10 Things You Only Notice Rewatching Seinfeld
Not everything is quite what it seems in the world of Seinfeld.
1989 really was a turning point in pop culture, wasn't it?
Do The Right Thing shocked audiences with its unfiltered focus on police brutality. The Simpsons changed the face of animation forever, redefining just exactly what it can be, and the partnership between Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David came to the forefront and redefined television in general.
After putting their heads together to create the most offensive daytime TV show before the days of reality TV, they had their pilot aired in that very same year, to not much appraisal or even attention. In fact, Seinfeld's earlier seasons were very bleak and lacking in substance, but instead of calling it quits, they pursued what they wanted. To create something challenging, rambunctious and intelligent, all the while very much walking the line of what could be projected onto a TV screen.
Needless to say, the show was an unprecedented success. Anyone can see that. However, something most of us - including even the most hardened veterans of Seinfeldia - failed to see were the small discrepancies, Easter eggs and even future stars that would appear as casually in the background as a piece of set décor.
How many of these did you (honestly) witness at any point of watching the show? Don't let it get to you if not, though. As Jerry Seinfeld himself said, "There’s more to life than making shallow, fairly obvious observations".
10. There's A Copy Of Pretty Woman And Child's Play 2 On Jerry's Shelf
On the surface, this seems like an extremely extraneous detail to pinpoint as something remarkable, let alone interesting, but if you yourself are a connoisseur of '90s film and TV, then you'll notice straight away that this is either a brilliant meta joke or simply a foolish mistake.
The reason for this is that George Costanza, who is portrayed by Jason Alexander within the Seinfeld series, also plays the snarky, repugnant Phillip Stuckey, Richard Gere's righthand man who attempts intimacy with Julia Roberts' Vivian Ward in a less than romantic way in Pretty Woman. Similarly, in regards to the other film that released in 1990, which is perched on Jerry's shelf for the majority of the show's run, another actor was cast into a role that questions the existence of the two films.
Ironically, the latter refers to George's betrothed fiancé, Susan, or at least a close relative of hers within the fictional universe of Seinfeld. Her mother, played by Grace Zabriskie, who despite playing a nuisance of a parent on Seinfeld, was actually a more caring, stand-in surrogate mother to Andy Barclay in the second Child's Play film.