Kessler OR Kramer???: Let's go wayyyyy back

Fellow Seinfeldians

Last week in Australia we witnessed the pilot of the series, known as the Seinfeld Chronicles (the first series is now being aired for the very first time in Australia!!!). In this episode, Michael Richards enters Jerry's apartment around 1.00am as Jerry is about to watch a tape of baseball game, and spoils the viewing for Jerry by telling him the result of the game. Jerry falls of the couch groaning and complaining, and actually refers to Richards as...wait for it....KESSLER!

My ears did not deceive me or my friends (we listened to him say it a few time now). What's with the Kessler bit??

Anyone know any background to this? The second episode in the series is being shown tonight. It will be interesting to hear if the name Kessler is used again.

By the way, where was Elaine in the first (pilot) episode?? It was like she didn't exist! Any background on this??

thanks in advance

In article ,

It's true Elain was not even thought about until the second episode she was already Jerry's ex by then

Nebver heard the Kessler though keep us posted

Yeggster

The version of the "Seinfeld Chronicles" 1989 pilot that now airs in U.S. syndication has no reference at all to Kramer's name (we only learn it in the second episode, which didn't air until midseason 1990). It's possible you're seeing a line that's edited out of the version we see (which is recut to allow an extra 30 second commercial availability). Or it may never have been in the show as originally aired by NBC here either. It's not uncommon for foreign countries to air scenes that get cut out of the domestic airing of US series for either time or censorship reasons.

Incidentally, the reason the character's name was ambiguous or unspoken, had to do with the fact that it was modeled on a real-life friend of Seinfeld and series co-creator Larry David, a friend whose name IS Kramer...Kenny Kramer, to be exact. He signed off on use of his last name for the show, in exchange for a royalty and the right to cash in by giving a "real world your" of the New York City haunts where Jerry and friends used to hang out.(Kenny Kramer has his own WWW site, BTW.) Whatever the name, Michael Richards was intended to be part of the cast right from the start.

On the Julia Louis-Dreyfus question...she was NOT in the cast of the pilot, but joined the gang in the first regular season episode that aired in 1990 (now seen as the second show in the rerun sequence). . Bob Smith, afternoons WXXI-AM 1370, Rochester NY