The Wizard (Seinfeld)

"**The Wizard**"
"The Wizard"
Seinfeld episode
Episode no.	Season 9; Episode 15
Directed by	Andy Ackerman
Written by	Steve Lookner
Production code	915
Original air date	February 26, 1998
Guest appearances
	Barney Martin as Morty Seinfeld; Liz Sheridan as Helen Seinfeld; Grace Zabriskie as Mrs. Ross; Warren Frost as Mr. Ross; Mike McShane as FDR (uncredited); Samuel Bliss Cooper as Darryl; Edgar Small as Sid Luckman; Vic Helford as Tom; Bahni Turpin as Waitress #1; Constance Zimmer as Waitress #2; Jeanette Miller as Old Woman; Murray Rubin as Rubin; Ruth Cohen as Ruthie Cohen (uncredited);
Episode chronology
← Previous; "The Strongbox"	Next →; "The Burning"
	Seinfeld season 9
	List of episodes

"The Wizard" is the 171st episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. This was the 15th episode for the ninth and final season.^[1] It aired on February 26, 1998.^[2] In this episode, Kramer retires and moves into the same condo as Morty and Helen Seinfeld, Elaine tries to find out if her pale-skinned boyfriend is actually black, and George gets upset that the Rosses will not call him a liar after they catch him lying about buying a house in the Hamptons.

Plot

Jerry goes to Del Boca Vista and gives his dad Morty a $200 Wizard organizer for a birthday present, claiming he got it for $50. Jerry becomes frustrated that Morty only uses it as a tip calculator, disregarding its other functions.

Susan Ross's parents inform George that the Susan Ross Foundation is having an event. George makes the excuse that he has to close on buying a house in the Hamptons. The Rosses find out from Elaine that he has no such house, but when George later tells them more, they do not call him out. Elaine informs George that the Rosses knew he was lying. Outraged, he invites the Rosses to his house in the Hamptons, to impel them to say he is lying. George drives the Rosses all the way to the tip of Long Island, but they continue to play along with the lie.

Kramer retires and moves to Del Boca Vista after a Hollywood studio purchases the movie rights to his coffee table book about coffee tables. An election is held for president of the condo association. Morty cannot run because he was impeached from The Pines of Mar Gables in "The Cadillac", so he persuades Kramer to run and let him dictate things from behind the scenes, like a puppet regime.

Jerry tells Elaine that her pale-skinned, blue-eyed new boyfriend, Darryl, is black. Elaine wants to know his race but feels it would be offensive to ask or assume, so she takes him out to Spanish restaurants as a neutral option while she tries to figure out his race. Darryl says they are an interracial couple. However, when Elaine boasts to a waitress that her boyfriend is black, he denies it. He says he referred to them as an interracial couple because he thought she was Hispanic, due to her surname and always going to Spanish restaurants. They glumly realize they are "just a couple of white people" and go to The Gap.

Kramer campaign is threatened when Kramer is caught barefoot in the clubhouse, a scandalous violation of rules. Kramer suggests buying each of the condo board members a Wizard organizer; Bob Sacamano's father can get them cheap. However, the cheap organizers are Willards, a knockoff brand of poor quality. Outrage over the faulty organizers costs Kramer the election as Sid Luckman advises everyone to vote for the guy in the wheelchair, Kramer states that the people have spoken and he moves back to New York. When Jerry apologizes to his parents, Morty states that he should be sorry and asks how he can spend a lot of money on a tip calculator. Jerry once again states that it has other features.

During the credits, George finally caves upon arrival at the Hamptons and asks the Rosses why they did not stop him. The Rosses reveal they were being vindictive as they never liked him and they blame George for Susan's death. Mr. Ross then states that they should head back.

Production

The Seinfeld writers had always planned an episode dealing with race. An initial idea had Elaine getting lost in Harlem, but the idea was abandoned when "they simply could not get the tone right."^[3] Sequences which were filmed for the episode but deleted before broadcast include Jerry meeting with Bob Sacamano's father and George explaining why he has not been at the Susan Ross Foundation since the season 8 episode "The Van Buren Boys": the foundation had spent all its assets.^[4]

George's line "Alright, you want to get nuts? Come on, let's get nuts!" was taken from the 1989 film Batman.

Analysis

"The Wizard" satirises the discomfort of white Americans when discussing issues of race.^[5]^[6] Tim Delaney, in Seinology: The Sociology of Seinfeld, wrote that the episode "does a wonderful job of illustrating the delicate nature of discussing race, even when it's between friends, who assumingly, are not racist."^[7] Albert Auster, of Fordham University, wrote: "If the series did have one strong point in its dealings with race, it was with the embarrassment and uneasiness that middle-class whites often feel about the issue."^[8] Paul Arras, in his book Seinfeld: A Cultural History, described "The Wizard" as "a tongue-in-cheek acknowledgement of the show's lack of black characters, revealing how the pursuit of diversity can be disingenuous."^[9]

References

^ "Seinfeld Season 9 Episodes". TV Guide. Retrieved December 14, 2021.
^ "The Wizard" - TV.com
^ Lavery, D. & Leverette, M. (2006) Seinfeld, master of its domain: revisiting television's greatest sitcom, Continuum International Publishing Group, p214-5
^ Seinfeld Season 9: Notes About Nothing - "The Wizard" (DVD). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. 2007.
^ Guterl, Matthew Pratt (2013). Seeing Race in Modern America. UNC Press Books. p. 125. ISBN 978-1-4696-1068-9.
^ Glass, Kathy (2014). "Race-ing the Curriculum: Reflections on a Pedagogy of Social Change". In Yancy, George; Davidson, Maria del Guadalupe (eds.). Exploring Race in Predominantly White Classrooms: Scholars of Color Reflect. New York, NY: Routledge. pp. 50–61. ISBN 978-1-135-04501-2.
^ Delaney, T. (2006) Seinology: the sociology of Seinfeld, Prometheus Books, p171
^ Auster, A. (1998) "Much Ado About Nothing: Some Final Thoughts on Seinfeld," Television Quarterly, no. 29, pp. 24–33
^ Arras, Paul (2020). Seinfeld: A Cultural History. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 114. ISBN 978-1-5381-2688-2.

External links

"The Wizard" at IMDb

[tvguide-1] "Seinfeld Season 9 Episodes". TV Guide. Retrieved December 14, 2021.

[2] "The Wizard" - TV.com

[Seinfeld-3] Lavery, D. & Leverette, M. (2006) Seinfeld, master of its domain: revisiting television's greatest sitcom, Continuum International Publishing Group, p214-5

[4] Seinfeld Season 9: Notes About Nothing - "The Wizard" (DVD). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. 2007.

[5] Guterl, Matthew Pratt (2013). Seeing Race in Modern America. UNC Press Books. p. 125. ISBN 978-1-4696-1068-9.

[6] Glass, Kathy (2014). "Race-ing the Curriculum: Reflections on a Pedagogy of Social Change". In Yancy, George; Davidson, Maria del Guadalupe (eds.). Exploring Race in Predominantly White Classrooms: Scholars of Color Reflect. New York, NY: Routledge. pp. 50–61. ISBN 978-1-135-04501-2.

[Seinology-7] Delaney, T. (2006) Seinology: the sociology of Seinfeld, Prometheus Books, p171

[8] Auster, A. (1998) "Much Ado About Nothing: Some Final Thoughts on Seinfeld," Television Quarterly, no. 29, pp. 24–33

[9] Arras, Paul (2020). Seinfeld: A Cultural History. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 114. ISBN 978-1-5381-2688-2.

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v t e Seinfeld episodes
Season 1	"The Seinfeld Chronicles" "The Stake Out" "The Robbery" "Male Unbonding" "The Stock Tip"
Season 2	"The Ex-Girlfriend" "The Pony Remark" "The Jacket" "The Phone Message" "The Apartment" "The Statue" "The Revenge" "The Heart Attack" "The Deal" "The Baby Shower" "The Chinese Restaurant" "The Busboy"
Season 3	"The Note" "The Truth" "The Pen" "The Dog" "The Library" "The Parking Garage" "The Cafe" "The Tape" "The Nose Job" "The Stranded" "The Alternate Side" "The Red Dot" "The Subway" "The Pez Dispenser" "The Suicide" "The Fix-Up" "The Boyfriend"† "The Limo" "The Good Samaritan" "The Letter" "The Parking Space" "The Keys"
Season 4	"The Trip"† "The Pitch" "The Ticket" "The Wallet" "The Watch" "The Bubble Boy" "The Cheever Letters" "The Opera" "The Virgin" "The Contest" "The Airport" "The Pick" "The Movie" "The Visa" "The Shoes" "The Outing" "The Old Man" "The Implant" "The Junior Mint" "The Smelly Car" "The Handicap Spot" "The Pilot"†
Season 5	"The Mango" "The Puffy Shirt" "The Glasses" "The Sniffing Accountant" "The Bris" "The Lip Reader" "The Non-Fat Yogurt" "The Barber" "The Masseuse" "The Cigar Store Indian" "The Conversion" "The Stall" "The Dinner Party" "The Marine Biologist" "The Pie" "The Stand In" "The Wife" "The Raincoats"† "The Fire" "The Hamptons" "The Opposite"
Season 6	"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"† "The Beard" "The Kiss Hello" "The Doorman" "The Jimmy" "The Doodle" "The Fusilli Jerry" "The Diplomat's Club" "The Face Painter" "The Understudy"
Season 7	"The Engagement" "The Postponement" "The Maestro" "The Wink" "The Hot Tub" "The Soup Nazi" "The Secret Code" "The Pool Guy" "The Sponge" "The Gum" "The Rye" "The Caddy" "The Seven" "The Cadillac"† "The Shower Head" "The Doll" "The Friar's Club" "The Wig Master" "The Calzone" "The Bottle Deposit"† "The Wait Out" "The Invitations"
Season 8	"The Foundation" "The Soul Mate" "The Bizarro Jerry" "The Little Kicks" "The Package" "The Fatigues" "The Checks" "The Chicken Roaster" "The Abstinence" "The Andrea Doria" "The Little Jerry" "The Money" "The Comeback" "The Van Buren Boys" "The Susie" "The Pothole" "The English Patient" "The Nap" "The Yada Yada" "The Millennium" "The Muffin Tops" "The Summer of George"
Season 9	"The Butter Shave" "The Voice" "The Serenity Now" "The Blood" "The Junk Mail" "The Merv Griffin Show" "The Slicer" "The Betrayal" "The Apology" "The Strike" "The Dealership" "The Reverse Peephole" "The Cartoon" "The Strongbox" "The Wizard" "The Burning" "The Bookstore" "The Frogger" "The Maid" "The Puerto Rican Day" "The Chronicle"† "The Finale"†
† Indicates two-part episode