Brian Johnson’s Favorite Seinfeld Episodes
Now, you might find yourself saying to yourself, “Who is Brian Johnson, and why should I care about what he thinks about Seinfeld?” This is not a reasonable question. Brian Johnson isn’t just a character in The Breakfast Club. He is, in fact a real person, heroic and credible. I met Brian Johnson in the first semester of my freshman year, as he was a TA in my chemistry lab. Brian also shared one of the greatest nights of my life, an impromptu hangout in Woodfin/Weaverville–though only by proximity as he slept on the couch and suffered from the worst food poisoning of all time induced by a UNCA cafeteria turkey burger. (I had puked several hours earlier, and thankfully recovered quickly). Brian Johnson truly deserves no introduction, but I gave you one anyway. Read and enjoy!
Favorite Seinfeld Episodes
As promised in the second entry of rachelmarsom.com, I have compiled a list of my favorite Seinfeld Episodes. It wasn’t easy. I mean, there are 180 Seinfeld episodes! I feel like these 20 are representative of why I enjoy Seinfeld. First, I’ll start out with my absolute favorite top 5, then I’ll list the rest, since I don’t think I could really objectively rank that many. Enjoy! Look forward to hearing your thoughts on these.
Five Favorite Seinfeld Episodes.
1) The Fire (Season 5): Jerry does what every comedian has always dreamed of—heckle a heckler. Meanwhile, after arguing with a clown played by Jon Favreau, George proves to be the ultimate coward in the face of fire, trampling a bunch of children. This episode is so ridiculous every way you look at it. Don’t want to spoil all the plot points for you, but you definitely need to watch this one if you haven’t seen it.
2) The Merv Griffin Show (Season 9): Kramer starts his own gameshow, and what better guests than Jerry, George, and Elaine. George runs over a squirrel, and his girlfriend insists that they take the squirrel to the vet. (No worries, as the squirrel is saved with tiny instruments.) Jerry proves to be the ultimate creepo when he drugs and sedates his girlfriend to play with toys.
3) The Junior Mint (Season 4): Jerry can’t remember his girlfriend’s name, but he knows that her name rhymes with a part of female anatomy. Meanwhile, Elaine’s once-fat ex boyfriend undergoes major surgery, and Jerry and Kramer let a Junior Mint fall inside of the boyfriend. Serious, inside.
4) The Wig Master (Season 4): While George investigates the prostitution ring in his parking garage, Kramer becomes a pimp. Jerry is a little bit gay, drinking champagne coolies. Elaine cuts off her boyfriend’s hair when she realizes that he never planned on giving her the store discount on the little black dress she wanted.
5) The Slicer (Season 9): Who knew that a meat slicer could set up the plot of a whole episode? My favorite part of this one is the George/Kruger relationship. When George realizes that he had a fight with his boss many years earlier, he gets a photo photoshopped to remove himself from the background. Chaos ensues.
But I don’t wanna be a cowboy!
I never liked Seinfeld. The first episode I ever saw killed me. I watched Jerry ruin his nice new (and expensive) suede jacket because Elaine’s father forced him to wear it in the snow. I thought that was so messed up, poor Jerry’s jacket turned into an ugly blotchy mess for no apparent reason other than he happened to be going out to dinner with some jerk. That still bothers me a lot.
But I met Derrick, and Derrick has every single episode of Seinfeld. Derrick liked it, and I like Derrick, so I watched it with him. Seinfeld has become one of our staples in terms of before-bed viewing, and I’d say we’re at the point where we’ve cycled through the show eight or nine times. And guess what…I like Seinfeld!
Before, when I’d just randomly catch it on TV, I bought into the whole idea that it’s a show about nothing. Sure, it’s totally random meaningless day to day events in a lot of ways, and 80% of all episodes can stand alone, but watching them chronologically does lead to a much higher level of understanding in terms of character growth (even if they don’t grow much), reoccurring characters and story arcs involving specific relationships (Elaine and Puddy, George and Susan for example).