The Seinfeld finale at last

Okay, I know I'm a little late with this - 10 years and nearly 2 months late, actually - but I've finally seen the final episode of Seinfeld, which finished up its nine-year run on May 14, 1998. An estimated 76 million people tuned in to NBC that Thursday night, making it the third most-watched sitcom finale in television history, behind M*A*S*H and Cheers. I was living in Israel when the last season aired, so I never got a chance to watch it.

Although Season 9 was released in November, and I've had it for a few months, I've held off watching it. I guess I just wanted to keep the sense of anticipation going a little longer. In the last episode, a two-parter, the idea for a televsion series about "nothing" that Jerry and George came up with years ago gets picked up by NBC. The network offers them a trip anywhere they want on the corporate jet, so Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer head for Paris.

Unfortunately, the plane has to make an emergency landing in the small (fictional) Massachusetts town of Latham, where the foursome are arrested for violating the "Good Samaritan" law after they stand by and watch while a man is being carjacked. They wind up in jail and go on trial. Their lawyer is the fast-talking and nattily attired Jackie Chiles, played by Phil Morris.

The prosecutor calls a parade of witnesses who've appeared in past episodes to testify that the foursome's lack of character wasn't an isolated incident. (The Bubble Boy, the elderly woman Jerry fights for a loaf of rye bread, Elaine's old boss Mr. Pitt, George's old boss George Steinbrenner, all make appearances). It was funny, but the whole thing went on a bit too long.

I had kind of mixed reactions to the finale. For one thing, John Pinette, the standup comedian who plays the carjacking victim, is morbidly obese. It was kind of uncomfortable watching the four of them standing across the street while this is going on, making fun of his plight. (Kramer's even videotaping it).

The way they reacted just seemed out of character for them. Whatever Jerry, Elaine George and Kramer were, they were never intentionally cruel. Clueless - yes, thoughtless at times - yes, wacky - often, but not mean-spirited the way they appear in this episode. They're basically good people, and I don't believe for a second that that their characters would have reacted in such a callous, uncaring way. (Well okay, maybe George would have).

Still, there were some good moments and I did laugh. There's a conversation between Jerry and George that reprises their very first conversation, so it's a fitting way to come full circle. And I liked the standup routine that closes out the episode, with Jerry now in his bright orange prison jumpsuit.

One thing I've realized after watching all 175 episodes is that although it's called Seinfeld, in many ways Jason Alexander's George Costanza is the best character and the heart of the show. (There's nothing funnier than watching George interact with his parents, the wonderful Jerry Stiller and Estelle Harris.) That's not surprising, considering that George is modeled on series co-creator Larry David.

Sure, I love Jerry Seinfeld, Michael Richards and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. But George is the one who seems to get into the wackiest, most outrageous situations, to which the other characters are often reacting. He's constantly coming up with some kind of scheme that almost always ends badly. (A sitcom staple since I Love Lucy). He's constantly getting tripped up in his own lies. He's lovable loser who can never quite seem to get his life in order.

I've bought every season of Seinfeld as it came out on dvd - something I've never done before with any television series, and I've really enjoyed them. I probably remember more quotes from Seinfeld - "yada, yada, yada" and "not that there's anything wrong with that" come to mind - than from any other tv series.

Sure, there were some episodes where I laughed more than others, but really, there were plenty laughs in every season - right up until the end. In my opinion, Seinfeld is one show that never jumped the shark. And honestly, now that I've finished watching, I could start over again from the beginning.

More August trivia

I've written before about two connections between the acclaimed Broadway play August: Osage County and the acclaimed television series Seinfeld. Well if you're keeping score at home, apparently there's a third link that I didn't realize until this weekend.

Both playwright Tracy Letts and actress Kimberly Guerrero, who plays Native American housekeeper Johnna Monevata in August: Osage County, appeared in separate, classic episodes of the sitcom. I was browsing through Tony winner Rondi Reed's list of credits on the Internet Movie Database, and saw that she also was in a Seinfeld episode, in 1995.

Reed appears in Season 6, in an episode titled "The Kiss Hello" that aired on Feb. 16, 1995. In this episode, Kramer decides to post pictures of all the tenants in the lobby of the building where he and Jerry live, so that everyone can get to know their neighbors, because that's the kind of world he wants to live in. Jerry would just as soon remain anonymous.

As Mary, one of those neighbors, Reed is instantly recognizable by her curly red hair. She only has a couple of lines - she asks Jerry to help her with a package at the very end of the episode. But she does get to give him a nice kiss on the cheek, prompting Jerry to tell Elaine, "See, that's just what I need, more kissing." (That plays into another plot strand: a friend of Elaine's loves to "kiss hello" everyone she meets, a practice that Jerry can't stand.)

Guerrero plays a Native American woman, Winona, whom Jerry dates in an episode from Season 5 called "The Cigar Store Indian," which originally aired on Dec. 9, 1993. And Letts has a very small, background role in "The Strike," an episode from Season 9 that aired on Dec. 18, 1997. It looms large in Seinfeld history because it's the famous "Festivus" episode.

So there you have it. Someday, when I write The Big Book of August: Osage County Trivia, this fascinating bit of information will be included. I wonder if Jerry's been to see the play?

The Osage County-Seinfeld connection

Who knew? There two Seinfeld connections to August: Osage County.

Kimberly Guerrero plays Native American housekeeper Johnna in the Steppenwolf Theatre Company production that's become a hit on Broadway. Osage County playwright Tracy Letts, pictured above, an ensemble member since 2002, also acts. Both Letts and Guerrero appeared in separate - and classic - Seinfeld episodes. One of my favorite television series and one of my favorite plays are joined together for posterity.

I found out about the first connection when I saw the play on Broadway in November. In her Playbill profile, Guerrero mentions her role in The Cigar Store Indian, an episode from Season 5 that originally aired on Dec. 9, 1993. (Guerrero told me at the stage door that she included it because she thought it was something that would resonate with New York audiences).

Guerrero also plays a Native American woman, Winona, whom Jerry is interested in. Things get off on the wrong foot when she sees Jerry give Elaine a statue of a cigar store Indian as a peace offering, and is offended. They go downhill from there, as Jerry ties his tongue in knots trying to avoid saying the wrong thing and the most innocuous remarks become verbal minefields of political incorrectness.

There are a couple of other very memorable subplots. It's the episode where Kramer comes up with his idea about a coffee table book about coffee tables, and Elaine incurs the wrath of Frank Costanza, (the always hilarious Jerry Stiller), by taking his TV Guide to read on the subway, thus breaking up his prized collection.

(As someone who looked forward every week to TV Guide arriving in the mail when I was a kid, I share his pain. I can still remember how exciting it was when the Fall Preview issue came and I found out which movies would have their television premieres that season. It was always the fattest issue of the year. It's hard to believe now, but in the days before cable and VCRs, you had two options for watching movies: see them in the theater or wait until they came on network television. And yes, there were only three channels back then. I'm not even sure PBS existed yet).

Letts has a very small part in The Strike, an episode from Season 9 that aired on Dec. 18, 1997, but it looms large in Seinfeld history. It's the "Festivus" epsiode, celebrating the holiday that Frank Costanza invented because he hated the commercial aspects of Christmas.

For the uninitiated, the Festivus celebration includes feats of strength and the Airing of Grievances. As Frank explains it, after the Festivus meal, you gather your family around the table and tell them all the ways they've disappointed you throughout the year.

Letts only has about three lines and maybe a minute of screen time. He plays a counter guy at H&H Bagels, a New York City institution, where Kramer used to work before going out on strike 12 years ago. Now that the strike is settled, he tries to get his old job back.

I found out about Letts' connection to Seinfeld in an interview with Associated Press writer Colleen Long. In the interview, Letts talks about his writing process, the genesis of August: Osage County, his work with Chicago's Steppenwolf, and about the four years he spent in Los Angeles trying to make it as an actor. (Despite his success as a playwright, he tells Long that he's primarily an actor).

Letts sounds very happy that he returned to Chicago, and as an avid admirer of August: Osage County, I am, too. I've written before about the play's humor, emotional pull and true-to-life characters, and about the amazingly talented Steppenwolf cast. It deserves all the accolades it's been getting.

"The business was brutal, and the people in the business were brutal," Letts recalls about his time in Los Angeles. "I felt, ultimately, at the end of four years my options were to hide under the bed or go out and be humiliated, so I returned to Chicago and I'm really glad I did."

He says that Chicago suits him better, and he considers Steppenwolf his home. "No matter what happens, no matter how bad I get savaged, I get to go back to Steppenwolf and go back to work, as an actor, as a writer and as an artistic director," he says. "I have a place to go and work that supports me as an artist, and that's very rare in our business."

A post about something

Comedian Jerry Seinfeld is in Israel for a few days promoting his new film, "Bee Movie." Or, as the Israeli news site Ynet put it, "Member of the tribe Jerry Seinfeld is visiting Israel again."

Today, he had lunch with President Shimon Peres at the president's residence in Jerusalem. (Beat ya to it Jerry. I was there 10 years ago, although I didn't get invited to lunch). Seinfeld explained the plot of the movie and gave Peres an explanation of computer animation. Peres told Seinfeld that the comedian has a huge following in Israel.

This is Seinfeld's second trip to Israel. He first visited in 1971, as a 17-year-old volunteer at Kibbutz Sa'ar in the western Galilee, not far from the border with Lebanon. He's supposed to make a return trip to see the family that hosted him there.

Coincidentally, I missed the final episode of "Seinfeld" because I was in Israel when it aired on May 14, 1998. If I rush out this weekend and buy Season 9, I can watch the final episode while Jerry's in Israel. That would bring things full circle. Perhaps it's karma.

Speaking of full circle, now that all nine seasons of Seinfeld have been released on DVD, Sony has packaged them in one complete set that includes a book on the series and an hourlong bonus disc with Jerry Seinfeld, Larry David, Michael Richards, Jason Alexander and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, talking about the show, themselves, and specific episodes.

Since I've already bought the previous eight seasons separately, it doesn't make sense for me to buy the complete set, which sells for $205.99 at Amazon.com. According to Gord Lacey at tvshowsondvd.com, there aren't any plans to make the book or bonus disc available separately. It's disappointing, because I'd really like to have them.

I know this happens all the time with movies, where they put out a bare-bones DVD, then add a special edition or super special edition or premium edition sometime later. And it happens with tv shows, once the entire series is released on DVD. So I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

"Seinfeld" is one of my favorite tv shows, and it's the first series where I'll have every episode. I almost feel like I'm being penalized for being a fan, for rushing to buy each season as it came out.

It just seems particularly annoying and unfair. Who's going to want the complete set anyway but die-hard fans of the series. And we've already bought each season separately. So what are we supposed to do if we want those cool extras? C'mon Jerry, be a mensch.