EPISODE SUMMARY
The Chicken Roaster
Plot
Kramer
A Kenny Rogers Roasters chicken restaurant opens across the street from Jerry's apartment building, complete with a gigantic red neon chicken atop the roof. The light from the Kenny Rogers Roasters sign beams right into Kramer's apartment.
The bright red chicken light takes its toll on Kramer's sleeping schedule, so he proposes that he and Jerry swap apartments. Kramer hangs a banner from his window protesting the restaurantin an attempt to get rid of the neon sign.
Jerry and Kramer switch apartments, and Kramer takes the opportunity to invite Newman over. Newman brings over a box of Kenny Rogers Roasters chicken, to which Kramer unwittingly lets himself get addicted.
Jerry finds himself unable to sleep in Kramer's apartment and gradually takes on Kramer's mannerisms, while Kramer becomes more like Jerry.
Jerry sees Newman buying enough chicken for two people at Kenny Rogers and discovers that Kramer is hooked on the stuff after the sales clerk tells Newman that he had forgotten to give him his broccoli that Jerry knew that he hates. After Jerry unintentionally sabotages the restaurant with George's drenched hat, the restaurant shuts down and the neon light finally goes off, but Kramer loses access to his beloved Kenny Rogers Roasters chicken.
Jerry
Jerry runs into an old college buddy named Seth, whom he persuades to blow off a business meeting in order for them to go have lunch together.
Elaine/George
Elaine, acting as the Peterman Catalog president, has fun charging numerous expensive purchases to the Peterman account, including a new sable Russian hat for George.
Elaine gets called out by the Peterman accounting department for her impulsive charges to the company account. George, donning his new hat, brags about his prospective date with Heather, the saleswoman who sold the hat to him. He explains that if the prospect of a second date looks slim, he'll simply pull a "leave-behind" as an excuse to come back. Elaine is able to justify all her recent purchases as business expenses, except for George's hat, which cost a staggering $8,000. Heather is unimpressed by George, so he leaves his new hat behind in Heather's apartment. Elaine needs the hat to justify her purchase, but when George tries to reclaim it, Heather insists that she doesn't have it.
George and Elaine still can't find the hat in Heather's apartment, and as an act of revenge, George secretly steals Heather's clock. Jerry directs Elaine to a source for a replacement hat to make up for the one George lost. However, the Peterman accountant isn't fooled by the substitute hat, which is made of nutria fur. To save her job, Elaine sets off for the jungles of Burma to seek the approval of J. Peterman himself. George thinks that Heather is wise to his theft of her clock and is willing to make a swap for the hat. In the Burmese jungle, Elaine locates Peterman, but he can't approve her purchases without seeing the hat either. George learns that Heather is actually interested in him and really does not have his hat. She breaks it off when she discovers her stolen clock in George's possession.
Production
The real Kenny Rogers Roasters restaurant chain initially balked at this episode, claiming that the scene in which Jerry accidentally covers everyone's food with rat fur would be bad publicity. The writers claimed they would alter the storyline, but ultimately did not. However, Kenny Rogers himself supported the storyline because it was great free advertising for his chain, and the restaurant supplied the cast and crew with a catered dinner.
Cultural references
After Kramer moves into Jerry's apartment, Jerry's usual Superman statue on the bookshelf is replaced with Kramer's fusilli Jerry statue, first seen in Season 6's "The Fusilli Jerry". J. Peterman's behavior in Burma is a direct parody of Colonel Kurtz in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness and the film based on that novel, Apocalypse Now. When Jerry and Kramer swap apartments, Jerry suggests Kramer get rid of some things. One is a doll named Mr. Marbles, who Jerry fears will "come to life in the middle of the night and kill him". Toward the end when both are back in their respective apartments, a small, doll-shaped silhouette crosses Jerry's room. Mr. Marbles is a parody of Chucky, who Kramer says is "harmless" in reference to Mr. Marbles.
Notes
- This episode was nominated for the 1998 WGA Award (TV) for Episodic Comedy.
- Wayne Knight receives the "With" credit.
Quotes
- Jerry: (referring to the rat fur being all over the restaurant) That's not gonna be good for business. Seth: That's not gonna be good for anybody.
- Jerry: (about Kramer) The greasy doorknob, the constant licking of the fingers. He's hooked on this chicken, isn't he?
- Elaine: This is the Urban Sombrero. I put it on the cover of our last catalog. Mr. Peterman: The horror! The horror!
- Kramer: Why don't we just switch apartments? Jerry: Or I could sleep in the park.
- George: She's got a little Marisa Tomei thing going on. Jerry: Ah. Too bad you've got a little George Costanza thing going on.
- George: I'm like a commercial jingle. First it's a little irritating. Then you hear it a few times. You're humming it in the shower. By the third date, it's 'Buy Mennen!
- George: (picking up the phone) Now… watch the magic. (he attempts to dial and gets a disconnect tone) Elaine: Dial 9, Merlin.
- Kramer: How come you didn't take this problem to Jerry? George: I can't talk to Jerry anymore. Ever since he moved into your apartment he's been too much . . . like you. Kramer: That's a shame.
- Kramer: You know there is the possibility that you've gone right out of your mind.George: I've looked at that. It seems unlikely. Kramer: Well I'd look again.
- (Kramer's bouncing on the bed basking in the red light as he eats his Kenny Rogers chicken. Suddenly, the red light goes out.) Kramer: (concerned) Kenny?……… (now crying) Kenny!
- Jerry: I only knew you through Moochie!
- Kramer: I can't sleep, every time I close my eyes i see that giant red sun in the shape of a chicken!
- Jerry: (commenting on George's big Russian hat) Why didn't you get the big one?
- Jerry: Newman you wouldn't eat broccoli if it was deep-fried in chocolate sauce.
- Newman: (after eating the broccoli in order to cover for Kramer's food tastes) Vile weed!
- Jerry: (trying to sleep but sees a shadow of a doll run across the wall) Mr Marbles?
- Kramer: Stay away from the chicken! Bad chicken! Mess you up! Seth: That's not gonna be good for business. Jerry: That's not gonna be good for anybody.
- Jerry: (after Kramer wildly confesses his addiction to Kenny's chicken) You've got a little problem. Kramer: Oh, I've got a big problem, Jerry!
- Jerry: (about Kramer's apartment) You don't know what it's like in there! All night long things are creaking and cracking, and that red light is burning my brain! Elaine: You look a little stressed. Jerry: Oh, I'm stressed!
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- Elaine: (buying the hat for George) … and some hair for my little friend here. Jerry: (talking to Kramer and Newman about switching from Jerry's apartment to Kramer's) Well don't get too comfortable. As soon as Seth gets a real job, you two are going back to that chicken supernova.
- Kramer: (a comment to Newman after Newman buys a huge amount of Kenny's chicken which Kramer has become addicted to) If Jerry finds out about this, I'm back in there with red menace.
- Jerry: (to Kramer referring to the huge red neon sign outside Kramer's window) How's life on the red planet?
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