commercial which aired during the NFL Playoffs in January 1998. Seinfeld came up with the concept of the commercial, which blends live action and animation, and specifically asked the DC Comics superhero be drawn in the style of the late artist Curt Swan. There is a 30-second and 60-second version of the commercial, and it also co-stars an endangered Lois Lane. Jack Larson also appears in the commercial (when the comet is headed for earth, and the shadow falls on the Daily Planet building, look at the man reading a paper who looks up...its Larson).

In March 2004 Jerry Seinfeld and Superman joined forces once again with American Express to create a couple of action-packed, sidesplitting "webisodes" that chronicled the daily exploits and unique friendship between comedian and Kryptonian. The two four-minute webisodes, entitled "A Uniform Used to Mean Something" and "Hindsight" were co-written by Seinfeld and directed by acclaimed film director Barry Levinson (Diner, Rain Man). Noel Neill made a cameo appearance in the "Hindsight" webisode.

View these three commercials online via the Superman Homepage MULTIMEDIA section:

• Superman & Seinfeld American Express Commercial [1998] (1.8mb Quicktime)

• Superman & Seinfeld American Express Commercial "A Uniform Used to Mean Something..." [2004] (11mb WMV)

• Superman & Seinfeld American Express Commercial "Hindsight is 20/20" [2004] (13.5mb WMV)

Did you know? Superman was mentioned in many episodes of the TV series Seinfeld, either by name or in pictures which featured on Jerry's fridge, or a statue that sits on his shelf (next to the door to his bedroom/bathroom).

Some of the numerous references to Superman and Superheros are listed in our "Seinfeld's Pal, Superman!" article.