# New things you notice in Seinfeld **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 1, 2007, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-things-you-notice-in-seinfeld/390445 "2007-02-01T19:26:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![blindboyard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blindboyard/32/2833_2.png) [@blindboyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blindboyard)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2017, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-things-you-notice-in-seinfeld/390445/141 "2017-06-02T17:33:36Z")
I’ve actually just watched, in the last few weeks, every episode. George has a lot of family who are mentioned but never seen. In the first couple of series repeated mentions are made of a brother, while in the last series he mentions an uncle. Obviously his father and Jerry’s father are both originally played by different actors, but not the mothers. Also, Newman is originally played by a different actor, although only his voice is heard at that time. He starts off as one of Kramer’s many unseen friends, like Bob Sacomano. I also noticed that George is basically harmless. Elaine, by comparison, destroys the first company she works for; is suspected, albeit wrongly, of attempting to murder her next boss; and then happily embezzles from her next job. > [@Sailboat](#): > > Recently had the episode “[The Masseuse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Masseuse_(Seinfeld))” running in the background when I noticed Elaine suggesting new names for her boyfriend, who shared a name with serial killer Joel Rifkin. Increasingly desperate to ditch the tainted name of a serial killer, Elaine picks “O.J.” out of a sports magazine. George wanted to call his potential future child “Seven”. Jerry suggests a range of silly alternative names, including “Ketchup”. OF course there would later be a famous OWS protester called that. > [@panache45](#): > > And Brian George, who played Babu Bhatt (restaurant owner who got deported), now plays Raj’s father on _The Big Bang Theory._ I think he was also Bashir’s dad in Star Trek Deep Space Nine. > [@gigi](#): > > I think they do remain a mystery, though, and he is considered independently wealthy. A one-bedroom on the Upper West Side during the 90s? And I think he has a car since he did the stop-and-grab with Mrs. Costanza and I think he drove to Susan’s cabin upstate. In the early series his car is frequently referenced as being off the road for some reason or other. Not being able to find the steering wheel, and so on. He also appear in court with a number of tickets, including one for not having doors on his car. > [@blondebear](#): > > Never saw Jerry ride it, but he had a nice green Klein bike hanging on the wall As mentioned, the nudist fixes it and later Kramer is seen to ride it, but only inside Jerry’s living room. > [@Misnomer](#): > > I didn’t think it was the extra numbers so much as everyone thought she didn’t live in NYC because she didn’t have a “212” area code? I seem to remember her getting hit on and giving the guy her number, and him saying something like “Oh, I don’t do long-distance relationships.” I think that’s what finally got her to change her area code back. He first asked her if it was a New Jersey number, then he asked if he had to dial a “1” in front of it. When he found out he did, he said he was actually already sort of seeing someone. So I think the extra numbers were the bigger issue. > [@Don\_Draper](#): > > I’ve noticed that there is one basic ‘New York City street’ soundstage. The characters are supposedly wandering around Manhattan. But almost every street they walk down is the same set, with the same basic building backdrops just redecorated with different storefronts, and shot at a variety of angles over and over again. I’ve noticed that same basic set used in ‘Friends’ and a variety of other NYC (or generic ‘big urban center’) set shows, and even a few movies. It’s extremely jarring, come the last series, when there’s suddenly a shot of what seems to be an actual New York street, or at least some sort of big city street. I’m think of the episode where Kramer and Newman are strapping homeless people to a rickshaw. I suppose they had to film it rolling downhill so they needed a real street. That episode also features the return of the black Rebecca de Mornay. > [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > Watching early Friends and early Seinfeld you see that they used to cast regular looking people in roles as girlfriends and boyfriends. Eventually as the shows got more popular everyone the characters dated were model quality. George still dates some ugly girls. All very tall, though. That’s what I notice, everyone is extremely tall. Everyone on the show is very tall, other than George. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2017, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-things-you-notice-in-seinfeld/390445/142 "2017-06-02T18:52:17Z")
> [@blindboyard](#): > > I also noticed that George is basically harmless. Elaine, by comparison, destroys the first company she works for; is suspected, albeit wrongly, of attempting to murder her next boss; and then happily embezzles from her next job. Also, she can’t dance worth a damn, and doesn’t even realize it. :smack: One of my favorite moments is when Susan Ross tells Elaine she doesn’t want to be friends with her: “All you ever do is sit around and talk with Jerry and his friends.” Not surprising Susan was killed off. She never fit in with the rest of the cast. (A pity, because I dig Heidi Swedberg. :o ) ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2017, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-things-you-notice-in-seinfeld/390445/143 "2017-06-02T22:49:00Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Pay attention to the credits for _Silicon Valley_. You’ll see a certain very “John Houseman name”. Indeed, I can’t read the name “Alec Berg” without imagining Jerry’s John Houseman imitation! ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2017, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-things-you-notice-in-seinfeld/390445/144 "2017-06-03T01:40:46Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > And Brian George, who played Babu Bhatt (restaurant owner who got deported), now plays Raj’s father on _The Big Bang Theory._ > [@blindboyard](#): > > …I think he was also Bashir’s dad in Star Trek Deep Space Nine… Correct, and will be in the upcoming ST spoof _The Orville_, too: > **[Richard Bashir](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Richard_Bashir)** > > Richard Bashir was the husband of Amsha Bashir, and the father of their son, Julian Bashir. Richard was something of a dreamer with large goals that he never seemed to accomplish. Around 2348, Richard and Amsha, concerned about their son's great... [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/d8aUuFsXRjU/maxresdefault.jpg "THE ORVILLE Official Trailer (2017) Star Trek Spoof, Seth MacFarlane Comedy Drama Series HD") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8aUuFsXRjU) ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2017, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-things-you-notice-in-seinfeld/390445/145 "2017-06-03T06:16:22Z")
I just met Keith Hernandez the other day. I can’t say he was the most pleasant guy in the world, but I did shake his hand, and I can confirm that he’s got a good shake. Single pump, not too hard, you know, doesn’t have to prove anything, but, you know, firm enough to know he was there. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2017, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-things-you-notice-in-seinfeld/390445/146 "2017-06-03T12:16:37Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Also, she can’t dance worth a damn, and doesn’t even realize it. :smack: > > One of my favorite moments is when Susan Ross tells Elaine she doesn’t want to be friends with her: “All you ever do is sit around and talk with Jerry and his friends.” > > Not surprising Susan was killed off. She never fit in with the rest of the cast. (A pity, because I dig Heidi Swedberg. :o ) Actually they have said in interviews that the reason she didn’t fit in was that Heidi Swedberg was a terrible actor who constantly screwed up their performances. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2017, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-things-you-notice-in-seinfeld/390445/147 "2017-06-03T16:33:12Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Actually they have said in interviews that the reason she didn’t fit in was that Heidi Swedberg was a terrible actor who constantly screwed up their performances. Yeah, I’ve heard that too. Be that as it may, her character didn’t fit in with the rest of the cast. She could have been the best comedic actress since Carole Lombard, and she still wouldn’t have fit in. ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2017, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-things-you-notice-in-seinfeld/390445/148 "2017-06-03T16:49:27Z")
The proof is in the pudding, and the scenes that played George against Susan were hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2017, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-things-you-notice-in-seinfeld/390445/149 "2017-06-03T16:55:42Z")
> [@K364](#): > > The proof is in the pudding, and the scenes that played George against Susan were hilarious. Be that as it may, didn’t you ever wonder what the hell she was doing with him anyway? My favorite moment came when she slugged him after he lied to her in the Marisa Tomei episode: **SUSAN:** What does he [Elaine’s fictional boyfriend] import? **GEORGE:** (_Long pause_) … Matches? _ **POW!** _ ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2017, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-things-you-notice-in-seinfeld/390445/150 "2017-06-03T18:05:15Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Actually they have said in interviews that the reason she didn’t fit in was that Heidi Swedberg was a terrible actor who constantly screwed up their performances. Jason Alexander said not too long ago that the permanent cast just didn’t like her. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2017, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-things-you-notice-in-seinfeld/390445/151 "2017-06-03T19:11:29Z")
Jason Alexander was absolutely wonderful in the 2008 Criminal Minds episode"Masterpiece" as Prof. Rothschild,a well-educated serial killer obsessed with the Fibonacci sequence who sends the team into a race against time to save his last victims ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2017, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-things-you-notice-in-seinfeld/390445/152 "2017-06-03T19:35:40Z")
I noticed a little piece of comedic genius in “The Bubble Boy” where the dispute first starts about Moops and Moors. While George and BB are yelling at each other, Susan looks inside the lid of the Trivial Pursuit box and starts searching the rules. It was so ridiculous that the rules could cover such a situation but typical of Susan to think they might. It might have been scripted but maybe she came up with it? Dunno. ---
**Author:** ![caligulathegod](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caligulathegod/32/9685_2.png) [@caligulathegod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligulathegod)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2017, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-things-you-notice-in-seinfeld/390445/153 "2017-06-04T06:24:41Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > Toby Huss was on an episode of Seinfeld, though: he was the boyfriend who fascinated Elaine but she couldn’t figure out why (later she finds out it’s because he was in a bunch of “Nobody beats The Wiz!” commercials). For me, Toby Huss will always be [Artie the Strongest Man in the World](http://s2.quickmeme.com/img/14/14f566d10ad6034786961dd912fe558d37af0f182f5429da1b01c92b3437ee4a.jpg), Pete and Pete’s personal superhero. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2017, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-things-you-notice-in-seinfeld/390445/154 "2017-06-04T17:46:36Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Jason Alexander was absolutely wonderful in the 2008 Criminal Minds episode"Masterpiece" as Prof. Rothschild,a well-educated serial killer obsessed with the Fibonacci sequence who sends the team into a race against time to save his last victims A longtime Trekker, he was also pretty good in a very un-Georgelike guest role on an episode of _Star Trek Voyager_: [Kurros | Memory Alpha | Fandom](http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Kurros) This 2016 documentary is also worth a look, about a big Broadway role early in Alexander’s career that didn’t _quite_ turn out the way he might’ve hoped: [Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_Worst_Thing_That_Ever_Could_Have_Happened) ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2017, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-things-you-notice-in-seinfeld/390445/155 "2017-06-04T23:15:36Z")
> [@caligulathegod](#): > > For me, Toby Huss will always be [Artie the Strongest Man in the World](http://s2.quickmeme.com/img/14/14f566d10ad6034786961dd912fe558d37af0f182f5429da1b01c92b3437ee4a.jpg), Pete and Pete’s personal superhero. That’s where he was from! Much like the TV pitchman he played on “Seinfeld”, I knew I’d seen him before the first time I saw him on the episode. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-things-you-notice-in-seinfeld/390445/156 "2017-06-07T08:00:08Z")
Here’s a question for NYers: TV Rabbi Kirschbaum/Glickman, who lives in the same building as Elaine, is an awful lot like the one Rick Moranis used to play on _ **SCTV** _. Were they both based on an actual TV rabbi in the Northeast, or are they just randomly similar stereotypes? ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-things-you-notice-in-seinfeld/390445/157 "2017-06-07T15:21:31Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > Recently had the episode “[The Masseuse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Masseuse_(Seinfeld))” running in the background when I noticed Elaine suggesting new names for her boyfriend, who shared a name with serial killer Joel Rifkin. Increasingly desperate to ditch the tainted name of a serial killer, Elaine picks “O.J.” out of a sports magazine. > > I had to look it up: > > The episode aired **November 18, 1993**. > > On **June 12, 1994** , Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman were found stabbed to death. > > Pretty freaky. Wow! Yeah, freaky! ---
**Author:** ![blindboyard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blindboyard/32/2833_2.png) [@blindboyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blindboyard)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-things-you-notice-in-seinfeld/390445/158 "2017-06-08T10:36:09Z")
Susan turns up again in an episode from near the end of the last series. It’s the episode with the Indian wedding, which is told in reverse order. The end credits scene is before her death. ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-things-you-notice-in-seinfeld/390445/159 "2017-06-09T02:12:44Z")
I admit I didn’t notice this myself, but I recently came across a YouTube video (I don’t think it was from this thread? If it was then isn’t my face red) where Seinfeld himself explains he borrowed three lines from the famous “Buddy Rich Tapes”, and used them in three different episodes. Being a musician, I was familiar with the tapes, but didn’t put two and two together when I heard the lines! [Seinfeld & The Buddy Rich Tapes - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWP77C4StLs) ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-things-you-notice-in-seinfeld/390445/160 "2017-06-10T14:50:24Z")
> [@gytalf2000](#): > > Wow! Yeah, freaky! What I fund really freaky is most people today couldn’t tell you who Joel Rifkin was. O.J., on the other [del]glove[/del] hand… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-things-you-notice-in-seinfeld/390445.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-things-you-notice-in-seinfeld/390445.md?page=9)