35 years ago Larry David almost quit Seinfeld over a controversial episode
It’s been 35 years exactly since NBC took a gamble with one of its riskiest episodes – one which almost drove Seinfeld’s Larry David to exit the show.
The hit 90s sitcom – co-created by the titular Jerry Seinfeld and Larry – followed the hijinks of a fictionalised version of the stand-up comic and his three best friends: George Costanza (Jason Alexander), ex-girlfriend Elaine Benes (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), and neighbour Cosmo Kramer (Michael Richards).
The comedy has remained one of the most influential in TV history, forging iconic quotes and – much like Buffy – pushing the boundaries of how we create and tell small screen stories.
Nowhere was this showcased more than in the renowned season two episode 11, The Chinese Restaurant, which came out on May 23, 1991 – just about.
At the time of its production, it was one of the most controversial scripts Jerry and Larry had ever presented to the studio, which did everything they could to shut it down.
Let us take you back. The episode follows our usual gaggle of friends (aside from Kramer) who are waiting for a table at a Chinese restaurant. The longer they are forced to sit around, the hungrier they get, and they have various little problems they are agonising over.
The whole time, the maître d’ was teasing them with the promise of a table any moment.
A simple but delicious premise, based on Larry and Jerry’s own experience of…. waiting in line at a restaurant.
Set entirely in the Chinese restaurant, it’s shot in real time with no cuts – the format is known as a ‘bottle episode’. But executives thought audiences would lose interest given the lack of a concise plot, planning to pull the plug on the whole episode.
Jerry revealed that NBC’s Warren Littlefield even thought pages were missing when he first read it.
‘The Chinese Restaurant was the point where the network said: “You know, we really don’t understand what you’re trying to do with this show, and we think it’s wrong.”‘ He recalled, according to Vulture.
Given its lack of any discernible storyline, they almost axed it, until the Curb Your Enthusiasm creator threatened to walk out if they didn’t release it.
As Jerry added about their U-turn: ‘[NBC said]: “We’re going to air it anyway.” I was thrilled that NBC took that attitude. We had done enough good things at that point that they were willing to trust us.’
The only alteration they made in the end was deciding to run it at the end of the season in case it turned audiences off the show for good.
But all that worry was for nothing because it has now gone down in the hall of fame when it comes to the show’s episodes, joining other classics such as: The Soup Nazi, The Parking Garage and The Puffy Shirt.
The Chinese Restaurant is not the only time Larry is known to have tried to quit the show. As he once told the Bill Simmons podcast: ‘It’s tough to take orders and notes from people.
‘I can’t have a boss. I’m always the happiest when I’m in charge of my own stuff.’
Seinfeld is available to stream on Netflix now.
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المصدر: Metro UK
