S09E10 - The Strike
No: 166 | Season: 9 Episode: 10 | Air Date: 18-Dec-1997 | Production #910
Yamahama, it's fright night!Summary
An increase in the minimum wage is enough to finally meet the demands of the striking employees of H&H Bagels, and as such, Kramer announces that after 12 years, he's going back to work. Jerry meets an attractive woman at a party, but when he later tries to date her, she doesn't look nearly as good. Elaine's use of a fake phone number backfires when she loses a card that will entitle her to a free sandwich. George tries to get away with giving away fake donation cards as Christmas gifts at work, and much to his chagrin, his father decides to revive Festivus, a unique holiday he'd invented years earlier.
Director and Writers
Director: Andy Ackerman
Writers: Dan O'Keefe, Alec Berg and Jeff Schaffer
Quotes
George: I don't really celebrate Christmas. I celebrate Festivus.
Jerry: You might not know it to look at me, but I can run really really fast.
George: I'm embracing my roots.
Jerry: They got you on the 20G's?
George: Busted cold.
Kramer: (shocked by Elaine's face) Yama hama. It's fright night.
Frank: It's Festivus... for the rest of us!
Notes and Trivia
Festivus was originally celebrated by the family of Dan O'Keefe, the writer credited for including Festivus in the Seinfeld episode.
Near the beginning of the episode, when Jerry meets Gwen, he introduced himself as, "Hi. I'm Jerry. You might not know it to look at me, but I can run really, really fast." This was likely a reference to the Season 6 episode "The Race" (S06E10).
At the Costanzas', Mr. Kruger recognized Kramer as Dr. Van Nostrand. This was a reference to the earlier season 9 episode "The Slicer" (S09E07), when Kramer, who was dressed in his butcher's smock, posed as a dermatologist doing a skin cancer screening.
"The Strike" marked Bryan Cranston's final appearance as Tim Whatley on Seinfeld. After Seinfeld, he went on to even bigger and better roles.
Around the time "The Strike" aired, it was announced that this would be the final season of Seinfeld.
Tracy Letts, who played "Counterguy" at the Off-Track Betting location, successfully went on to a career as a playwright, eventually receiving the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play August: Osage County. He also received a Tony Award as an actor, for his portrayal of George in the revival of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"
Colin Malone, who was cast in the role as "Sleazy Guy" from the Off Track Betting location, was at the time known for his role in a Public Access TV Show called Colin's Sleazy Friends, a talk show about the porn industry.
H&H Bagels is the name of a real bagel shop in New York City. The company is world famous for its bagels, and the Seinfeld writers regularly consumed their product.
In the DVD commentary feature, during the scene where George receives a Festivus card from his father, Dan O'Keefe mentioned that he actually used to receive Festivus cards from his own father.
In the scene where Frank tells Kramer about the fight for the doll, the final two lines, "That must have been some kind of doll" and "she was", were totally ad-libbed by the actors.
According to Jerry Stiller, when they were preparing for the scene where his character enters the diner with the aluminum pole, Michael Richards advised him to drag the pole along the ground. The idea was to make the hollow dragging sound, which Michael thought would make it even more hilarious.
The idea of the "Two-Face" nickname given to the character Gwen was introduced to the episode by writer Dan O'Keefe. It was based on a woman he had met in college who often exhibited similar characteristics. O'Keefe also said that the situation always reminded him of the Batman character Harvey Dent, who was also nicknamed "Two-Face".
When Jerry Seinfeld and Karen Fineman (Gwen) were shooting the scene where they were in the dark tunnel, the makeup crew put a prosthetic in Karen's mouth to puff her upper lip and tissues in her nose to flare her nostrils.
Originally, instead of using makeup gimmicks, another actress (Suzanne Krull) was cast to play "Different Gwen". It was eventually decided that using an entirely different person for the less attractive version of the character would be too confusing for the audience.
Incidentally, Gwen was Jerry's 69th successive girlfriend in the series.
When Jerry says, "It has a certain understated stupidity" George claims he is quoting The Outlaw Josey Wales. Smart movie buffs will tell you that George was wrong, and the line isn't actually in the movie.
When "Denim Vest" (Kevin McDonald) looked across the street to try to find a fake number to give Elaine, he spotted a truck labeled with the name "Azzari Brothers". This was named after Seinfeld set designer Tom Azzari, who is also the man shown standing in front of the truck.
Although the episode was named "The Strike", many fans refer to this episode as "The Festivus". Even Jerry Seinfeld agrees, as he can be heard to say in the DVD commentary that if they knew what they know now, the episode would have been named "The Festivus".
Goofs
Jerry stated that Gwen "looks good when sitting in the back booth" at the coffee shop, and that he'll try to always sit there with her. However, on the two subsequent occasions that they ate there, they just sat in the booth that is directly behind the cash register, and not actually in the back booth.
Elaine is a rule breaker! Who knew? When she is at the Off Track Betting location, there is a sign on the window that states, "No verbal bets. Cash must accompany betting slip." However, she places a verbal bet for a race at Belmont, without any paperwork.
When Elaine looks down at Kramer's business card from 10 years ago, the card says "Cosmo Kramer Bagel Technician". If the card was printed 10 years earlier, why would it have his first name? Kramer never used his first name and kept it secret from everyone until more recently in the series.
When Kramer returned to work at H&H Bagels, he claimed he had never seen a raisin bagel before. However, previously in the 8th season episode "The Muffin Tops", he served pizza bagels made from cinnamon raisin bagels to the patrons of his "Peterman Reality Bus Tour".
Since Mr. Kruger had already acknowledged Kramer as "Dr. Van Nostrand", why wasn't he suspicious when Frank Costanza referred to Kramer as "Mr. Kramer"?
Earlier in the episode, Frank had expressed derision for tinsel. However, at the dinner, as he is introducing Mr. Kruger to the aluminum pole, a garland of tinsel was clearly visible on the wall in the background.
In the scene where Kramer brings day-old bagels to Jerry's apartment, George was holding a bagel when he prepared to leave. When he reached the door he turned and pointed, and was no longer holding the bagel.
Cast
| Jerry Seinfeld | Jerry Seinfeld |
| Julia Louis-Dreyfus | Elaine Benes |
| Michael Richards | Cosmo Kramer |
| Jason Alexander | George Costanza |
| Jerry Stiller | Frank Costanza |
| Estelle Harris | Estelle Constanza |
| Bryan Cranston | Tim Whatley |
| Daniel von Bargen | Kruger |
| Karen Fineman | Gwen |
| Dave Florek | Harry |
| Kevin McDonald | Denim Vest (as Kevin Hamilton McDonald) |
| Tracy Letts | Counterguy |
| Amit Itelman | Employee |
| Stacey Herring | Sandy |
| Colin Malone | Sleazy Guy |
| Jerry Dixon | Customer |
| Thomas Azzari | Man on the Street (uncredited) |
| Ruth Cohen | Ruthie Cohen |
| Jodi Carol Harrison | Monk's Diner Patron (uncredited) |
| Andrea Ragsdale | Tiffany (uncredited) |