If all TV manufacturing stopped at the moment and no new TV exhibits have been ever created, then each TV lover on the earth have been requested to call the best present within the historical past of tv, there is a rattling first rate probability that “Seinfeld” would come out on high. Rewatchable, hilarious, and completely singular, it stays a miracle greater than 25 years after it went off the air. A lot of that’s attributed to the core ensemble solid made up of Jerry Seinfeld (Jerry), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Elaine), Jason Alexander (George), and Michael Richards (Kramer). For practically the entire present’s 180 episodes, this group anchored the traditional sitcom. We are saying nearly as a result of there was one episode that Alexander sat out.
Like many nice exhibits, “Seinfeld” took a few seasons to search out its footing. By season 3, although, it was totally off to the races. That season accommodates a number of traditional episodes, together with the third episode, the twentieth of the present total, titled “The Pen.” Whereas followers have come to adore the episode within the years because it first aired, it is the one episode of all the nine-season run to not characteristic Alexander’s George Costanza.
“The Pen” is taken into account to be one of many present’s most underrated episodes. In it, Jerry and Elaine go to Jerry’s dad and mom in Florida, the place Jerry’s father is being honored by his condominium affiliation. Throughout dinner, Jerry turns into enchanted by a particular astronaut’s pen owned by one of many affiliation members. Jerry later accepts it as a present, which units off an excessive amount of pressure together with his dad and mom, who imagine he ought to have refused. Hilarity ensues, with George sitting on the sidelines.
Jason Alexander wasn’t glad about being written out of The Pen
As talked about, that is the solely episode out of 180 that George would not seem in. Richards’ Kramer additionally sat this one out, with the actor solely lacking out on two in the course of the present’s historic run total. (Kramer was additionally absent from the season 2 episode “The Chinese language Restaurant.”) Followers will care to notice that the absences of these characters occurred comparatively early on within the present’s run. There is a good motive for that.
Larry David, of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” fame, was the inventive driving drive behind “Seinfeld” alongside the titular comic. It seems that Alexander wasn’t notably glad about being written out of “The Pen” and, because the story goes, the actor let David know simply how sad he was. In a 2016 interview, Alexander defined that he advised David in no unsure phrases that this could be the final time he was written out of the present, or he would not be a part of it sooner or later.
“You wrote me out of the present. I solely wish to be right here if I am indispensable […] If you happen to do it once more, do it completely,” Alexander advised him. That was that. George was in each episode from then on out. “Seinfeld” remained an enormous hit, with the solid incomes large paydays over the remainder of the present’s run. They’re nonetheless benefiting to at the present time, with the streaming rights promoting to Netflix a number of years again, and the cable rights going to Comedy Central in 2023. Thankfully for all concerned, the episode turned out nice, David and Seinfeld by no means wrote out any of the principle characters once more, and the present sailed easily from then on out … save for the finale, however that is one other story completely.
“Seinfeld” is at present streaming on Netflix.