It’s exhausting to think about Seinfeld with out Elaine Benes, as performed by the nice Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Along with her iconic unhealthy dancing and overly-aggressive “get outs,” Elaine clearly offered an important feminine perspective to the core character dynamic. With out Elaine, the present simply flat-out wouldn’t have labored. I imply, would anyone wish to watch the masturbation contest episode if it was nearly three creepy dudes?
However Elaine wasn’t within the pilot episode of Seinfeld. In actual fact, The Seinfeld Chronicles boasted various evident discrepancies that units it aside from the remainder of collection, together with Kramer’s identify (it’s “Kessler” within the pilot), his pet canine, and as an alternative of Monk’s, there’s a complete totally different espresso store known as Pete’s Luncheonette.
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What Jerry and George did to get banned ceaselessly from this institution stays a thriller.
The resident server at Pete’s, Claire, was presupposed to be a collection common, and the lone feminine lead of Seinfeld. Judging from the primary episode, Claire, performed by actress Lee Garlington, would have acted as a droll sounding board for Jerry and George’s relationship points. Hopefully they tipped additional.
Following a less-than-ideal screening for NBC executives, the present was overhauled. A giant grievance was that it was too “male-centric.” In spite of everything, the one feminine character, in accordance with the present’s setup, wasn’t afforded any form of dimension or inside life, and solely appeared within the story as a operate of her less-than-glamorous job. And even within the first episode she already appeared fairly uninterested in Jerry and George’s bullshit.
So a brand new character, Jerry’s platonic ex-girlfriend pal Elaine, was launched within the subsequent episode, and Claire the server and Kramer’s canine had been presumably despatched to stay on a pleasant farm upstate.
When Louis-Dreyfus was solid, she had by no means really heard of Seinfeld or seen the pilot. And, surprisingly, she’s by no means gotten round to watching it since then. “Not solely was I not conscious of the pilot episode of the present,” Louis-Dreyfus admitted in an interview for the present’s DVD launch, “however to this present day I’ve by no means seen it. And I feel I’m by no means gonna watch it. I don’t know why, it simply feels superstitious.”
Her co-stars haven’t given her a lot encouragement to take a look at the episode, which feels so weirdly disconnected from the remainder of the collection. Jerry Seinfeld likened the expertise of re-visiting the pilot to placing on outdated residence motion pictures: “It’s like watching your self as a child simply working and falling and spinning round in circles.”
This doesn’t imply that The Seinfeld Chronicles shouldn’t be required viewing for followers. Later episodes make reference to the present’s false begin, together with when Elaine reads the pilot for Jerry and complains that her character is nowhere to be discovered.
And, in fact, the controversial finale ends with a reference to that very first scene, set in Pete’s Luncheonette:
And actually, wouldn’t it have killed them to carry Claire again for a cameo?
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