A question or two AND a comment about the Finale.

Seinfeldians,

   #1: In Seinfeld:The Chronicle, there was a brief clip of a black sports car
hanging a sharp left and skidding to the curb. Newman, wearing black shades,
pops out. I've never seen the episode. Which was it?
   #2: Why was "Babs" Kramer, Cosmo's mom, not in the finale? Hadn't they made
up or was it the end when she was caught with Newman?
   #3: In the Finale, Elains says that she has something to tell Jerry. And he
says, "There's something I have to tell you, too!" Do you think he was going to
finally admit it?

COMMENT ON FINALE: Remember when rumours abounded? Here's a brief list: They
would all die, George would confess to being in love with Jerry, Elaine would
confess the same, NBC would pick up the pilot finally, Jerry and George would
move to LA............ Isn't it cool that the finale alluded to all of these?
And the plane scene included a false set-up to at least three of them. DEATH:
The plane obviously. GEORGE CONFESSING: "I cheated in the contest!" For a few
secs I thought he was gonna say I love you! ELAINE CONFESSING:"I've always
loved...."
   Anyway, I liked the Finale, being a TRUE Seinfeld fan I accept what they put
out. After all, they are the one's making millions of dollars, don't you think
they knew what they were doing at that stage of the game?
   BTW I heard that there will be a REAL Final episode airing next season!

Maybe not so much a finale as a reunion picking up a lot of the loose ends left by the "finale"...and neither Jerry nor Larry David have either ruled one in or ruled one out. There are plenty of things to be resolved in a finale, each of which could be the focus of a comedic story line...

     1)Does NBC keep the door open for Jerry? There
         is certainly no mention of "Jerry" the series being
         dropped when the gang goes to jail....and Jerry
         sure seems optimistic when he says "hey, we'll only
         be gone a year." (He wouldn't be the first ex-con
         to become a major sitcom star...and if anyone missed
         the reference to Tim Allen in all of that, they
         haven't been watching TV since 1990...)
     2)Does Elaine ever REALLY come clean about her
         true feelings for Jerry? And does Jerry do likewise
         when it comes to Elaine?
     3)Did George's mom really seduce Judge Vandelay
         and did it reduce their sentence?
     4)Does Kramer emerge from jail as totally oblivious
         to the world around him, as he was going in? (And
         do the rest of them, for that matter? My bet's on
         'yes', by the way...)
     5)Did Newman really choke on that popcorn as the
         verdict was read? And what is/was his first name,
         anyway?
      6)Does George ever find a moment of happiness,
         with or without the girl of his dreams?

That's a good set of storylines for starters...though I'm sure that IF Jerry's interested in doing a sequel (assuming he's not launched on another project entirely in the fall of 1999) he can come up with others just as good or better...

Bob Smith, afternoons WXXI-AM 1370, Rochester NY

Spylocke asked:

I *believe*...and I'm sure someone else will correct me if I'm wrong...that that was from the "Pulp Fiction" parody, when Elaine and Mr. Lippmann called on Newman (a la the Harvey Keitel character in PF) to help them get rid of "The Muffin Tops." Or maybe an outtake from that ep?

Here's another. Why did the terrifying Alton Benes (Lawrence Tierney) not return, for the finale or for anything else after his one appearance? I thought he was a riot. "Pipe down, chorus boy!" I hate the screwy syndication order this time around; I'm hoping they're going to go back to that episode, as it is one of the ones that seems to have been skipped.

Todd K

         to the world around him, as he was going in? (And
         do the rest of them, for that matter? My bet's on
         'yes', by the way...)

Is this the essence of Kramer's appeal? He's completely "inner-directed".

That was one of my many objections to the finale. The way the four characters, especially Kramer, just rolled over and died at the trial and in jail. Where was their indignation and typical feistiness? Furthermore, I don't need to hear how "brilliant" this ending is because of its Kafka, or existentialistic nuances. When did this "message" ever have relevance in previous Seinfeld episodes?

alt showbiz gossip

That was one of my many objections to the finale. The way the four characters, especially Kramer, just rolled over and died at the trial and in jail. Where was their indignation and typical feistiness? Furthermore, I don't need to hear how "brilliant" this ending is because of its Kafka, or existentialistic nuances. When did this "message" ever have relevance in previous Seinfeld episodes?>>

I agree with this. The whole episode was off, with the characters suddenly acting out of character.

But it does seem in character that ONCE IN JAIL, Kramer would be oblivious to his surroundings, c ontinuing to be exactly who he is, untouched in a way by the surroundings.

But they were seeing themselves for the very first time, through the eyes of others, and they were stunned to find they engendered so much loathing and disgust, and left so much emotional wreckage in their wake. They have always been completely clueless about just how horrible they really are.

I didn't see them register "stunned"behavior at any time. In fact--when they got into prison, Jerry and George began talking about the button--which indicated to me that they remained remorseless and unfazed by what had transpired in court.

alt showbiz gossip

others, and they were stunned to find they engendered so much loathing and disgust, and left so much emotional wreckage in their wake. They have always been completely clueless about just how horrible they really are.>>

What an amazing interpretation. There is nothing I can think of that would support this idea. They never looked stunned to me. this must come from some sort of sick notion that these characters have been evil and now see how rotten they always were. This is not what the show was ever about. I do think there was a comment on SOCIETY's problems. But quite often, as has been pointed out lots of times, the characters are themselves victims even when they try to help others.

cc

QUESTION: I just read somewhere that Jerry and Larry and the cast thought of themselves in the same way as we are seeing amongst those who think the last episode was good because they got what they deserved? Is it true that they never really liked these characters?

Raingluttn wrote:

Yes, it appears that way after watching and reading some of the documentaries and features on the show around the time of the finale . . . HOWEVER I never heard this until AFTER the announcement that the show was ending. I supposed in a previous post that this attitude may have only taken over to justify the finale. In the episodes themselves, we see them being often shallow and sometimes selfish, but far more frequently getting screwed when trying to do something good.

In article , [email] (Brantley30) wrote:

IMO the most selfish act by one of the characters is when Larry wants to break off the relationship he has with the prison inmate, so he gives a bad report at her parole hearing to extend her stay in prison, instead of telling her he doesn't want to see her anymore. None of the cast tells him that was selfish or wrong -- I'm surprised that didn't come up in the court hearing.

Frank

Yeah, even when they try to do right it blows up.

I never watch most shows, but happened across "Designing Women" last night, and who should show up but Patrick Warburton -- Puddy!

He was playing the SAME TYPE OF CHARACTER -- a dense, dorky guy. And he was breaking up with one of the Women. I about fell out of my chair laughing at good old Mr. One Trick Pony!

Babs Kramer was actually in the finale, she was sitting next to Uncle Leo in the courtroom.

But was Alton Benes in attendance?

Todd K