Puerto Rican Day

hi, I read in a previous message that they do not play this episode. I've never seen this one. why don't they play it? mike-e

Mike-e

   Some of the people of PR heritage were greatly offended when the flag of
their country was ACCIDENTALLY caught on fire by a sparkler in the hands of
Cosmo Kramer. The situation was further complicated when Kramer threw the flag
on the ground and tried to stamp out the fire.
    I'm sure Jerry and the writers simply missed the great insult that this
show represented to some Puerto Rican natives.
I'm sure if the episode showed the destruction of an American flag, even though
not as a political statement, some Americans would be upset.
  I just think it was a oversight of the staff
of the show. I'm not sure if it's an official policy of Seinfeld or of those
who own the syndication package, but it has been assumed that because of the
controversy surrounding the episode it will not be shown in the near future.
   Now when Ted Turner takes over the syndication rights to the show AND ifthe
PR Day Parade is in the package AND if there is not legal reason, he could reap
a rating bonanza by advertizing a "onetime showing of this episode".
   We will just have to wait and see.

Because the Politically Correct Pendulum has swung waaay too far in the wrong direction.

Because Kramer accidentally burned a Puerto Rican flag and sent a bunch
of hypersensitive twits into a frenzy.
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Same thing happened with Xena this past season. TV producers are becoming too sensitive to the screams of the noisy few.

I look at the PR flag burning as a indictment of the insensitivity of the characters of the show, as later highlighted in the last episode. So, to me, the suppression of the PR flag burning only serves to rob the Kramer of his natural insensitivety. It's like of Norman Lear rewrote Archie Bunker as a non-bigot so as to not offend African-Americans with his characters racial slurs. Just my too cents.

I took a simpler approach. The flag burning incident was simply Kramer being Kramer. First, when he came dancing in wearing the flag over his shoulder, he yelled out something like , "Es caliente, Jerry!" It's hot! He was obviously enjoying the festivities far more than the other three.

So, he lit a cigar off of a sparkler, then tossed the lit sparkler over his shoulder. This was a typical Kramer move; not thinking about the results of his actions. Any one of us could dredge up dozens of examples of similar behavior. Then, when he realized the flag was burning, he threw it on the ground and stomped on it. I cannot for a second think that he had anything BUT putting out the fire in mind when he did that. The political or social implications of what he was doing ABSOLUTELY never entered his mind. As proof, consider the look on his face when he realized what he had done when Cedric and Bob turned to face him. Pure, genuine surprise. I don't think there was any insensitivity going on. Just a typical Kramer move.

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Dave wrote:

I agree. Too many people don't even consider what the point of the whole situation was. Did the writers have Kramer set the Puerto Rican flag on fire as some sort of insult to the Puerto Rican people? No. They did it to show what a screw-up Kramer was to do such a thing. When they subsequently had the Puerto Ricans band together to get revenge on the gang, did they do it to show what a primitive savage mentality Puerto Ricans have? No. It was done to show the consequences of Kramer's stupidity.

Also it was one of the weakest shows, most likely because the writers concentrated on the last show. PRD being the second last.

Petibatyam wrote:

If I recall, the final episode was entirely Larry David's idea from start to finish, so what would the other writers have had to do?

What I want to know is why ten different people got writer credit on that episode. Is that a record for a TV show? PRD's somewhat disjointed nature would probably make it better off having multiple writers, but ten? Surely two or three could have turned in a much stronger show.

Keith Davenport wrote:

Wasn't the idea of group writing parodied in The Comeback? When George announces to the group his comeback line they all add to it, change it, come up with other lines,... and George says something like, "I hate writing with a large group, ...you've all got your little opinions ... and it all gets homogenized, ...".

I'm not sure...anyone know how many people wrote the M*A*S*H finale?