The Chaperone (Seinfeld)

For the SpongeBob episode see The Chaperone (SpongeBob SquarePants)

"The Chaperone"
Seinfeld episode
Episode no.	Season 6 Episode 1
Directed by	Andy Ackerman
Written by	Larry David & Bill Masters & Bob Shaw
Production code	601
Original air date	September 22, 1994
Guest stars
Danny Tartabull, Buck Showalter, Gail Strickland, Ian Abercrombie
Season 6 episodes
September 1994 – May 1995 "The Chaperone" "The Big Salad" "The Pledge Drive" "The Chinese Woman" "The Couch" "The Gymnast" "The Soup" "The Mom & Pop Store" "The Secretary" "The Race" "The Switch" "The Label Maker" "The Scofflaw" "The Highlights of 100, Part 1" "The Highlights of 100, Part 2" "The Beard" "The Kiss Hello" "The Doorman" "The Jimmy" "The Doodle" "The Fusilli Jerry" "The Diplomat's Club" "The Face Painter" "The Understudy"
List of Seinfeld episodes

"The Chaperone" is the 87th episode of NBC sitcom Seinfeld. This was the first episode for the sixth season. It aired on September 22, 1994.

Plot

Jerry meets Karen, Miss Rhode Island (Marguerite MacIntyre), who is competing in the Miss America pageant and consequently must be chaperoned on her date with Jerry; Kramer fills the role and quickly becomes her personal coach. Elaine seeks to follow in the footsteps of Jackie Kennedy Onassis in securing a position with Doubleday, where she unsuccessfully interviews with Ms. Landis (Gail Strickland). Elaine meets Mr. Pitt (Ian Abercrombie) as the interview ends and agrees to become his personal assistant. She soon finds her job as personal assistant to Mr. Pitt to be unfulfilling. George replaces polyester with cotton as the material for the Yankees' uniforms, with alarming results. Danny Tartabull & Buck Showalter guest star on this episode.

Trivia

• This is the first episode where Jerry uses his famous catch-phrase: "That's a shame." And although Jerry continues to use it as his own through the rest of the series, George is the one who first says it at the end of this episode. Jerry then copies it just seconds later.

• Elaine mentions that they are looking for someone to replace Jackie Onassis at Doubleday. That would be a timely reference since Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis died on the same day as the season 5 finale aired, in May 1994, and this episode aired in September of the same year. Jackie Onassis had worked as an editor for Doubleday since her husband's death (Aristotle Onassis) in 1975.

• This episode aired the same day as the series premiere of Friends. Courteney Cox, one of the stars of that show, played Jerry's girlfriend for one episode in the previous season.

• This is the first episode to be directed by Andy Ackerman, who took over as the series' primary director from Tom Cherones.