concerned that the show was "Too New York, too Jewish". Before the episode's TV premiere, it was shown to a test audience of 400 households, and met with extremely negative responses. Littlefield later recalled, "In the history of pilot reports, Seinfeld has got to be one of the worst of all time". The memo summarizing the test audience's reactions contained feedback such as "No segment of the audience was eager to watch the show again" and "None of the [supporting characters] were particularly liked". Despite this, and even though the executives had already decided the show would not be picked up for a full season, "The Seinfeld Chronicles" was broadcast on July 5, 1989 to see how viewers would react. It finished second in its time slot, behind the CBS police drama Jake and the Fatman, receiving a Nielsen rating of 10.9/19, meaning that the pilot was watched by 10.9% of American households, and that 19% of all televisions in use at the time were tuned into it. With these ratings, "The Seinfeld Chronicles" finished in the 21st place of the week it was broadcast, tied with Fox's Totally Hidden Video. Unlike the test audience, television critics generally reacted positively to the pilot, viewing it as original and innovative. USA Today critic Tom Green summarized it as a "crisply funny blend of stand-up routines interwoven with more traditional sitcom stuff". Eric Mink of St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote that he thought the show was "unusual and intriguing", yet "quite funny". Joe Stein of the San Diego Evening Tribune wrote, "Not all standup comedians fit into a sitcom format, but Seinfeld does". A more negative response came from a The Fresno Bee critic: "I liked the concept, but Seinfeld's jokes were so dull that you hoped the standup stuff would fly by so you could get back to the story". Though the critic praised Alexander's acting, he commented that his performance was not enough to keep the show "from being just another piece of summer drivel offered up by a major commercial network". Various critics compared the pilot to It's Garry Shandling's Show. In his review, The Philadelphia Inquirer's Ken Tucker commented, "Seinfeld's brisk funniness prevents Chronicles from being a rip-off", while Jerry Krupnick of The Star-Ledger felt that The Seinfeld Chronicles differentiated itself from It's Garry Shandling's Show by its supporting cast, which he praised. By contrast, John Voorhees of The