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"The Ex-Girlfriend"

"The Ex-Girlfriend" is the sixth episode of NBC's sitcom Seinfeld, and the first episode of the show's second season. The episode was first broadcast on NBC in the United States on January 23, 1991, after being postponed for one week due to the commencement of the First Gulf War. During the course of the show, George Costanza (Jason Alexander) breaks up with his girlfriend Marlene (Tracy Kolis). Later, he remembers that he left some books in her apartment and persuades his friend Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld), the show's protagonist, to retrieve them. Jerry starts dating Marlene, but, after Marlene starts to annoy him as much as she did George, he finds himself unable to break up with her because she has a "psycho-sexual" hold on him.

The episode was written by series co-creators Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, and was inspired by one of Larry David's personal experiences. Directed by Tom Cherones, "The Ex-Girlfriend" was the first episode of the show filmed at CBS Studio Center in Studio City, Los Angeles. The previous season had been filmed at Desilu Cahuenga in Hollywood. The episode featured one new set, a chiropractor's office. The rest of the sets had been used on the show earlier. The episode gained a Nielsen Rating of 10.9/17 and was positively received by critics.

Plot

George decides he wants to break up with his girlfriend Marlene (Tracy Kolis), whose tendency to drag out conversations and phone messages irritates him to no end. After an emotional split, he realizes he has left some books in her apartment. Jerry tries to convince George that he does not need the books, as he has already read them, but George is able to persuade Jerry to get them for him. To retrieve the books, Jerry decides to go on a date with Marlene, during which she tells him that she and Jerry can still be friends, despite her recent break-up. Jerry and Marlene start dating, but, after a while, Jerry finds her just as annoying as George did. He wants to break up with her but is unable to because she has a "psycho-sexual" hold on him.

Jerry finds it hard to tell George that he his dating Marlene, but Jerry's ex-girlfriend Elaine Benes (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) convinces Jerry that he should. After being informed, George informs Jerry he has no problem with him dating Marlene. The following night, Jerry asks Marlene to come up to his apartment, but she tells him that it might be better not to date him anymore. Jerry asks her why, to which she replies that she did not think his stand-up comedy act was funny, and that she could not date someone if she did not respect what they did. This takes Jerry by surprise as Marlene worked as a cashier.

Cultural references

A smiling man with grey hair in a black suit with a white shirt and a white tie. He spreads his arms and holds a microphone in his left hand.
A song by singer Tony Bennett is referenced in the episode.

The episode contained a number of references to pop culture. Elaine mentions that a man she knows used to nod at her whenever he saw him, but suddenly stopped, and she states "[...] he went from nods to nothing." This prompts George to hum the Tony Bennet song "Rags to Riches", replacing the chorus with "nods to nothing".[1] During a discussion with Elaine, Jerry mentions the 1958 film The Blob, which starred Steve McQueen.[1] Jerry also mentions the novel Moby Dick, jokingly stating that "when you read Moby Dick the second time, Ahab and the whale become good friends".[1] After George receives a bill from his chiropractor, he states "75 bucks? What, am I seeing Sinatra in there?" Singer and actor Frank Sinatra,[1] coincidentally died the same day the last episode of Seinfeld was aired on NBC.[1][2][3]

Production

The episode was written by series co-creators Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld and directed by Tom Cherones.[4][5] David based the story on a personal experience, when he gave a ride home to a woman who had recently dated a friend of his.[1] He would frequently come up with the idea for an episode and make it into a teleplay with Seinfeld's help; in a 1991 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Seinfeld stated: "Most of the stories are from [David's] life. He just has a tremendous wellspring of ideas. I mean, he just fills notebooks with ideas and I try to help him, but Larry is really the designer of the show."[1][6]

Among the actresses who auditioned for the part were Amy Yasbeck, Jeri Ryan, who would go on to star in Star Trek: Voyager, and Heidi Swedberg. Swedberg was cast later as Susan Ross for Seinfeld's fourth season. Tracy Kolis, who at the time was known for her appearance in the soap opera All My Children, was eventually cast for the part.[1] She reappeared later in the season six episode "The Soup", in which she portrayed a waitress named Kelly.[1][7] Norman Brenner, who worked as Richards' stand-in on the show for all its nine seasons,[8] appears as an extra; he walks by twice, in different clothing, during the second scene of the episode. During Seinfeld's early seasons, extras were often re-used to keep expenses to a minimum.[1]

The first table read of the episode took place on October 17, 1990. It was filmed in front of a studio audience six days later, on October 23. Seinfeld's stand-up performances were filmed on October 29, 1990, along with the performances used in "The Pony Remark" and "The Busboy"; Seinfeld changed wardrobe between takes. Filming of the episode took place on stage 19 of the CBS Studio Center in Studio City, Los Angeles, California.[1] "The Ex-Girlfriend" was the first episode to be filmed there, as the majority of season one was filmed in a studio called Desilu Cahuenga, in Hollywood, California, where The Dick Van Dyke Show had also been filmed.[9] Tom Azzari designed the sets for the second season of the show, including this episode. He was able to re-use various sets used in the first season, because Castle Rock Entertainment, which produced the show, had rented a large storage facility so the sets did not have to be rebuilt from scratch every week. The chiropractor's waiting room, in which George believes he was charged too much for a visit, was the only new set that appeared in the episode.[1]

The exterior of a restaurant at the corner of a street. Through the windows a waiter can be seen taking orders. Above the windows is the word "Restaurant" in big pink letters.
Tom's Restaurant, a real diner in New York, served as the exterior for Monk's Cafe.

Though the scenes in Monk's Cafe were filmed at CBS Studio Center, the exterior of Tom's Restaurant, a diner at Broadway and 112th Street in Manhattan, was used as the exterior for the cafe.[10] The second scene of the episode, which takes place on a street, was filmed on CBS Studio Center's "New York Street", a set that consists of four very small store fronts. During seasons one to five, "New York Street" was the only set the writers could use to replicate New York City. This scene, and additional scenes that take place in Jerry's car, were filmed on October 22 from 5:00 to 8:30 p.m. One or two members of the crew shaked the car to give the impression that it was moving, though it never actually was. Other crew members would move lights around the set to simulate street lights or headlights of other cars. Behind the car, two lights on a wheeled stand were placed to give the impression that there was a car behind it. This technique is called "Poor man's process", because it is cheaper than other ways of achieving the effect.[1] The show had previously experimented with this technique in the season one episode "The Stake Out".[11]

Some scenes in the episode were cut prior to broadcast. The opening scene in Jerry's car, in which George discusses breaking up with Marlene, originally had George proposing that he'd stage his own kidnapping while walking down the street with Marlene. He would then hide out until she had given up on him. Although it was cut before the episode's broadcast, this scene was included on the Seinfeld Volume 1 DVD set. Another scene that was cut featured Jerry's neighbor Cosmo Kramer (Michael Richards) entering Jerry's apartment carrying a plate with cantaloupe on toothpicks.[1][12] Originally, the scene in which Jerry tells George that he is dating Marlene took place in a library, with a librarian repeatedly shushing George and Jerry and kicking them out of the library at the end of the scene. The location was changed to Monk's Cafe because the dialogue had nothing to do with a library.[1]

Reception

"The Ex-Girlfriend" was first broadcast on NBC on January 23, 1991, after being postponed for one week due to the start of the First Gulf War. The episode gained a Nielsen Rating of 10.9 and an audience share of 17, meaning that 10.9% of American households watched the episode, and that 17% of all televisions in use at the time were tuned into it. Although Seinfeld would be considered a hit show by today's standards, NBC was disappointed with its ratings, and, after three weeks, put the show on a two-month break.[1]

Critics reacted positively to the episode.[1] Joseph P. Kahn, a critic for the Wilmington Morning Star, called the episode's writing and acting "anything but hackneyed" and stated "One safe prediction, Seinfeld will be here for a good long run this time around" (referring to how its first season only had five episodes).[13] Joyce Millman of Salon.com stated that she disliked Seinfeld's pilot episode, but after seeing a scene from "The Ex-Girlfriend" in which Jerry and Kramer discuss returning fruit, she was "...awed by Seinfeld and co-creator/writer Larry David's brilliant grasp of, A) working-class Jewish craziness, and, B) the absurd humor of the deeply mundane."[14] In a review of the episode, Jon Burlingame of The Spokesman-Review stated "Seinfeld is an offbeat take on the standard sitcom concept. While rarely hilarious, it's often smart and amusing."[15] In his review of the episode, Chicago Tribune critic Rick Kogan stated: "Hip without posing, it delivers its comedy in sharp and spectacular style".[16] Mike Flaherty and Mary Kaye Schilling of Entertainment Weekly called "The Ex-Girlfriend" "The series' most multifaceted (if not most engaging) narrative so far", and graded it with a B.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Seinfeld Seasons 1 & 2: Notes about Nothing - "The Ex-Girlfriend" (DVD). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. {{cite AV media}}: Unknown parameter |date2= ignored (help)
  2. ^ Norman, Tony (May 19, 1998). "Sinatra and Seinfeld: Something and Nothing". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. G1.
  3. ^ Saunders, Dusty (May 18, 1998). "Sinatra's Death Muzzles Seinfeld Hype". The Rocky Mountain News.
  4. ^ Lavery, David; Dunne, Sara Lewis (2006). Seinfeld, master of its domain: revisiting television's greatest sitcom. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 232. ISBN 9780826418036.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ a b Schilling, Mary Kaye; Flaherty, Mike (April 7, 2008). "The Seinfeld Chronicles: Season Two". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved August 26, 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ Weinstein, Steve (September 4, 1991). "Tiny Issues, Big Laughs `Seinfeld' Earns Right to Weekly Berth to Toy With Life's Little Dilemmas". Los Angeles Times. p. F1.
  7. ^ Roeper, Richard (November 21, 2004). "It's about nothing, but I've learned a lot". Chicago Sun-Times. p. 1.
  8. ^ Seinfeld Seasons 1 & 2: Notes about Nothing - "The Stake Out" (DVD). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
  9. ^ Reiner, Rob; Ludwin, Rick; Seinfeld, Jerry; David, Larry; Alexander, Jason. Seinfeld Seasons 1 & 2: Inside Looks - "The Seinfeld Chronicles" (DVD). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. {{cite AV media}}: Unknown parameter |date2= ignored (help)
  10. ^ Stansbury, Robin (October 4, 1998). "Monk's Cafe Part of Museum's Seinfeld Exhibit". Hartford Courant. p. F3.
  11. ^ Seinfed, Jerry; David, Larry. Seinfeld Seasons 1 & 2: Audio Commentary for "The Stake Out" (DVD). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
  12. ^ Seinfeld Seasons 1 & 2: Deleted Scenes - "The Ex-Girlfriend" (DVD). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. {{cite AV media}}: Unknown parameter |date2= ignored (help)
  13. ^ Kahn, Joseph (January 16, 1991). "Seinfeld Sitcom has solid start". Wilmington Morning Star. p. 5B. Retrieved August 16, 2009.
  14. ^ Millman, Joyce (May 4, 1998). "Cheerio, "Seinfeld"". Salon.com. Retrieved August 16, 2009.
  15. ^ Burlingame, Jon (January 16, 1991). "Seinfeld steps smartly back on to schedule". The Spokesman-Review. p. C3. Retrieved August 16, 2009.
  16. ^ Kogan, Rick (January 16, 1991). "Good, clean fun Jerry Seinfeld's summer series gets a chance where it counts". Chicago Tribune. p. 5.
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