Diva Jason Alexander almost quit "Seinfeld" because he wasn't getting enough screen time

Sounds like even Alexander admits he had Big Ego Syndrome at the time, and has since come back to Earth a bit.

Misleading headline!

In this case I agree with Alexander. It’s ridiculous not to include a co-star at all. The character could have at least said goodbye to Jerry or drove him to the airport. Would there be a Golden Girls episode deliberately leaving out Blanche or Rose?

Miss Jason Alexander will not be IGNORED, Dan!

Jason Alexander also got ballsy after Pretty Woman became a massive hit.

The episode had Jerry and Elaine visiting Jerry's parents in Florida - you can't write EVERYONE into an episode just for equity.

This type of squabbling over air time happens a lot. I can sort of see it though - Michael Richards would open the door and do one funny bit and then leave for the rest of the episode.

He’s a total asshole

Couldn't agree with you more, R6.

He also got the woman who played "Susan Ross" fired, because he didn't like her acting.

Jason Alexander is a real cunt.

The most beloved episode of I Love Lucy doesn’t feature Ethel.

It was an odd choice. They could have had scenes with George and Kramer back in NYC in the episode.

My question is: did he get paid, or not, for that episode?

In the Golden Girls, yes, they would have had a shitty B-plot involving 2 characters.

E.g., "Journey to the Center of Attention" (Dorothy & Blanche compete for attention at the Rusty Anchor, Blanche does tragic version of "I Want to Be Loved by You," losing a shoe in the process).

Shitty B-plot: Rose throws a "wake" for Estelle Getty, who is actually still alive.

The B-plot almost ruined the episode.

He got a LOT of screen time. Yeah, he must have been in some crazy headspace. And to be part of that cash cow and get paid like they ended up getting paid - he should be incredibly thankful, which it seems like he is now.

I wonder how he felt about Jerry Stiller coming on board. I know that actors like for their characters to get elaborate back stories, but Stiller was such a huge character. Was Jason upset?

I liked Frank, but Estelle Costanza is probably my favorite secondary character.

Just go back to sleep under your desk, George.

This is not exactly breaking news, OP.

George was the best character

"George is getting upset!!"

George likes his spicy chicken!

It was the early days of the show. If the episode had been written in the later seasons, all four main characters would have appeared and given their own random subplots.

I hated when George went to work for the Yankees. I just didn’t find anything funny about it.

There's only ONE star of a Jason Alexander show... and that's ME, baby: Jason Alexander! Remember?

I wish he had quit. His was the one character on that show I mortally hated. His whiny, pathetic, neediness sickened me.

No George no Festivus.

jason alexander was THE star of Seinfeld and it's so obvious

If you hated his character, then he did a great job...he was supposed to be a reprehensible asshole, and he nailed it.

Did he still get paid for the episode? If so, I wouldn't complain, I'd be home sleeping in and relaxing.

[quote] If you hated his character, then he did a great job...he was supposed to be a reprehensible asshole, and he nailed it.

Or he was just being himself.

Either way, r28, he's laughing all the way to the bank being himself or acting as a shit human being.

He's fine and sends his love!

[quote] I hated when George went to work for the Yankees. I just didn’t find anything funny about it.

I didn't hate it. It just wasn't a great use of employment to develop a character.

I hated how all of his girlfriends looked unattainable, for him, in real life.

I did like how he kept comparing himself to Ted Danson, apropos of nothing.

R27, I agree with you. However, we might feel differently if we were in a similar situation. We might start to worry that if they don’t us for one episode they may decide they don’t need us for any.

He seemed to be on it all the time to me. I loved to hate his character.

I remember when (20 years ago?) the USC Theater School hired Professor Jason Alexander (né Jay Greenspan) to teach a class or two. There was a fair amount of eye rolling since he dropped out of BU without graduating and having earned no degree. Students had to apply, including a head shot, to get into his class. But I heard that he was a good instructor and students who took his class were duly impressed.

George was the best character.

If Jason Alexander did not like Heidi Swedberg and her character had to go, that arc was comedy gold.

The cheap, toxic glue on the wedding invitations?! I'm laughing remembering it right now.

George and Elaine were the most relatable characters. And let's be real, Jerry was also pulling women on the show that he should not have been getting.

Whenever my sister and I see someone wearing jeans with sneakers, we call them Jerry Seinfeld. There is no way Jerry was pulling women like prime Teri Hatcher in jeans and sneakers with that pouffy hair. He looked like an urban Tim the Toolman wannabe.

[quote] The cheap, toxic glue on the wedding invitations?! I'm laughing remembering it right now.

IMO, that wasn't funny.

Elaine, on the other hand. She and David Puddy were a somewhat odd, yet plausible couple. They did have chemistry.

I also liked the episode where MLB player Keith Hernandez and Elaine dated, causing Jerry to be jealous of Elaine. Another odd couple, yet plausible, somehow.

[quote]He also got the woman who played "Susan Ross" fired, because he didn't like her acting

Did you read the article you linked, R8?

JLD & Seinfeld didn't know what Alexander was griping about until they had to work with the actress, afterward, JLD made a comment about killing off the character and that was that.

[quote]“I couldn’t figure out how to play off of her,” Alexander said of Swedberg... “Her instincts for doing a scene, where the comedy was, and mine were always misfiring. And she would do something, and I would go, ‘OK, I see what she’s going to do — I’m going to adjust to her.’ And I’d adjust, and then it would change.”

[quote]Later on in the show’s run, with producers still unsure of whether Susan and George would go through with the wedding or what her future would be, Jerry Seinfeld (Jerry) and Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Elaine) shared a number of scenes with Swedberg and finally understood what Alexander had been grousing about.

[quote]“They go, ‘You know what? It’s f—ing impossible. It’s impossible,'” said Alexander, who stressed that he had nothing against Swedberg personally. “And Julia actually said, ‘Don’t you want to just kill her?’ And Larry went, ‘Ka-bang!'” Just like that, the character’s fate was sealed (so to speak).

It's a wacky sitcom; why does it have to be "plausible" if the characters could get their dates "in real life?" Did that ruin the show for everyone? Apparently not. It's seemingly the number one critique of every fictional television show - is it realistic; does it portray life EXACTLY like "real life." I never remember such an obsession with "reality" before the internet.

The first Florida episode is one of my favorites from the early seasons. The episode is about Jerry and his parents. I think Elaine is there to represent the majority of the viewing audience reacting to the mishigas of Jerry and his family. It’s normal to Jerry, but to Elaine, it’s not.

Jerry and his parents get on each other’s nerves but don’t scream angrily at each other. George would have brought in a completely different vibe, which is based in anger and was amplified by his parents later in the series. I think it’s why Jerry’s parents are upset in a later season when George’s parents move to Florida. I think George wasn’t in the first Florida episode for a reason and not to slight Jason Alexander.

By the way, I can say from personal experience that the Florida episodes aren’t too far from reality!

Jerry was the weakest link

The Susan character and actress worked because they didn’t fit in. Alexander and the rest stupidly thought they had to play off of Swedberg the same as they did each other.

Yeah George and Susan were a funny pairing. I thought Swedberg was great in the role. And it gave us the Rosses.

I was a supporting series regular on a TV show 20 years ago, my character was the lead in the B story in the episode after the pilot and I had a lot to do through the first 5 episodes. I read the script for the 6th episode and flipped out because my character seemed to have a lot less to do. I thought what did I do wrong? Very upsetting. Recently, I rewatched the episode and I was surprised how much I did have to do, Also- the number of lines you have has nothing to do with the presence you have on the show. One little scene can have a big impact, But at the time, I was freaking out.

R46, I'd love to know more.

IMO, JLD over-played being "high" or drugged-up (yelling "Stellaaaaa!!!) in that Florida episode. It would have already been funny with Jerry's parents being too cheap to turn on the AC, too cheap to have a decent guest bed.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus was so good as Elaine.

R47- ask me anything

Are you our C-list actor?

Are you our Hallmark silver daddy?

Yes, r51

R48, I couldn't disagree more. That and her dancing are roll on the floor funny.

I can't hear "Slow Ride" without thinking about Elaine.

Listen, few of us (except C-list actor, perhaps) can appreciate wheat it’s like for an actor.

You have a run-of-show contract and they don’t use you for an episode… you’d still get paid… but you can’t help thinking the show is moving away from your character, because it’s unusual not to use regulars (that is starting to change as some shows are signaling that regulars won’t have the episode guarantees they used to have).

Being an actor is tough.

R56, meet R31.

[quote]you can’t help thinking the show is moving away from your character, because it’s unusual not to use regulars (that is starting to change as some shows are signaling that regulars won’t have the episode guarantees they used to have)

I can certainly understand this fear a lot more for actors in shows with a small regular cast like "Seinfeld" (which only had 4 people); however, for shows with large ensemble casts, isn't it more common? I can remember when "Fame" was on back in the '80s, they did not feature every cast member in every episode each week (there were like 14 principal actors). Each episode only featured a few of the regulars and even some of them would only have one scene in the episode.

Jason may have thought the Florida episode may have been a sign that they were trying to turn the show into some kind of Jerry/Elaine will they/won't they thing and got nervous that the focus was going to shift. Actors are not immune to the same kind of insecurities that others are in their jobs.