This is the end.

                                                        This is it.

Well this is it, my last post of the year. It’s been a fun ride writing about a show I watch off and on. I enjoy Seinfeld, but probably not to the extent one would think after writing a 9 week blog about it. It’s a good show with a great cast of characters and many memorable moments. I only got the idea of making a blog about Seinfeld after I was “brainstorming” ideas and a Seinfeld marathon happened to be on.

Will I ever write here again? Odds are I won’t update this blog again unless there’s a need for it. Thanks for reading and good luck.

-Tyler

Favorite Scene

After thinking about it I have finally pinpointed one of my most favorite moments from Seinfeld. During season 5’s The Opposite, Jerry has an interaction with one of the many women he’s seen dating over the series and it ends just like all of his other relationships. But the way it ends is the best part. Take a moment to watch this.

I love it. Jerry has finally decided that everything is eventually going to work out for him in the end and he doesn’t need to dwell on a relationship he knows isn’t going to go anywhere. He just takes it in stride and ends it by walking out of the diner. What’s even better is that he is singing “She’ll be coming around the mountain when she comes” as he leaves meaning he knows its going to happen again.

If you guys have a favorite moment feel free to post it in the comments.

The Red Dot

After being without internet for the past two weeks and without Netflix I have found myself watching the first three seasons of Seinfeld for entertainment. One episode in particular that stood out was season 3’s twelfth episode, The Red Dot.

Airing in 1991, The Red Dot is about how George decides to buy Elaine a gift after she gets him a job at her company during a Christmas party. While out shopping with Jerry they come across a cashmere sweater that is discounted to $85. The catch is a small, hard to see red dot. Being the cheapskate he is George buys the sweater for Elaine hoping she won’t notice.

Spoiler. She notices.

 At first she is thrilled with the gift, but after Kramer points out the red dot she becomes angry with George for buying her broken goods.

Throughout our lives we have all experienced a “red dot” so to speak. Maybe it’s a certain personality quirk that a friend has like constantly chewing with their mouth open. Maybe they’re missing part of their ear and now that it has been pointed out you can never unsee it. Or perhaps you are now realizing that you keep breathing in and out. Since I’ve pointed it out now all you’re going to focus on in the next few minutes is that you’re manually breathing. My bad.

Have any “red dots” about people you know or things you encounter every day?

Modern Seinfeld

A still from “The Finale” -1998

All good things come to an end. For Seinfeld, the series ended in in May of 1998 with the highly watched “The Finale”. So many people tuned into this episode that some channels didn’t air anything at the same time. TVLand merely had a picture of a door that said “Gone watchin’ SEINFELD — Back in 60 minutes”.

But what if Seinfeld had never ended?

Right now a popular page on Twitter is @SeinfeldToday where new plots of Seinfeld episodes are made to fit with today’s times.

An example of this relates to the new trend of people changing their Facebook profile pictures to an equality sign in support of gay marriage.

“Elaine refuses to change her profile photo to support gay rights, because she finally likes her pic. Her bf dumps her for being a “bigot.”

Sounds like something that would happen, right?

There’s way more where that came from, so if you’re interested in following a clever Twitter account, that’s the place to go.

Newman

Love him or hate him, one of the most famous characters to ever grave television screens was Wayne Knight’s infamous portrayal of Kramer’s long-time friend, and Jerry’s mailman/nemesis, Newman.

“Hello Newman.”

From his villain-like schemes, to his general hatred of Jerry and George, Newman was known for assisting Kramer and his many ideas multiple times  Newman was also known for his odd claims regarding the postal service. When Kramer wanted to cancel his mail service he told him “Nobody really needs mail” and “When you control mail, you control information”. Psychotic huh?

Here’s something you may not know. In Season 2’s “The Revenge”, Newman was actually played offscreen by series creator/writer Larry David in a voice only role. Later versions replaced David’s voice with Wayne Knight and in some copies both versions are available to watch.

The Contest

“Well, obviously, we all know each other very well, I’m sure that we’ll all feel comfortable within the confines of the honor system.”

Hailed as one of the most hilarious episodes of the entire series, Season 4’s “The Contest” is an episode that I can (and will watch) anytime it happens to be on television.

The basic premise is that after George got caught by his mother “treating his body like an amusement park” he complains to Jerry, Elaine, and Kramer at Monk’s Dinner and they decide to have a contest where last one that touches themselves wins money ($100 for Jerry, George, and Kramer and $150 for Elaine since according to Jerry “it’s easier for a woman not to do it.  It’s harder for men, it’s part of our lifestyle!”)

Kramer shortly after noticing the nudist outside of Jerry’s window.

Throughout the episode various obstacles make it difficult for everyone to stay in the contest. Across the street from Jerry’s apartment a nudist is spotted by Kramer (who soon gives in and declares “I’m out!”), a woman is seen being given regular sponge-baths by  an attractive nurse in the hospital room George’s mother is staying at, and John F. Kennedy Jr. is taking an aerobics class at Elaine’s gym. Jerry isn’t worrying about the contest at all since he’s currently dating a virgin and has to keep to himself anyway (until she leaves him for JFK Jr. after finding out about the contest).

In the end Elaine gives in and the episode ends ambiguously with everyone sleeping soundly in their beds (including Kramer who has hooked up with the nudist) leaving the viewer to imagine who could have won.

That’s really all I have for this week. “The Contest” is a great episode and if you have never seen it or an episode of Seinfeld (what’s wrong with you?) make sure to watch it at the link below.

Watch “The Contest” here!

Remember, you are the master of your domain.

Bizarro

Jerry, George, and Kramer meet their opposites Kevin, Gene, and Feldman.

In the third episode of season 8 called The Bizarro Jerry the Elaine breaks up her boyfriend from a previous episode named Kevin and proposes the idea that they should just be friends. To her surprise Kevin accepts and throughout the episode we see Elaine mingling more with Kevin’s group of friends rather than with Jerry, George, and Kramer.  When Elaine talks about how reliable Kevin is compared to Jerry, Jerry begins to think of Kevin as a “bizarro” version of himself.

                 Superman on the left, Bizarro on the right.

As said by Jerry in the episode, “Yeah, like Bizarro Superman, Superman’s exact opposite, who lives in the backwards Bizarro world. Up is down, down is up. He says “hello” when he leaves, “goodbye” when he arrives”. Basically Jerry is saying that Kevin is the complete opposite of him and anything Jerry does or likes will be hated by Kevin and so forth.

Near the end of the episode the gang comes face to face with their counterparts and Elaine decides to be with her new friends since they’re just better people than Jerry, George and Kramer. This doesn’t work however because Elaine is too violent with her new friends and ends up leaving Kevin’s apartment awkwardly after knocking over Kevin when she got excited about tickets to an art show.

      Fargus aka Bizarro Newman

My question for this blog is have you ever seen someone that looked similiar to one of your own friends or family and they turned out to be a “Bizarro” version of them? I haven’t personally, but as they say almost everyone has a “bizarro” version living somewhere.

Superman

Superman, a true American hero. When Larry David was writing Seinfeld one of the things he never thought would  be done was the inclusion of DC Comic’s Superman in every episode.

A bird? A plane? Nope, it’s Superman.

For this weeks blog I want to know if anyone else was able to spot Superman in Seinfeld and if so what do you think about it? Honestly for me I think it’s a nice nod that Jerry always happens to have something like this in his apartment and the set designer obviously has an attention to detail which is seldom seen in shows today.

Coincidence? I think not.

The Soup Nazi

“No soup for you!”

Everyone has dealt with a person like this at some point in their lives. In the sixth episode of    season 7, titled The Soup Nazi, a new soup kitchen has opened causing Jerry and George to check it out after Kramer ranted about it. Now this soup kitchen isn’t like the rest, the owner demands a level of respect from his customers and refuses to give some people their meal if he believes they aren’t behaving appropriately.

When George notices he didn’t get free bread with his soup like everyone else in line he protests to Jerry’s dismay. The manager then tells George he will have to pay $2, then $3 for his bread and in the end he takes George’s soup back with the often-quoted

“No soup for you!”.

Now what does this have to do with your life? Well throughout society there are people who are given positions of power. Some of them take advantage of it and abuse their perks.  For instance, perhaps a teacher just doesn’t like a student so they give them less than perfect grades on their papers, or maybe a manager has a problem with one of their employees so they make them stay after closing time.

The point is The Soup Nazi is everywhere and as long as there are people with more power than others he will continue to thrive.

So I ask you, who were your Soup Nazis?