The Summer of George

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"The Summer of George" is the 156th episode of the sitcom Seinfeld. It was also the 22nd and final episode of the eighth season. It originally aired on May 15, 1997.

Note

A new contract for Season 9 was signed around the time of this airing that would pay Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Michael Richards $600,000 each per episode. Until this time they had been receiving $160,000 each per episode. Jerry Seinfeld, as star, co-creator and producer would continue to receive approximately $1 million.

EPISODE SUMMARY

Receiving three months pay as a severance package from the Yankees, George decides to make the most of his summer. Jerry asks out a waitress, but when she accepts, he's surprised to learn that she already has a live-in boyfriend. Elaine has trouble dealing with a female co-worker, but the situation is perceived by others as a "catfight". Kramer gets a job filling seats at the Tony Awards, and ends up receiving an award himself.

Plot

George discovers he has a severance package from the New York Yankees that should last him about 3 months, so he decides that he is going to take full advantage of three months off and become very active.

Jerry and Kramer are going to the Tony Awards, Jerry as an invited guest, Kramer as a seat filler. Elaine mocks Sam (Molly Shannon), a co-worker who walks without moving her arms (as if "she's carrying invisible suitcases", as Elaine puts it).

Jerry picks up his date to the Tonys, a waitress named Linette (Amanda Peet), only to find out that she lives with a man (a "dude") with whom her relationship is unclear, much to Jerry's dismay.

While filling a seat for a nominee who has stepped away, Kramer is accidentally whisked to the stage by excited Tony winners moving through his row. As a result, he receives a Tony Award for the musical Scarsdale Surprise in which Raquel Welch is the star.

Meanwhile, instead of living a very active lifestyle as he had hoped, George becomes incredibly lazy. He never changes out of his pajamas, and feels too weak to even come to Jerry's apartment, asking Jerry, Elaine, and Kramer to instead visit him.

Elaine's co-worker Sam catches Elaine mocking her and in a rage proceeds to trash Elaine's office and leave her threatening phone messages, leading the men in Elaine's life to excitedly say that she is now involved in a "catfight".

Kramer uses his Tony as a ticket into Sardi's, where the producers of Scarsdale Surprisehave a proposition for him - he can only keep his Tony award if he fires Raquel Welch,

who like Sam, also doesn't swing her arms when she moves. Kramer does fire her and she responds by attacking him. While walking down the street afterwards, Raquel sees Elaine describing Sam's walk to the police. Thinking that Elaine is mocking her, Raquel attacks her, too.

Meanwhile, Linette begins to wear Jerry out with her busy lifestyle, and George suggests that perhaps they team up, with George acting as Jerry's dating assistant. When Linette needs invitations to a party, George picks them up, but he slips on the stairs (due to his muscles atrophying from his self-imposed laziness) and is sent to the hospital.

The final scene pays homage to the ending of Season 7's "The Invitations". In the wake of George's accident, the gang meet up at the hospital where the same doctor who informed them of Susan's death informs them that George may never walk again. The others respond with the same callous reaction as they did the year before. The end credits show George learning to walk again through physiotherapy, along with Sam, who is being taught how to swing her arms.

Quotes
- George: Listen to me. We're always sitting here. I'm always helping you with your girl problems, you're always helping me with my girl problems. Where do we end up?Jerry: Here. George: Exactly. Because neither one of us can handle a woman all by ourselves. Jerry: I'm trying.
- Jerry: Can you believe she expected me to squire her around town while the dude sits at home in swaddling clothes? George: Do they make swaddling clothes for adults? Jerry: It's like she's split the job of boyfriend into two jobs. Except the dude's playing the showroom and I'm stuck doing food and beverage.
- Jerry: So, has the summer of George begun? Or are you still decomposing? George: Decompressing.
- Kramer: Jerry, you got any Tums? Jerry: Stomach ache? Kramer: I drank too much water in the shower.
- Invitation Store Clerk: Have I seen you in here before? George: About a year ago . . . wedding invitations. Invitation Store Clerk: Oh, right. How'd that work out?George: No complaints.
- Elaine: What is so appealing to men about a cat fight? Kramer: Yeah, yeah, cat fight!Jerry: Because men think if women are grabbing and clawing at each other there's a chance they might somehow kiss.
- George: Maybe the two of us, working together at full capacity, could do the job of one normal man. Jerry: Then each of us would only have be like a half man. That sounds about right!
- Kramer: I can't describe how great it is to win. Jerry: That's because you didn't win.
- Jerry: When I went to pick her up there was this dude. George: How do you know it was her dude? Jerry: What, do you think it could've been just some dude? George: Sure, dudes in this town are dime a dozen. Jerry: I reckon. George: Or maybe, she just wanted to go to the Tony's. I tell you what; you ask her out again. No Tony, just Jerry. That way you know it he was her dude or just some dude. Jerry: Dude!
- George: The Yankees are giving me three months full pay for doing nothing. Jerry: They did it for three years, what's another few months?
- Peterman: Woof! Elaine: Do you mean 'reeyar'?
- Jerry: What's that? Kramer: (almost weeping) Tony. Jerry: What happened to you?Kramer: Raquel Welch! Jerry: Yikes. (enter Elaine.) Jerry: What happened to you?Elaine: Raquel Welch!
- Jerry: (in George's mind) What's the deal with airline peanuts?
- George: This was supposed to be the "Summer of George!"
- (using George's 'mumbling under breath' escape at the Mump's) Jerry: The one with the… the flavman.
Notes
- A new contract for Season 9 was signed around the time of this airing that would pay Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Michael Richards $600,000 each per episode. Until this time they had been receiving $160,000 each per episode. Jerry Seinfeld, as star, co-creator and producer would continue to receive approximately $1 million.
- Writer/producer Dave Mandel makes an appearance as the guy who asks George if he wants to play frolf (frisbee-golf).
Allusions
- Kramer: (to the group at Sardi's) So I said to him: Arthur, Artie come on, why does the salesman have to die? Change the title! The Life of a Salesman. That's what people want to see. This is a reference to the 1949 play Death of a Salesman, written byArthur Miller. The play won a Tony Award and a Pulitzer Prize for drama.
- This episode is, in fact, based on an incident from real life. Faye Dunaway, who is a contemporary of Raquel Welch, played Norma Desmond in Sunset Blvd., Andrew Lloyd Webber's newest musical at the time. The reviews she received were horrendous and she was consequently fired.