Scott Fitzgerald famously commented, “There are no second acts in American lives.” But life after Seinfeld has been a mixed bag for its famous cast. Network TV was not in the picture when F. Post 'Seinfeld': How have the stars done? When the girlfriend finds out why Jerry has been acting weird, she delivers the now-legendary line. “THEY’RE REAL AND THEY’RE SPECTACULAR!” – Same episode as the double-dipping, Jerry is ready to drop his new girlfriend (Teri Hatcher) after receiving false intel from Elaine that she’s had breast implants. But the finite supply forces her to adopt rigorous standards regarding the men in her life and their “sponge-worthiness.” The term can now be found in the Urban Dictionary. “SPONGE-WORTHY” – When the female contraceptive sponge is taken off the market, Elaine loads up on her birth-control method of choice. Ever since, the words “Serenity now!” have become inextricably linked with rage. Plagued by high blood pressure, he is given a mantra that’s supposed to settle him down. “SERENITY NOW!” – Arguably the crowning episode for George’s dad Frank (Jerry Stiller). She whispers something to said girlfriend. An accidental reveal to the friend of a girlfriend he hasn’t slept with yet. “YADDA, YADDA, YADDA…” – What was already annoying conversational filler gained extra vernacular oomph when George realized his girlfriend used it to gloss over awkward details (“My ex-boyfriend visited last night and yadda, yadda, yadda, I’m really tired today.”) Come to think of it, before that, there was Mad magazine’s idiot mascot Alfred E. “HELLOO, NEWMAN!” – Jerry’s lip-curled distaste-dripping greeting of his postman frenemy has probably made life miserable for a generation of people with the surname Newman. Memory of the episode has stopped me from double-dipping on many an occasion. “DOUBLE DIPPER” – George (it’s almost always George, isn’t it?) performed what most people would recognize as an unsanitary chip-and-dip manoeuvre. And seriously, how could such a contest ever be verified? But to anyone alive in the ‘90s, that is the official euphemism for self-denial (the feminine euphemism, Elaine’s, being “Queen of the Castle”). “MASTER OF MY DOMAIN” – Who knows how the writers came up with Jerry, Kramer, George and Elaine engaging in a contest to refrain from masturbation. The correct answer was Moors, but among my group of friends, at least, the word Moors can’t come up without someone correcting it as Moops. “THE CORRECT ANSWER IS… MOOPS” – A misprint in a Trivial Pursuit card ended up with George driving the Bubble Boy into a fit of fury that ended with his bubble deflating and the kid being rushed to hospital. My favourite Festivus traditions, as per Seinfeld: the aluminum Festivus pole and the Airing of Grievances. 23 event (my son’s high school jazz band played a “Festivus Concert” last year). “FESTIVUS FOR THE REST OF US” – George Costanza’s alternative holiday to Christmas has become an unofficial actual Dec. And the soft-peddled denial just makes things worse. Aspiring TV series writers Jerry and George seem a little close according to an entertainment journalist who interviews them. “NOT THAT THERE’S ANYTHING WRONG WITH THAT” – Never has there been a better depiction of the double-edged sword of being wrongly characterized as gay. The Canadian chain Soup Nutsy was also inspired by the episode. But he fulminated all the way to the bank when he became a tourist attraction. “NO SOUP FOR YOU!” – The real-life inspiration for the “Soup Nazi” character, Al Yeganeh of Soup Kitchen International was furious at being called a Nazi. Tell me you’ve never uttered any of these phrases. So now that she’s made her mark on a series in which every character is capable of misbehaviour of Seinfeldian proportions, let’s look back on Seinfeld itself and its enduring impact on the lexicon, 16 years post-finale. Now that Selena has entered the presidential primary race, the finale promises down-and-dirty (if she wins, will they have to change the name of the series to POTUS?). Given its bloodlines, the series hit a sublime highpoint a couple of weeks ago when the scheming vice-president Selena Meyer (Louis-Dreyfus) and her incompetent staff made an official visit to England, where Selena learned what the pub cry “Down in one!” meant. Now Louis-Dreyfus is about to write finis June 8 on a third season of the terrific political comedy Veep, Armando Iannucci’s American follow-up to his scabrous Brit-com The Thick Of It (and its Oscar-nominated movie spin-off In The Loop). If there ever really was a “Seinfeld Curse,” Julia Louis-Dreyfus not only broke it, she smashed it.įirst she managed to carry the Emmy-winning The New Adventures Of Old Christine (admittedly not in Seinfeld’s league) through five seasons.
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