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21s lists | 21 favorite TV shows
Seinfeld (01)
01, 02
Seinfeld was an American television sitcom set in New York City that ran from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998. It was arguably the most popular and influential TV program of the 1990s. In 2002, TV Guide released a list of the top 50 greatest shows of all time and ranked Seinfeld #1. The show was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld. It stars Jerry Seinfeld playing "Jerry Seinfeld", a character named after and based largely on himself, and is set predominantly in an apartment block in Manhattan's Upper West Side. It features mainly Jerry's friends and acquaintances such as Elaine Benes (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), George Costanza (Jason Alexander) and Cosmo Kramer (Michael Richards). It was produced by Castle-Rock Entertainment (then helmed by actor-producer Rob Reiner) and distributed by Columbia Pictures Television (now Sony Pictures Television).
 Overview
The show has been famously described as "a show about nothing" (a self-referential phrase from an episode describing Jerry and George's attempt to create a sitcom), as most of the comedy was based around the largely inconsequential minutiae of everyday life, and often involved petty rivalries and elaborate schemes to gain the smallest advantage over other individuals. Seinfeld himself notes that his original premise - and the purpose for the standup excerpts that bookended each show - was that the show would be about how a comedian gathers material for his act.
The characters have also been described as utterly selfish and amoral; the show stood out by depicting these traits in a comedic fashion (However, it should be noted that a common motif concerns characters' attempts to make correct moral choices, only to have their attempts backfire exponentially). In contrast to many other sitcoms, the allowing of scenes to lapse into sentimentality was generally avoided, and Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David's dictum of "no hugging, no learning" gave the show its distinctively acerbic and cynical tone. However, themes of illogical social graces and customs, neurotic and obsessive behavior, and the mysterious workings of relationships ran in numerous episodes, making it possible to categorize the show as a comedy of manners.
The show's creators made a conscious effort to reflect the activities of real people, rather than the idealized escapist characters often seen on television, although many of the show's plots involve intricate, and often cyclical strings of events that converge in the end to form a grand irony.
Previous shows on television were almost always family or co-worker driven, but Seinfeld holds itself up as being a then-rare example of a sitcom wherein none of the characters were related by blood or employed in the same building or business. In fact, many characters were not employed at all.
According to Bruce Fretts' 1993 The "Entertainment Weekly" "Seinfeld" Companion, Seinfeld's audience was, "TV-literate, demographically desirable urbanites, for the most part-who look forward to each weekly episode in the Life of Jerry with a baby-boomer generation's self-involved eagerness." Likewise, in episodes adhering to the original concept, the show featured clips of Seinfeld himself delivering a standup routine at the beginning and end of each episode, the theme of which relates to the events depicted in the plot. By this device the distinction between the actor Jerry Seinfeld and the character who is portrayed by him is deliberately blurred. In later seasons, these standup clips became less frequent and were ultimately discontinued. All of the main characters were modeled after Seinfeld's or Larry David's real-life acquaintances. In fact, many of the plot devices are based on real-life counterparts - such as the Soup Nazi (based on Al Yeganeh) and J. Peterman of the J. Peterman catalogue.
Another violation of the fiction convention of isolating characters from the actors playing them, and separating the characters' world from the actors' and audience's world, was a story arc that concerned the characters' roles in promoting a television sitcom series named Jerry. Jerry was much like Seinfeld in that Seinfeld played himself, and that the show was "about nothing". Jerry was launched in the 1993 season finale of Seinfeld, in an episode titled "The Pilot". This story arc, along with other examples of self-reference, have led many critics to point out the postmodern nature of the show.
According to Katherine Gantz, this entanglement of character and actor relationships "seems to be a part of the show's complex appeal. Whereas situation comedies often dilute their cast, adding and removing characters in search of new plot possibilities, Seinfeld instead interiorizes; the narrative creates new configurations of the same limited cast to keep the viewer and the characters intimately linked. In fact, it is precisely this concentration on the nuclear set of four personalities that creates the Seinfeld community".
Another attribute that makes Seinfeld exceptional is that in almost every episode, several story threads are presented at the beginning, generally involving the various characters in separate and unrelated situations, which then converge and are interwoven towards the end of the episode in an ironic fashion. Due to the densely-plotted construction of the storylines, attempts to summarize the action in a given script are generally more verbose than one would expect for a sitcom. Despite any separate plot strands, the narratives show "consistent efforts to maintain [the] intimacy" between the small cast of characters. "Much of Seinfeld's plot and humor hinge on outside personalities threatening—and ultimately failing—to invade the foursome, ... especially where Jerry and George are concerned." (Gantz 2000)
Gantz maintains that another factor in, or further proof of, spectators' and characters' participation in a Seinfeld community is the large amount of in-slang, "a lexicon of Seinfeldian code words and recurring phrases that go unnoticed by the infrequent or 'unknowing' viewer". These include "Bubble Boy", "Master of My Domain", "Shrinkage", "Mulva", "Crazy Joe Davola", "Man Hands", "Yada Yada Yada", "Dr. Van Nostrand", "Spongeworthy", "Close Talker" and "Art Vandelay" (the last two of which are menu options at Moe's Southwest Grill).
The show premiered as The Seinfeld Chronicles on Thursday, May 31, 1990 on NBC.
Seinfeld was not an immediate success. After the pilot was shown, on July 5, 1989, a pickup by NBC did not seem likely and the show was actually offered to Fox, which declined to pick up the show. It was only thanks to Rick Ludwin, head of late night and special events for NBC, for diverting money from his budget, that the next four episodes were filmed. After nine years on the air and 180 episodes filmed, the series finale of Seinfeld aired on Thursday, May 14, 1998. It was watched by a huge audience, estimated at 76 million viewers.
Jerry Seinfeld holds both the record for the "most money refused" according to the Guinness Book of World Records by refusing an offer to continue the show for $5 million per episode, and another record for the Highest Ever Annual Earnings For A TV Actor[1], while the show itself held the record for the Highest Television Advertising Rates through 2004, when the final episode of Friends aired.
In 2004 a deal was negotiated to make Seinfeld available on DVD for the first time. Due to legal problems with the cast involving episode commentary and other DVD extras, the release was pushed back. The first 3 seasons were released November 23, 2004, and season 4 was released on May 17, 2005. Season 5 and season 6 were released on November 22, 2005.
Characters (main)
Jerome "Jerry" Seinfeld (played by Jerry Seinfeld) — A standup comedian who seeks out relationships with very attractive women, which rarely last more than one episode. He usually notices some very minor defect they have and makes a big deal about it, causing his relationships to end in very embarrassing ways. He constantly makes observations about circumstances, instances, and life in general, and furthermore makes a healthy habit of mocking others. Of the main characters, he seems to be the most sensible, in that he usually just sarcastically comments on the strange things the others do, instead of participating.
In a DVD commentary for the fifth season episode "The Opposite", Jerry described his encouragment of his friends often bad or impractical ideas as "...leading him down the primrose path". On occasion he will reluctantly help his friends, but he seems to take the most pleasure in seeing them fail. However, he does put up with a lot from his friends, particularly Elaine's numerous small favors, George's complaints of life and scheming, and Kramer's constant mooching.
Among other things, he is obsessed with cleanliness, cereal, sports cars, and Superman (there were visual, conversational, and thematic references to Superman throughout the series. There is also a poster of a Porsche in Jerry's Apartment.). His constant need to dissect tiny events in his life begins to wear the other characters thin in later episodes, especially Elaine. Jerry is the only character to appear in every episode of the show. Jerry's most widely known vehicle that he has driven is a black Saab 900 convertible, which always has a problem, usually caused by Kramer. Jerry also drove a BMW until it was plagued by the body odor of a valet attendant in the fourth season.
George Louis Costanza (played by Jason Alexander) — A "short, stocky, slow-witted, bald man" (as described by Elaine), the neurotic George is a self-loathing, pathological liar domineered by his parents, Frank and Estelle. He is also best friends with Jerry, and seems to have been since their school years. He has held many jobs, including that of a real estate agent and assistant to the traveling secretary for the New York Yankees.
He also worked briefly at a sporting equipment company called Play Now and at Kruger Industrial Smoothing (and — very briefly — at Pendant Publishing) in addition to nearly acquiring a job as a bra salesman for Sid Farkus, a friend of his father's, but this was derailed by George's temptation to feel the fabric of a woman's jacket between his fingers on his way to the elevator. George was also a hand model for less than one episode in "The Puffy Shirt".
His relationships with women were always unsuccessful, although ironically, his most disastrous relationship, an engagement to Susan Ross (played by Heidi Swedberg) was one of the few that ended "well" for George (He feared marriage and the death of Susan bailed him out, although her parents continued to torment him after her demise). His talents include lying, the video game Frogger, parallel parking, finding good deals, making "good" time on car trips, knowing whether someone's uncomfortable at a party, the ability to recall the best public rest room near a given location in Manhattan, and the ability to correctly spell unusual last names (something that he does in a number of episodes). He also has excellent hearing and in addition to his parallel parking skills, considers himself a good driver overall, claiming it runs in his family.
The character of George is based primarily upon co-creator Larry David (see 5th Season DVD Special Feature "Jason + Larry = George"), and named after Jerry Seinfeld's college classmate Michael Costanza (who appeared in the 3rd Season episode "The Parking Space"). Episode plots would frequently feature George manufacturing elaborate deceptions at work or in his relationships, in order to gain or maintain some small or imagined advantage.
Most of George's reprehensible actions are the result of his taking the advice of others too seriously. For example, Jerry once jokingly suggested that he should only do the opposite of what his instinct tells him, as his instincts seem to lead only to misfortune. This comment led George to try and center his whole life around the principle although in this particular instance, George was succesful, keeping a steady girlfriend for an entire episode without conflict and even landing a job with the New York Yankees, one he would keep for much of the series. His disastrous engagement to Susan also began with a remark made by Jerry.
Thus it could be argued that George is not really a bad person, but just easily swayed by others. Many of George's predicaments were based on those that Larry David had found himself in at one point or another in his own life. For example, in the episode The Revenge, when George quits his job in a fury only to realize his actions were a mistake, he goes back the next day as if nothing happened; this was based on an identical incident when Larry David, working as a writer for Saturday Night Live, quit and returned to his job in the same manner. Ironically though, this plan actually worked for David, who stayed on as an SNL writer for the rest of the season, whereas George was abruptly told to leave the building upon his reentry.
Alexander originally portrayed George as a character similar to Woody Allen (which is believed to have originally inspired the glasses George wore), some saying his performance bordered on impersonation. But as the show progressed, George became a fuller character as Alexander discovered that the character was not based on Allen but rather on the show's co-creator, Larry David. As Alexander remarks in an interveiw for the "Seinfeld" DVD, the true root of his character was realized upon a conversation between Alexander and David earlier on in the series, in which Alexander questions a script saying, "This could never happen to anyone and even if it did, no human being would react like this" to which David replied, "What do you mean? This happened to me once and this is exactly how I reacted".
George is a polarizing character. Many fans of the show love him, while those who dislike the show will often cite his character as the reason.
Elaine Marie Benes (played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus) — Like Jerry, much of Elaine's life revolves around trying to arrange relationships with attractive individuals, although some of hers last longer than Jerry's. Her most memorable is her on-again, off-again relationship with David Puddy (played by Patrick Warburton). She has also held jobs for Pendant Publishing, The J. Peterman Catalog, and as a personal assistant to the wealthy Mr. Justin Pitt.
Elaine was a composite of many female acquaintances of the writers, the two most prominent being writer Carol Leifer, Seinfeld's real-life ex-girlfriend, and the other being Monica Yates, Larry David's ex-girlfriend. In the show Elaine and Jerry dated, and "broke up", timeline-wise, just before the first episode, remaining good friends over the course of the show. The couple rekindled their romance in "The Deal" and slept together in "The Mango" (in order to save their friendship, which was deteriorating due to the revelation that Elaine faked her orgasms while they dated), but the relationship reverted to platonic in both instances without any significant explanation.
Elaine was from Towson, Maryland, an affluent Baltimore suburb, and went to Tufts University (her "safety school") and usually works as a writer-editor. She has a sister named Gail as heard in the episode, "The Pick". She was consequently a Baltimore Orioles fan, a fact that memorably had her kicked out of a New York Yankees game. Elaine is most often a victim of circumstance, usually coming into conflict with inadequate boyfriends or the arbitrary demands of her eccentric employers. She is usually fairly apathetic to the problems of others, unless of course they affect her directly. She can be surprisingly ruthless, and seems to be inwardly bitter about the state her life is in (in one episode, in a discussion about what she wanted to be when she grew up, Elaine says she does not remember, but "it wasn't this".
She also occasionally remarks that she needs to find new friends, and even tried to fit in with Bizarro Jerry (Kevin), George (Gene) and Kramer (Feldman) before they rejected her in "The Bizarro Jerry". She is also known for her unusual spastic dancing style, described as a "full body dry heave", by George (a.k.a. Little Kicks).
The middle name "Marie" was a name that Julia Louis- Dreyfus had picked out for the character.
Cosmo Kramer (played by Michael Richards) — Tall, wild-haired, and almost always wearing pants too short for him, Kramer is the most eccentric and animated Seinfeld character. He is perhaps most famous for his "entrance," violently swinging open the door to Jerry's apartment and sliding into the room unexpectedly. This alledgedly caused frequent door replacement on the set (every season or so). Until the 6th season, his first name was unknown. Once his full name was revealed in "The Switch" by his mother, Babs Kramer, most minor characters began calling him Cosmo, but the main group continued calling him Kramer. In the pilot, he is actually referred to as "Kessler" by Jerry, since the writers were worried about upsetting the real-life Kramer - Kenny Kramer, the New York neighbour of the show's co-creater Larry David on whom the character was based. This was later referenced in the episode "The Betrayal," which shows a scene where Jerry first moves into his apartment and meets Kramer, mistaking his name for Kessler.
Kramer is perpetually unemployed after going on strike from a bagel shop that he worked at before the show began. In "The Strike" (episode 166, season 9), Kramer briefly goes back to work at the shop after 12 years of striking only to go back on strike a few days later. He also had brief employment at Coleman's Department Store as a department store Santa Claus. Throughout the series, he frequently pursues hare-brained money-making schemes, nearly all of them his own invention. Despite the failure of the majority of these schemes and his unwillingness to even apply for a normal job, he always seems to have more than enough money when he needs it; in one episode George makes a comment about Kramer "falling ass-backward into money", suggesting he could have inherited some money or won some kind of lottery, but there is no evidence ever given in the show to support this theory.
It became more of a running joke which is never fully explained. In an episode where Jerry was being audited, Kramer told Jerry that he had stopped paying taxes years ago, prompting Jerry to quip "that's easy when you have no income". Although, the financial stability of Kramer is debatable. This is due to the fact that in one episode, George asks Kramer if he can break a twenty, to which he replies, "I only have hundreds", and in another episode, when Kramer is explaining to Jerry that wallets are a nuisance and that he should use a money clip he advises Jerry to "keep the big bills on the outside" to which Jerry remarked, "that's a five".
One of the most popular characters on the show, Kramer is often described as the "action character" that draws audiences with his wild and unusual antics displaying Michael Richards' skillful physical comedy. He usually enters Jerry's apartment very suddenly, bursting through the door, sometimes hitting someone. In one show, Kramer is called a "Hipster Doofus" by his current girl friend, a name actually used to describe the character in a magazine article which is also reused later by Elaine. He is based on Larry David's neighbor, Kenny Kramer, whose real-life "Seinfeld Reality Tour" was actually spoofed in one episode as the Cosmo's "J. Peterman Reality Tour".
In contrast to the other characters, he is typically painfully honest, sometimes to the point of bluntenss. He is good friends with Newman, as well as a wide variety of (mostly off-screen) acquaintances and shady partners, including Lomez and Bob Sacamano, who the audience never sees but often hears about.
Kramer's Inventions and Ideas
- A coffee table book about coffee tables, while on Regis and Kathy Lee, he spits his coffee and he is no longer allowed to tour. ("The Opposite")
- A pizza place where you make your own pizza from scratch, but he and Papy, his partner, end up getting in a huge argument that defeats the enterprise. ("The Couch")
- Cologne that smells like the beach, but the idea is later stolen by Calvin Klein ("The Pez Dispenser")
- The Bro, a bra for men, Kramer goes into business with Frank Costanza , but the guy they propose the idea to asks Frank if he can go out with Estelle causing Frank to get angry and ruin the deal. ("The Couch")
- PB & J's, a restaurant that only sells peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, nothing becomes of it ("The Friars Club")
- A bladder system for oil tankers. (essentially a big rubber ball inside the tanker which would prevent spillage if there was a crack in the hull
- Ketchup and Mustard in the same bottle.
- Eliminating all the pieces of furniture in his house and replacing them with levels.
Characters (recurring)
Newman (played by Wayne Knight) — Jerry and Kramer's neighbor; a portly, vengeful and spasmodic U.S. postal carrier. Newman is Jerry's archenemy, and at the same time Kramer's friend. In his first (offscreen) appearance, Newman was voiced by Larry David, though Wayne Knight over-dubbed David's lines for the show's syndicated airings. Newman and Jerry often use a specific routine of greeting each other when they meet, Jerry saying "Hello, Newman", and Newman replying "Hello, Jerry", both speaking in a venomous tone of mutual disgust.
He never misses a chance to get Jerry into trouble. For example in one episode he has Jerry taken into custody by the Postal Inspection Service for suspicion of mail fraud. Nevertheless, he never seems to mind hanging around in Jerry's apartment from time to time as if they were friends. Occasionally, a story places him in the role of a fifth member of the group, though usually he is an antagonist.
Like many of the Seinfeldian characters, Newman is a paradigm of contradiction. On the one hand he is slovenly (realizes he is sitting on a fork in his apartment), lazy (doesn't deliver mail when it rains, despite the famed saying, "Neither snow, nor rain, nor sleet," misquoted by George in the show as "neither rain..."), and completely selfish. However, he displays a surprising sensitivity, as in his infatuation with Elaine and his poetry for Kramer in the bookstore, as well as intelligence, such as when he decides in a Solomon-esque way to assign the rightful owner of the bicycle. Newman is once described by George as "merry"; to the audience's surprise, Jerry agrees with this observation. Newman usually exits Jerry's apartment with a 'Ta-ta, Jerry!' and a snickering laugh. In one episode, Kramer notes that Newman is an excellent tree-climber (when Newman is climbing a tree to retrieve a discarded fur coat,) and Newman tells him that he learned to climb trees "in the Pacific Northwest." In another episode, Jerry described Newman's tennis playing ability in the most superlative of terms: "He's fantastic!"
Newman is an employee of the United States Postal Service, which is portrayed in the series as a powerful, nefarious organization. Upon being arrested in "The Engagement," Newman assures Kramer and Elaine that they will not be prosecuted: "Don't worry about a thing. In twenty minutes, that place'll be swarming with mailmen. We'll be out by lunch." Newman once sneered to Jerry, "When you control the mail, you control information." ("The Lip Reader").
In "The Junk Mail," Kramer is abducted by Post Office security men for running an anti-mail campaign after he realizes the Post Office has become obselete; Newman attempted earlier to dissaude Kramer by pleading, "You don't know the half of what goes on here!" At the end of the episode, for his efforts to save Kramer, Newman is seen escorted by Post Office employees with a bucket on his head, pleading of Kramer to "tell the world my story."
Newman once claimed that he worked the same postal route as David Berkowitz (a.k.a. "Son of Sam"). When asked what it was like, Newman commented the route had a "lot of dogs."
In the show, Newman is an overweight United States Postal Service worker living in the same apartment building as Jerry. Originally conceived to be "the son of the landlord [who] 'tells' on everyone", Newman evolved as the series progressed into a scheming mailman who was friends with Kramer but nursed a grudge against Jerry. His name is first mentioned during the original version of the episode "The Revenge". Newman was not actually seen on camera, but rather voiced by the show's co-creator Larry David, (although Knight later dubbed a new version for syndication with his own voice). Much like fellow Seinfeld character Kramer, Newman is addressed by last name.
His first name is never mentioned. However one exception is in the episode The Bottle Deposit, Part 2 where it's suggested that he might be called Norman as the farmer's daughter shout "goodbye, Norman," though this was most likely a joke about her having slept with him without even knowing his name.
Newman in the episode "The Bottle Deposit, Part 1."
Newman plays the villain in the series. Described as Jerry's "sworn enemy" ("The Andrea Doria"), his character is cunning and occasionally acts like a weasel. A running gag is Jerry's greeting, a sarcastic "Hello, Newman" (which Newman usually responds to with "Hello, Jerry"). Newman's character is a constant source of annoyance to Jerry, such as in attracting fleas to the apartment ("The Doodle"), and generally making Jerry's life more difficult. Despite this, he is friends with Kramer, and the pair are forever participating in various get-rich-quick schemes. In "The Soul Mate," Newman and Kramer parody Cyrano de Bergerac, with Newman voicing poetry for Kramer so he may woo Jerry's girlfriend. Newman exploits the situation to inflict a wound on Jerry, but makes a deal not to help Kramer further in turn for Jerry's advice on wooing Elaine. For some reason, Newman apparently is very poetic in his speaking, and was described as an "unknown poet" by Kramer ("The Library"). Newman also takes his job as a mailman very seriously (as long as it is not raining), forgetting once he was supposed to give Kramer the words he was supposed to say to protest the idea of mail being considered junk mail. Newman was caught in a compromising position with Babs Kramer.
Jerry Seinfeld has been quoted as saying that he almost feels sorry for Wayne Knight, as his portrayal of Newman has typecasted him to the point that "everywhere he goes, he must be greeted with, "Hello, Newman." In fact, during the Seinfeld DVD special features Knight recounts an occasion when he was having a particularly bad day, where after a series of unfortunate events a fan happened to yell "Hello, Newman". This resulted in Knight releasing his long day's built-up anger on the unsuspecting fan.
At one point the show's creators did actually consider revealing that Newman's first name is Paul.
Newman never goes to work when it is raining, claiming "I don't work in the rain", (this is significant for the character George in the episode "The Calzone").
Newman is also revealed to be a fantastic tennis player and tree climber despite his size (the latter skill learned during his time "in the Pacific Northwest"). ("The Switch", "The Reverse Peephole").
In the XBOX 360 videogame Saint's Row, the name of the mail truck is the "NEWMAN".
Characters (recurring, other)
- Estelle Costanza (played by Estelle Harris) — George's nagging and often obnoxious mother.
- Frank Costanza (played by Jerry Stiller) — George's hot-tempered, eccentric father
- Susan Ross (played by Heidi Swedberg) — George's ex-fiancée who dies from licking toxic envelopes, mailing her wedding invitations
- Helen Seinfeld (played by Liz Sheridan) — Jerry's quintessentially Jewish mother
- * Morty Seinfeld (played by Phillip Bruns and later by Barney Martin) — Jerry's father; a retired raincoat salesman
- Jacopo Peterman (played by John O'Hurley) — Elaine's eccentric and loquacious boss
- George Steinbrenner (played by Lee Bear, voiced by Larry David) — George Costanza's boss while working for the Yankees-- a satire of real-life Yankees owner George Steinbrenner who passed on playing the character himself due to unfamiliarity with the show.
- Uncle Leo (played by Len Lesser) — Jerry's unavoidable and annoying uncle who is known for holding onto your arm when he talks to you.
- Cousin Jeffery-- Uncle Leo's son (and Jerry's cousin) who was never made an onscreen charcter. Obsessed with nature, Uncle Leo is constantly reminding Jerry of his position at the parks department.
- David Puddy (played by Patrick Warburton) — Elaine's on-again/off-again boyfriend
- Mickey Abbott (played by Danny Woodburn) — Kramer's small friend.
- Mr. Wilhelm (played by Richard Herd) — George's superior at the New York Yankees
- Mr. Lippman (played by Richard Fancy) — Elaine's boss at Pendant Publishing; later owner of the Muffin Company 'Top of The Muffin to You!'
- Mr. (Justin) Pitt (played by Ian Abercrombie) — an eccentric millionaire who hired Elaine as his personal assistant.
- Jackie Chiles (played by Phil Morris) — Kramer's lawyer and parody of Johnnie Cochran
- * Kenny Bania (played by Steve Hytner) — a stand-up comedy hack, and one of Jerry's nemeses.
- Yev Kasem, a.k.a. "The Soup Nazi" (played by Larry Thomas) - An eccentric New York City soup vendor.
- "Crazy" Joe Davola (played by Peter Crombie) — a "lunatic" who stalks Elaine, George, Jerry and Kramer. At one point he tries to attack Jerry while yelling "Sic Semper Tyrannis!" Named after a real aquaintence of co-creator Larry David's.
- Sue Ellen Mischke (played by Brenda Strong) - Elaine's rival, she is often referred to as "The Braless Wonder." She is also the heiress to the Oh Henry! candybar fortune.
- Sally Weaver (played by Kathy Griffin) - Susan's old roommate from college, In "The Doll" she gives Jerry a giant package that she wants him to take on his plane, even though she was coming up to New York later. She ends up ruining Jerry's bit by bringing the wrong doll to his show and bringing the wrong sauce to New York with her. In "The Cartoon" Sally opens her one-woman stand-up show about "Jerry Seinfeld - the Devil."
- Bob Sacamano - Kramer's oft-referenced but never appearing friend, who often is the source of bizarre anecdotal advice.
- Mr. Kruger (played by Daniel von Bargen) - George's boss at Kruger Industrial Smoothing.
- Dr. Tim Whatley (played by Bryan Cranston) - Jerry's dentist, whom he suspects converted to Judaism just so he could make Jewish jokes. He's also a "regifter" and a "degifter" in another episode after Jerry gives him Super Bowl tickets.
- Lloyd Braun - George's boyhood rival, who later ended up in a psychiatric facility. He went out with Elaine, tried to help save a historic theatre with Kramer, and sold computers for Frank Costanza.
- Babs Kramer - Kramer's mother. She reveals that Kramer's first name is Cosmo.
- Bubble Boy - Boy that lives in a bubble. Jerry agrees to visit him with Elaine, George, and Susan after talking with his father. George has a disagreement with him about a game of Trivial Pursuit
- "Fragile" Frankie Murman - Jerry's old friend from summer camp (George refers to him as "the summer me.") Gave Jerry a conversion van in The Junk Mail. He is called "Fragile" because when upset he runs into the woods, digs a hole, and sits in it.
- Jay Reimenschneider - a friend of Kramer's. Reimenschneider "eats horse all the time. He gets it from his butcher."
- Lt. Bookman (Philip Barker Hall) - a library "cop" that tracks down Jerry on his unreturned book in "The Library"
- Babu Bhatt (Brian George) - Jerry convinced him to change his restaurant to a Pakastani restaurant which caused it to go out of business. After being deported because of a mail mishap he calls Jerry a "Very Very bad man".]
Memorable incidents
The Contest (Season 4)
One of the most controversial Seinfeld episodes, "The Contest", centers on a pact of self-denial between Jerry, George, Kramer and Elaine. The four place a bet (with Elaine contributing a higher stake) on who can go the longest without masturbating. In the show, however, they were able to convey the meaning without actually using the word "masturbation" or any of its easily recognisable euphemisms. Kramer's early exit from the bet has become a classic moment in Seinfeld history, with his simple "I'm out!" as he slams his cash on the counter. This episode also features Jane Leeves (Daphne in Frasier) as "The Virgin", Jerry's girlfriend at the time.
Other classic moments include: Jerry's rant about the woman across the street, who struts around naked in her apartment, compromising his ability to remain "Master of His Domain" (and the same woman responsible for Kramer's early departure); Elaine's fascination with John F. Kennedy, Jr.; George's subtle introduction of the subject matter with the phrase, "My mother caught me"; and the "ease" with which the characters can sleep at night, depending on their current standing in the contest. It was revealed in "The Puffy Shirt" that George was the winner of The Contest, although in "The Finale" four years later, George admitted that he had cheated and that Jerry was the true master of his domain.
In a 2001 episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, during an argument between Larry David and Jason Alexander, it is mentioned that David participated in a contest exactly like this one, after Jason comments that that sort of thing would never happen. On the second DVD of the Season 4 Seinfeld collection, Kenny Kramer states that David did participate in such a contest and complained to him at the time about how difficult it was. On the third week, according to Kenny Kramer, David was the victor. Also in an episode of 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' called 'Shaq' when Larry David injures the basketball player Shaq and goes to the hospital with Seinfeld tapes to apologise, Shaq mentions to Larry that "The Contest" is his favorite episode.
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Moops (Season 4)
In the episode "The Bubble Boy", George claims "The Moops" is the answer to the Trivial Pursuit question "Who invaded Spain in the 8th century A.D.?" The Bubble Boy contested the answer, claiming it was the Moors (which is correct). George, with his stubborn nature, in reaction to the belligerent arrogance of the Bubble Boy, and out of spite, refused to accept the response in favor of the (presumably misprinted) answer given by the card. During the argument, George accidentally "pops" the bubble, sending bubble boy to the hospital. This incident is based on an actual error spotted by one of the writers in (according to different sources) either a 1970s home edition of Jeopardy! or in Trivial Pursuit.
The Junior Mint (Season 4)
Jerry accompanies Elaine on a hospital visit to a seriously ill ("something with his spleen") ex-boyfriend and artist, Roy (Sherman Howard), whom she broke up with because he was fat. Kramer tags along to steal latex gloves, and is invited by the surgeon to view the surgery. When his date cannot make it to the surgery, Kramer asks Jerry to join him. During the surgery, Kramer persistently offers Jerry a Junior Mint which he tries to paw away; instead, it flies over the viewing mezzanine, and falls into Roy's open abdominal cavity. The doctor notices something, but cannot figure out what, and closes the cavity. Roy's condition turns critical, and George decides to buy some of his triangle art thinking that if the artist dies, he could make a profit if the value of the art increases. However, Roy's condition significantly improves, something Roy credits to the fact that George bought his art. The doctor credits the upturn to "something beyond science, something, from above."
"Dolores!" (Season 4)
In the same episode as the Junior Mint, Jerry is dating an attractive woman whose name he cannot remember. With only one clue -- she told him her name rhymes with a part of the female anatomy -- he spends the episode avoiding the use of her name, and trying to find ways to ascertain it, including digging in her purse and having his friends stop by, hoping she will introduce herself. Jerry and George try to guess the name, with choices of Bovary, Loreola, Hest, Gipple, and most famously: Mulva. When she eventually realizes Jerry doesn't know her name, she breaks up with him, leaving his apartment in a huff. Right after she leaves, Jerry suddenly remembers her name, and calls out to her from his window, "Dolores!" According to an interview with Castle Rock executive Glenn Padnick that is included on the Seinfeld Season Four DVD, the script originally called for Jerry to call out the name "Cloris". However, between scenes during the taping of the episode, the audience was asked what they thought the woman's name was, and an audience member answered with "Dolores". Padnick decided that this name was better than what they had in the script and went down to the stage and had the scene taped with the audience member's guess. The "mystery woman" was played by Susan Walters.
The Puffy Shirt (Season 5)
In the episode of the same name, Jerry accidentally agrees to wear a new "puffy shirt" on The Today Show because Kramer's girlfriend Leslie (who designed the shirt) is a "low-talker". George's career as a "hand model", Elaine's job as an organizer for the Goodwill committee organizing Jerry's Today Show appearance and Leslie's future as a clothes designer all come to an end when Jerry denounces the shirt on the air. This episode spawned Jerry's phrase "but I don't want to be a pirate!" which would be re-used (albeit in different versions) later in the series.
The Move (Season 6)
From the episode The Fusilli Jerry. "The Move" refers to a complex sexual technique invented by Jerry that he shares with George with the promise that if George can master it he'll "never be alone again." Elaine's on/off boyfriend, Puddy, uses it on Elaine, leading Elaine to chastise Jerry for sharing intimate secrets with Puddy, a hallmark of male-bonding. The entire technique of The Move is never shared with the audience, leaving the audience to fill in the gaps themselves. George attempts to use it on his own girlfriend at the time, but she catches him with "crib notes" detailing the maneuvers written on his hand.
The Soup Nazi (Season 7)
In this episode, Jerry introduces George and Elaine to a soup restaurant run by a draconian owner, whom the customers have nicknamed the "Soup Nazi" (it is revealed in the last episode that the Soup Nazi's name is actually Yev Kasem). The restaurant is based on Soup Kitchen International in New York City. The owner enforces strict rules about ordering: State your order, then move quickly down the line with your money ready. Jerry coaches Elaine on the rules, but she disregards them, wasting the Soup Nazi's time and infuriating him. He kicks her out, yelling, "No soup for you!", which would become a catch phrase. The episode also includes a plot about an armoire that Elaine buys and then leaves on the street, asking Kramer to watch it. It is stolen right in front of him by a pair of effeminate, antique-loving men, who Kramer later refers to as "street toughs." Later, Elaine finds the Soup Nazi's recipes and distributes them widely in an act of vengeance, ruining his business. Before doing this, Elaine confronts the Soup Nazi and says in a mocking voice, "You're through Soup Nazi, no more soup for you...NEXT!!!" Larry Thomas received an Emmy nomination for his role as the Soup Nazi. Viewers find this character as an essential part of Seinfeld.
The Seven (Season 7)
From the episode The Seven. George tells Susan he has the perfect name picked out for their future child: Seven. Susan is less than impressed, but when she tells friends who are expecting a child, they love the name and plan to use it. George goes to their home to talk them out of it and the woman goes into labour. George joins them in the cab on the way to the hospital trying to talk them out of using the name: "I thought we agreed on 'Soda!'"
The Little Kicks (Season 8)
In the episode "The Little Kicks" Elaine performs her notorious "Little Kicks" dance in front of co-workers at a J. Peterman party. George (and later Jerry) exclaim "Sweet fancy Moses!" in reference to Elaine's dancing skill, which is described as "a full body dry-heave set to music". Throughout the episode she is mercilessly mocked behind her back by co-workers; at first she believes George has caused her troubles, but later learns her dancing is at fault. The dance involves her hands in thumbs up mode and little kick-ups with her feet. She is eventually informed by Jerry through a misfortunate illegal video pirating incident.
"Serenity Now!" (Season 9)
"Serenity Now!" is meant as a relaxation technique used by George's father in a season nine episode, especially when arguing with his wife. It turns out to be quite ineffective, according to George's nemesis, Lloyd Braun, who spent time in a mental institution because he suppressed his own anger for years, explaining "serenity now, insanity later." Kramer tries using the technique but explodes anyway, destroying 25 computers George had been storing in Kramer's apartment. Frank Costanza changes his saying to "Hoochie mama" when Mrs. Costanza tries to put her car into the garage.
"Festivus" (Season 9)
From "The Strike". Elaine and Kramer find out that growing up in George's family they celebrated Festivus rather than Christmas. Festivus was made up by Frank Costanza as he did not like the commercial and religious aspects of Christmas. Festivus involves setting up an aluminum pole rather than a tree as Frank notes "requires no decoration; I find tinsel distracting." Frank decides to re-visit the holiday which he has not celebrated in years including the "airing of grievances" and the "feats of strength" much to the dismay of George.
Source: Wikipedia
{Tanya Pretorius' Bookmarks: Me, 21s lists, 21 favorite shows - Seinfeld (02)}
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