The favoriteSeinfeldepisode of its titular star won’t come as too much of a surprise to most of the show’s fans, as it’s one of the greatest masterpieces in the history of TV sitcoms. Jerry Seinfeld revealed his favorite episode of thesitcom classicduring a Q&A with fans back in 2014, and his answer didn’t disappoint.
Seinfeld named two episodes of his show as the ones that stand out most for him, butthis season 7 episode was the one he most enjoyed working on. It’s a popular choice, too, which is up there among thebest episodes inSeinfeld’s nine-season run. It was also one of the last involving the show’s co-creator, Larry David.
Jerry Seinfeld’s Favorite Episode Of His Sitcom Is “The Rye”
George’s Parents Bring A Marble Rye To Dinner With His Prospective In-laws
During a 2014Reddit AMA, Jerry Seinfeld revealed that his favoriteSeinfeldepisode of all time is “The Rye”.The comedian enjoyed making this episode of the show more than any other, and in his answer to fans, he explained why:
“We got to shoot that at Paramount Studios in LA which was the first time that we thought, ‘Wow, this is almost like a real TV show’."
Certain scenes in “The Rye” necessitated a different filming setup from otherSeinfeldepisodes. The episode’s plot centers on the family home of George Costanza’s fiancée, Susan Ross, immediately prior to her suddenexit fromSeinfeldvia an offscreen death later in season 7. Elsewhere in the episode, Elaine is dating a jazz musician, and Kramer operates a hansom cab.
Why “The Rye” Is A Sitcom Masterpiece
The Way Its Nonsensically Brilliant Storylines Intersect Is Sheer Genius
“The Rye” is quite simply one of the high-water marks ofSeinfeld’s humor. The disastrous meeting between George and Susan’s parents, in particular, which features standout comic performances fromJerry Stiller as Frank Costanzaand Estelle Harris as his wife and George’s mother, is one of the highlights of the entire series.
Meanwhile, Elaine’s overblown reaction to Jerry’s assertion to a mutual friend that she and the jazz musician she’s dating are among her best romantic storylines. As so often happens inSeinfeld, though,it’s Kramer who steals the show, with his senseless decision to feed the horse working his hansom cab a canned beef and pasta meal known as Beef-a-Reeno.
More than anything else, however, it’s the way thatthe episode’s three different storylines overlap and intersect that elevates it to the level of a masterpiece. Most ingeniously, George’s attempts to plant a replacement marble rye loaf in the kitchen of his fiancée’s family to make up for his parents’ social faux pas combines with Kramer’s story to hilarious effect.
The idea that a horse getting “gassy” could sabotage a plan to prevent a stolen rye bread from ruining George’s prospective marriage isthe kind of nonsensically brilliant storyline that onlySeinfeld’s writers would come up with. It’s ultimately episodes like “The Rye” that set the show completely apart from its contemporaries.
Filming For “The Rye” Was Different From Any Other Seinfeld Episode
Some Scenes Needed An Outdoor Set On The Paramount Studios Lot
BecauseKramer’s hairbrained scheme in thisSeinfeldepisodeinvolves a lot of scenes outside, filming “The Rye” was a very different experience for the show’s cast and crew from other episodes. Specifically, a sequence which involved Kramer picking up Susan’s parents in his hansom cab from outside their house required the kind of outside setSeinfeldhadn’t needed before.
Jerry Seinfeld recalled the situation in conversation with fans during his Reddit AMA:
“We hadn’t felt like a real TV show, the early years of the TV show were not successful. We had this idea of a marble rye, and we had to shoot it in an outdoor set, and this was a very expensive thing to do, it’s like a movie place there at Paramount in LA.”
Every scene of the episode set outside in front of Susan’s family home was shot on the Paramount Studios lot. What’s more, a scene in which Kramer takes some Asian tourists around Central Park in his cab seems to have been filmed on the lot, too. Seinfeld was impressed by how lifelike the lot appeared, noting:
“Their standing set for New York looks exactly like it, and we thought, “This is where the adult shows are, the real shows like Murphy Brown.” We felt like we were a weird little orphan show. So that was a big deal for us.”
In this sense, the actor’s reasoning for “The Rye” being his favoriteSeinfeldepisode may be a little different from that of fans, as it comes from the perspective of someone working on the episode behind the scenes. At the same time, it’s hard to deny that even by the show’s unparalleled standards, this episode is an all-time classic.
