Seinfeld: Season 9

Years from now, when the 1990s are analyzed, a few of the major highlights of the decade will be the Bill Clinton presidency, the fall of communism, Titanic, Nirvana and Seinfeld - and not necessarily in that order.

Seinfeld, the edgy, ground-breaking comedy ran from 1989 to 1998 and was one of those rare instances when mainstream America embraced something so oddball, creative and new. The series was so unlike anything that had been seen on prime time TV that it narrowly escaped cancellation after its first season. However, as word spread, the audience grew larger each season.

The 9th and final season of the show has just been released on DVD, and like the boxed sets of earlier seasons is jam-packed with commentary tracks, deleted scenes and numerous other excellent features. Just as the series set a high bar for the sitcoms that followed, these collections of episodes have established the gold standard for such DVD sets.

With full participation by Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander and Michael Richards, as well as many of the shows writers and producers, it's an encyclopedia of the final year of the hit show.

As someone who doesn't watch the numerous re-runs of the show in syndication, having them at my fingertips to savor and enjoy - along with the wealth of extras - makes it well-worth the purchase price, and almost makes one consider investing in the entire series collection, even with its nearly $300 suggested list price.

Some of the bonus features include:

The Last Lap, with the cast and crew reminiscing about the final days working on the show and their thoughts on the show and its impact.

Scenes from The Roundtable, excerpts of an hour-long roundtable discussion between the four stars of the show and co-creator Larry David.

Inside Looks, behind the scenes stories from the crew and cast about particular episodes. For example, the Puerto Rican Day episode has a seven-minute featurette with interviews about one of the more popular episodes of the show, which shows the effect the annual parade has on Manhattan.

In the Vault features never before scene deleted scenes, including 15 minutes from the final show.

Yada, Yada, Yada is the funny name for the cast and crew audio commentaries that run during many of the episodes.

Not That There's Anything Wrong With That is a series of bloopers and outtakes from the episodes.

Inside Looks are behind-the-scenes stories from the cast members and creators.

All 24 episodes also feature factoid tracks, little trivia facts that pop-up from throughout.

The famous back-to-front episode, The Betrayal, is also available here playing beginning to end.

Notes about Nothing are trivia and production notes.

Sein-Imations, fun extras found in this and the earlier collections which show a few popular scenes done in claymation.

Audio tracks are in English and French, while subtitles are in those languages as well as Spanish and Portuguese.

If you liked, loved or missed Seinfeld entirely when it aired a decade ago, this collection is guaranteed to provide hours of enjoyment and laughter for years to come. And at this time of year, it can make a perfect holiday gift for that hard to buy for parent or sibling.