…“The Checks”. I’ve seen various ranked lists, and that episode should be dead last, no contest. The jokes fall flat and each character’s storyline is zany. I mean…George trying to get into a cult of carpet cleaners, Jerry trying to prove he invented umbrella twirling, Kramer and the Japanese tourists, and worst of all…Elaine’s boyfriend being obsessed with Farbman furniture. The only funny moment in the whole episode is Kramer saying goodnight to the Japanese guys in the chest drawers.
The one where George thinks he’s had a heart attack was on last night. The whole bit with the New-Age Alternative Healer was just plain dumb. The best part of the episode was the Plan 9–type SF clip on late night TV.
Forgot about that one…it doesn’t even feel like a real episode. OK…that may be the worst. I do like the part about George painting over his shoes though.
The finale is stupid because of the whole Good Samaritan law premise. They weren’t able to help the guy getting mugged anyway since the robber had a gun and could have shot them.
that and it hit you over the head with “you’ve been watching and laughing at bunch of assholes of the highest order” with all the flashbacks …
And right before the actual episode which was a clip show NBC had a long clip show… fatigue set in …
There certainly were a handful of unfunny ones. I don’t know about “the worst”, but I didn’t like the ones about Seinfeld’s shenanigans negotiating with NBC over a sitcom. There’s something about a standup comic starring in an NBC sitcom doing a couple of episodes about a standup comic being offered an NBC sitcom that seems more interested in narcissistic self-indulgence than in entertaining the audience. When Seinfeld was good, it was because it dealt with everyday situations we can all identify with. Negotiating with NBC for a sitcom isn’t one of those. Those shows were around the time when they seemed to be running out of ideas, until I presume a new infusion of writers not only re-invigorated the show’s creativity but took it to new levels.
I know some people love that one. I hate it, though. It’s a concept episode, set in real time with no scene breaks. I found it exactly as boring as sitting in a restaurant lobby waiting for a table in real life. It just seemed pointless.
The clip shows are all tied for worst, they weren’t even very good clip shows, with some sort of fake new plot to tie them together (though one did have a new intro scene…) just short clips, out of contexts. Ha ha?
The one I couldn’t stand is the episode about spitting on a baseball player. Allusions to the JFK assassination weren’t funny and the subject matter was quite disgusting.
The Pen is byfar the worst. I never liked when the residence of Jerry’s parents was featured and there’s no Costanza in this one. Nor does Kramer appear, not much of a plot either.
It looks like I disagree with a lot of people here.
I really loved The Pen - maybe you had to grow up with Jewish parents to appreciate it.
I loved The Chinese Restaurant and The Parking Garage. And The Jacket - another episode spent mainly waiting around.
The Betrayal (backwards episode) was just brilliant.
The Finale - not great, but not bad. They found a way to get all the characters from previous episodes together at one time time, which was pleasant.
Some of the later episodes like The Chicken Roaster, The Frogger, The Muffin Tops, The Checks show that they had run out ideas. They would be in contention for the worst.