But this week’s script won’t be ready until Saturday - inordinately late.
Seinfeld’s weekly production cycle starts on Wednesday and ends with a Tuesday-night taping. Sitting at abutting desks in David’s office, they labor over The Barber for three days. David and Seinfeld themselves write the last draft of every script. Most sitcoms are run by committee the writers get together regularly to revise or “punch up” scripts. They decide to replace it with an entirely new story line, in which the barbers’ nephew arrives from Italy to claim the chair that once belonged to his late father, only to find that Elaine has bought it, precipitating a family crisis. “Act Two,” says Seinfeld, “is what separates the men from the boys.” The chief problem is the Kramer-Elaine subplot, which doesn’t seem to go anywhere. Seinfeld and David like the episode, but have problems with the second half. Robin comes up with a subplot involving a barber chair that they both want to buy. The tricky part is getting the show’s other main characters, Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and Kramer (Michael Richards), into the action. Meanwhile, George, unsure whether he has the job, decides to show up at work anyway. The barbers evolve into Italian brothers after getting a bad haircut from Enzo, Jerry “cheats” on him by making a secret assignation with Gino. He writes two drafts of the script, getting input from David and from supervising producer (and David’s chief lieutenant) Larry Charles. THE SCRIPT: The show’s outline set, Robin starts to work in late July. ” A phone call interrupts, and George is ushered out the door, befuddled. Why not put George (Jason Alexander), the hapless job seeker, in a similar dilemma? At the end of an upbeat job interview, the company president says, “I want you to have this job. Though David liked the idea, Robin left the meeting unsure whether he had a firm assignment or not.
#Kramer master of my domain tv#
Last year, when he was free- lancing TV scripts, he pitched an idea for a Seinfeld episode to David. Robin had another embarrassing moment to offer. But with four main characters to showcase, a Seinfeld episode needs several stories going at the same time. He proposed an episode in which Jerry goes through similar angst after a bad haircut.ĭavid and Seinfeld liked the idea. “It was like breaking up with your lover,” he says. Andy Robin, 24, a former Saturday Night Live writer who joined the Seinfeld staff this season, remembered the anxiety he felt about switching barbers, from the old man who had cut his hair for years to a younger barber in the same shop. The Barber, like most Seinfeld episodes, expanded from a writer’s real-life experience. Says David: “I like something tiny that just expands.” A Seinfeld premise is different from that of most other TV comedies instead of a generic sitcom “problem” (Murphy’s mother comes to visit Roseanne hates Darlene’s new boyfriend), Seinfeld typically starts with a small, recognizable life moment that causes outsize anguish. THE SEED: “The hardest part of this show is coming up with the ideas,” says David. Early last month, they gave TIME an inside glimpse of how they bring a Seinfeld episode to fruition. It is, moreover, the product of two distinct but oddly congruent comic personalities: David, 46, a dour ex-stand-up comic and writer (he appeared in ABC’s failed late-night show Fridays and spent one season writing for Saturday Night Live, where only one of his sketches ever aired), and Seinfeld, 39, a star who is just as active behind the scenes. In reality, the show is more densely textured, elaborately plotted and psychologically astute than any other comedy on TV. It’s that rarity - intelligent comedy that is funny enough for everybody.Īccording to the popular wisdom, Seinfeld is a show about “nothing.” Episodes are spun out of small, everyday trials and tribulations - looking for a parking spot, wearing a funny-looking shirt, trying not to masturbate (last season’s Emmy-winning episode The Contest, in which the characters competed to be “master of your domain”). Against all odds, this hip, insider sitcom about a comedian (Seinfeld playing Seinfeld) and his three Manhattan friends has expanded its appeal beyond a core audience of yuppie tastemakers. This fall, without Cheers’ help, it’s in the Top 5.
Last winter, moved to a Thursday-night time slot following Cheers, the show vaulted into the Nielsen Top 10. Now in its fifth season on NBC, Seinfeld is in its glory days.
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