Jerry: "Who's Cartwright?" George: "I am Cartwright" Jerry: ?!?... *confused* ... "You're not Cartwright" George *whimpering* "OF COURSE I'M NOT CARTWRIGHT..."
Just proves that network executives are clueless This is one of the best episodes in the history of television! "For 50 bucks I'd put my face in their soup and blow!" One of the funniest lines ever
I work at a school. Myself along with another aide were dying laughing who is also a Seinfeld fanatic. So my student asked me what my favorite Chinese food is. I yell out Cartwright! We were laughing and saying it's one of the best episodes
The network executives are the ones who gave Jerry & Larry a show in the first place, supported them and let them do what they wanted without completely understanding, then aired it. Maybe they know what they’re doing after all?
This was the first Seinfeld episode I ever saw, and laughed my butt off, I was only 11 or 12 but it was my first exposure to actual intelligent comedy. I was a huge Seinfeld fan ever since.
That's a great episode to have as your introduction. There were many inventive episodes but also many that were sub-par by their standards. And the show became more inconsistent in quality over the last couple of years, culminating in that awful two-hour finale.
@DecrepitOrigin888 I agree that it was pretty consistent until maybe the last couple of years, and that's to their credit. I don't think so much of seasons being duds, though, but rather individual episodes over the course of the show's run. There were so many great, classic episodes, but I still see some reruns on TV that I think are sub-par by the show's standards. I can't tell you the time frame when the show began to seem more forced or uninspired, but I know I started to feel that disappointment somewhere in the latter stages. I don't think it coincides exactly with Larry David's departure, but that was probably a major factor. Yet the final episode was written by Larry David, and I thought that episode was horrible--the absolute worst. So I think the show had run aground by then and Larry David's muse was on hiatus.
@@surfwriter8461 watch it on Netflix instead lol, the tv reruns are all shit because they are cut down for syndication. The storylines never lost their edge imo. Some of my favorite episodes are in season 8 and 9, the Puerto Rican day, the yada yada, the little Jerry, the bizarro Jerry, serenity now are all iconic episodes and are as good as anything Larry wrote on the show. Yes the characters became more neurotic and animated versions of themselves but that happens in pretty much every sitcom.
Same here. Same age frame. I remember thinking this was so genius, cause everyone has had this experience. It was so relatable and yet nobody had ever tried it. It almost seemed like low hanging fruit
The irony that the embryonic first thought about this episode emanated in a Restaurant called "Genghis Cohen's" somehow seems so fitting and funny at the same time.
I love that Julia is not only a fan of the show as a participant/actor from the inside, but also from the outside just like us. I believe she got a kick out of seeing the finished product the way we see it and cracks up quoting lines from the show.
The guy James Hong also played the cousin of Hop Sing on Bonanza and worked as a House Boy for the Cartwright's. Was hilarious that he was calling Cartwright to the phone.
Yes, that was a probably a nod to James Hong's role with the Cartwright Family on Bonanza! And at age 94, he finally received his star on Hollywood Walk of Fame, and co-starred in Oscar-winning movie, Everything Everywhere All At Once! Plus, holds highest record for number of acting roles in movies & TV shows.
I remember my Dad telling me about this episode before I got into Seinfeld, along with The Parking Garage as the quintessential Seinfeld brilliance. To think it almost wasn't aired, and it's one of the most famous sitcom episodes of all time. We're living in a society!!!
There was also an episode in the first year where Jason Alexander was omitted from the script and he told Larry that if that ever happened again he would quit. Interesting that they both has a similar type of reaction.
I’m going to use that line at work. I get calls all day from people wanting to sell something to the company where I work. And a lot of times I just hang up on the caller. I never get into trouble for doing it. My boss is usually standing right there. “She curse, I hang up!”
@vanparty Awesome dude! Talk about an "inside look" you just gave a fantastic one! I don't know Bonanza that well but your description does answer my confusion of why they chose "Cartwright". Well done my friend!
There's another episode also when George tries to see the NBC exec. at his building and the doorman says on the phone... There's a Mr. Bonanza here to see you. Another Bonanza reference!
that's your opinion. I respect your opinion but I disagree with it. I can name at least 10-15 episodes that have been more entertaining than this boring-ass episode
@@blabla-rg7ky see I disagree. It's not boring. It's so true. You wait for a table and people arrive after you somehow get seated before you. It's happened to everyone
I just want to write that my name is Josh and i want to write that Seinfeld is my favorite half hour sitcom. I want to write that reruns of Seinfeld came to the Comedy Central channel in October 2021.
I don't remember, when I got hooked on Seinfeld, it just happened. Here in Australia it was on a ludicrous time of night, because it was rating so poorly. I can guarantee though, that it was probably this particular episode that made me come back for more...and for most people as well. "the Chinese Restaurant" probably saved the show.
He was talking about wanting to be in THAT SPECIFIC episode because it was so different at the time. To do a whole episode without commercial breaks, waiting around, nothing happening is almost as groundbreaking as Waiting for Godot.
Over in the UK a sitcom episode taking place mostly in one room isn't that unusual. One episode of Only Fools And Horses, The Longest Night, is about the 3 main characters trapped in a supermarket manager's office with 3 other men. Most of the episode is set in the office, and the amount that isn't lasts for about 3 and a half minutes at most. The episode was broadcast about 5 years before The Chinese Restaurant. This type of sitcom episode has been around in the UK since the mid-50s.
you're one of the exceptions then. Most people I know (including myself) that have watched Seinfeld, as well as most people on RUclips that have commented on Seinfeld and have referenced this episode don't like it
@@blabla-rg7ky Yeah I actually think you're the exception, most Seinfeld fans I know put this one among their top episodes. It was one of the first really great episodes of the show in my opinion.
@@samwilson3761 meh, the episode is not really bad, but I rank other episodes higher. Or I should say other scenes higher, because I don't think I like a particular episode start to finish.
@illminduse It's all well and good to say "That's my opinion, and you can say what you want!" but for your own sake, you should probably eventually think about having correct opinions. Kramer said he wanted to be in THIS episode because he knew it was groundbreaking and he wanted to be a part of it. That is completely reasonable.
I think he meant anything to move the story forward like they go and can’t pay the bill so they end up working there or they get a waiter they can’t understand l, something like that
Friend of mine runs an online movie watching club and one of them turned out to be Plan 9. But when Jerry says it's the worst movie ever made, I have to disagree -- in our little movie watching circle we've watched some of the most godawful crap you can imagine that makes Plan 9 look like Scorsese's finest work!
have been* ... Today no rich loser is willing to do anything that doesn't make them even more money, even if the planet explodes because of their ego. Common sense and humanity in rich people has died 2 decades ago
In first 4-5 seasons(I dont remember when exactly but its when they changed her hair style) the Elaine character was just a masterpiece of character. Later on they changed her too much she was very hard to like at all, total and complete bitch, they turned everyone in caricatures of themselves but no one as much as Elaine. She was just ruined and unwatchable.
Yet just another example of Hollywood executives being completely disconnected shortsighted and clueless from what the public likes! There has been literally dozens of examples of Hollywood executives thru the decades of fighting & disagreeing with productions that turn out to be thee most popular in history! How/why these networks keep these incompetant and clueless executives on staff is beyond me..
Hollywood Networks thru the decades have unfortunately been lead by dozens of shortsighted Warren Littlefield types. There have likely been hundreds of fantastic excellent shows & movies that would have been huge hits if not for the incompetence of shortsighted ignorant executives..
yep, not one of my favorites, either. The dialogues have saved it somehow, but overall I got bored quite fast of watching the same scene for 20 minutes... and I NEVER get bored of things I like, so go figure!
they should have to turn down a couple tables in the beginning because they're waiting for krammer. and then turn down one at the end right before krammer arrives. not in the pornografic sense.
Comments from the Exec(s) show their obvious lack of vision. Network TV died because of people like Warren Littlefield. How can people with no sense of humour recognise groundbreaking comedy? All his Inside Looks show how clueless he was.
@@SoFloCo-ne4rk Yeah but Jason Alexander is just as bald and has had no facial hair on occasion, but he got old. Larry David's secret is to look 60 at 40, then look 60 at 70. Not a bad strategy.
How simple-minded do you have to be to claim that nothing is happening in that episode. Or in Seinfeld in general. When I first watched the show many years ago, nothing seemed revolutionary to me. Just another sitcom. Very funny but not revolutionary. Found it very strange when I read/watched all that stuff about how "weird" the show was. There's some theme in every episode, like the frustration of waiting for a table in a restaurant here.
You can find out restaurants of a specific cuisine just 1 or 2 miles from your place by using Restaau.co.uk. You can view details of a restaurant with telephone, location, photos, description and reviews from internet community about that restaurant I have been using it, and it is very useful
how about you take your piece of shit advertisement and shove it up your ass, tard? Nobody likes your kind here (and I have worked in marketing / advertising, too, so I know a scumbag when I see one)
This is ridiculous. Pretty much every episode of "I Love Lucy" (most popular TV series in history) was like this. The whole way they play up the "nothing happens" is just to build up the show. It is just a way to brand the show. Seinfeld is pretty much a copy of "I Love Lucy."
No way. "I Love Lucy" had its last episode 34 years prior to this one. There are vast differences in writing, production and expectations for TV shows from the 50s compared to the 90s. People absolutely did not expect an episode of a new show to be like what this episode was like. Of course "something" does actually happen, but it's not just branding to say that Seinfeld was different from its peers at the time.
CARTWRIGHT!
Jerry: "Who's Cartwright?"
George: "I am Cartwright"
Jerry: ?!?... *confused* ... "You're not Cartwright"
George *whimpering* "OF COURSE I'M NOT CARTWRIGHT..."
😂
She say curse word…..I hang up.
@@blabla-rg7kymy favorite Seinfeld moment
@@bryannorton8945 it's up there with dozen others for sure :)
Just proves that network executives are clueless
This is one of the best episodes in the history of television!
"For 50 bucks I'd put my face in their soup and blow!"
One of the funniest lines ever
I work at a school. Myself along with another aide were dying laughing who is also a Seinfeld fanatic. So my student asked me what my favorite Chinese food is. I yell out Cartwright! We were laughing and saying it's one of the best episodes
The network executives are the ones who gave Jerry & Larry a show in the first place, supported them and let them do what they wanted without completely understanding, then aired it. Maybe they know what they’re doing after all?
there's no such thing as junkmail. much better line.
Haha, so true. I mean...after watching this episode my thought was: Who on earth came up with this soup-line? :)
This was the first Seinfeld episode I ever saw, and laughed my butt off, I was only 11 or 12 but it was my first exposure to actual intelligent comedy. I was a huge Seinfeld fan ever since.
That's a great episode to have as your introduction. There were many inventive episodes but also many that were sub-par by their standards. And the show became more inconsistent in quality over the last couple of years, culminating in that awful two-hour finale.
@DecrepitOrigin888 I agree that it was pretty consistent until maybe the last couple of years, and that's to their credit. I don't think so much of seasons being duds, though, but rather individual episodes over the course of the show's run. There were so many great, classic episodes, but I still see some reruns on TV that I think are sub-par by the show's standards. I can't tell you the time frame when the show began to seem more forced or uninspired, but I know I started to feel that disappointment somewhere in the latter stages. I don't think it coincides exactly with Larry David's departure, but that was probably a major factor. Yet the final episode was written by Larry David, and I thought that episode was horrible--the absolute worst. So I think the show had run aground by then and Larry David's muse was on hiatus.
@@surfwriter8461 watch it on Netflix instead lol, the tv reruns are all shit because they are cut down for syndication. The storylines never lost their edge imo. Some of my favorite episodes are in season 8 and 9, the Puerto Rican day, the yada yada, the little Jerry, the bizarro Jerry, serenity now are all iconic episodes and are as good as anything Larry wrote on the show. Yes the characters became more neurotic and animated versions of themselves but that happens in pretty much every sitcom.
love this story - thanks for sharing
Same here. Same age frame. I remember thinking this was so genius, cause everyone has had this experience. It was so relatable and yet nobody had ever tried it. It almost seemed like low hanging fruit
The irony that the embryonic first thought about this episode emanated in a Restaurant called "Genghis Cohen's" somehow seems so fitting and funny at the same time.
I love that Julia is not only a fan of the show as a participant/actor from the inside, but also from the outside just like us. I believe she got a kick out of seeing the finished product the way we see it and cracks up quoting lines from the show.
"I missed the call....he yelled out 'Cartwright'..." "...but you're not Cartwright" "OF COURSE I'M NOT CARTWRIGHT!!!" haha, I still quote this.
The guy James Hong also played the cousin of Hop Sing on Bonanza and worked as a House Boy for the Cartwright's. Was hilarious that he was calling Cartwright to the phone.
Yes, that was a probably a nod to James Hong's role with the Cartwright Family on Bonanza! And at age 94, he finally received his star on Hollywood Walk of Fame, and co-starred in Oscar-winning movie, Everything Everywhere All At Once! Plus, holds highest record for number of acting roles in movies & TV shows.
James was also in Chinatown
I remember my Dad telling me about this episode before I got into Seinfeld, along with The Parking Garage as the quintessential Seinfeld brilliance. To think it almost wasn't aired, and it's one of the most famous sitcom episodes of all time. We're living in a society!!!
George’s battle for the pay phone in this show was epic. “If you were here first, then you’d have the phone.”
So was the parking space.
The days before cell phones. Still a classic episode.
Somehow, Michael Richards getting personally offended that he wasn't part of "The Chinese Restaurant" comes across as a very Kramer reaction. 👌👌
Like when George and Elaine didn't ask if he wanted to go to the flea market with them.
@@BDUBZ49 They were _phony_ to do that.
He should've slid in the restaurant
@@waryaawariiri1812 Why did you tell them??
There was also an episode in the first year where Jason Alexander was omitted from the script and he told Larry that if that ever happened again he would quit. Interesting that they both has a similar type of reaction.
James Hong the actor playing Bruce the Maitre'D was in a couple of episodes of Bonanza
Ghengis Coen’s is a hilarious name for a Chinese restaurant 😂
Kosher Chinese cuisine ???
One of the best episodes of the whole series….bleeping hilarious and totally relatable 😂😂
Wow, Warren Littlefield still has strong emotions about this episde, a decade later. :D
Warren Littlefield is just another shortsighted clueless incompetant Hollywood executive whom should have never held that position.
Warren Littlefield killed Quantum Leap and got in Seinfeld's way at every turn. He was the quintessential network boob.
This is my favourite episode - bar none. So well written!
The one episode that was actually about nothing.
She say curse word; I hang up....
A line to this day that we use at work in many situations !
I’m going to use that line at work. I get calls all day from people wanting to sell something to the company where I work. And a lot of times I just hang up on the caller. I never get into trouble for doing it. My boss is usually standing right there. “She curse, I hang up!”
I think the Chinese restaurant show was one of the first i ever saw...and liked it immediately.
@vanparty Awesome dude! Talk about an "inside look" you just gave a fantastic one! I don't know Bonanza that well but your description does answer my confusion of why they chose "Cartwright". Well done my friend!
There's another episode also when George tries to see the NBC exec. at his building and the doorman says on the phone... There's a Mr. Bonanza here to see you. Another Bonanza reference!
I remember that scene, but I never understood the Bonanza reference. Care to explain?
NBC; we hate the idea
Fans; BRILLIANT EPISODE!!!!!
loving all four pixels of this
that was like the best episode ever of any show...
that's your opinion. I respect your opinion but I disagree with it. I can name at least 10-15 episodes that have been more entertaining than this boring-ass episode
@@blabla-rg7ky see I disagree. It's not boring. It's so true. You wait for a table and people arrive after you somehow get seated before you. It's happened to everyone
@@sheffrudytke1086 just because it's true (even though it's never happened to me) doesn't mean you're not boring
I just want to write that my name is Josh and i want to write that Seinfeld is my favorite half hour sitcom. I want to write that reruns of Seinfeld came to the Comedy Central channel in October 2021.
I don't remember, when I got hooked on Seinfeld, it just happened. Here in Australia it was on a ludicrous time of night, because it was rating so poorly. I can guarantee though, that it was probably this particular episode that made me come back for more...and for most people as well. "the Chinese Restaurant" probably saved the show.
5, 10 minutes!
In my opinion the actor who played the restaurant host made the episode.
I was just thinking that. He was absolutely hilarious.
gotta love a bottle episode!
He was talking about wanting to be in THAT SPECIFIC episode because it was so different at the time. To do a whole episode without commercial breaks, waiting around, nothing happening is almost as groundbreaking as Waiting for Godot.
I mean, they still had the commercial breaks…
You mean scene breaks. Not commercial breaks.
Yeah, there’s one commercial break in the middle, when Jerry is listing off family members who’ll be mad with him for skipping an engagement.
I loved this episode
Revolutionary!
1:17 what's the shadow moving behind Julia on the beach? O__O
Over in the UK a sitcom episode taking place mostly in one room isn't that unusual. One episode of Only Fools And Horses, The Longest Night, is about the 3 main characters trapped in a supermarket manager's office with 3 other men. Most of the episode is set in the office, and the amount that isn't lasts for about 3 and a half minutes at most. The episode was broadcast about 5 years before The Chinese Restaurant. This type of sitcom episode has been around in the UK since the mid-50s.
Why is this clip all blurry?
The execs are NBC are out of touch wit their audience. This is definitely in my top ten Seinfeld episodes
you're one of the exceptions then. Most people I know (including myself) that have watched Seinfeld, as well as most people on RUclips that have commented on Seinfeld and have referenced this episode don't like it
@@blabla-rg7ky Yeah I actually think you're the exception, most Seinfeld fans I know put this one among their top episodes. It was one of the first really great episodes of the show in my opinion.
@@samwilson3761 meh, the episode is not really bad, but I rank other episodes higher. Or I should say other scenes higher, because I don't think I like a particular episode start to finish.
@@blabla-rg7ky grow up
@@TheWinstonSlip why?
It speaks volumes that the cast immediately loved the script and the network executive didn't get it.
They have a Larry Charles?
George's line is classic: "For 50 bucks, I'd put my face into the soup and blow."
Another Bonanza reference: Elaine gets banned from Hop Sing's.
Chinese Restaurant as a play, I'll never watch it the same again.
The best ❤
I wanna live on Park Avenue like Mr. Cohen!
@illminduse
It's all well and good to say "That's my opinion, and you can say what you want!" but for your own sake, you should probably eventually think about having correct opinions.
Kramer said he wanted to be in THIS episode because he knew it was groundbreaking and he wanted to be a part of it. That is completely reasonable.
It’s like art! No wonder the execs didn’t get it 😅
The first I ever heard of Littlefield was David Letterman referring to him as, “NBC programming pinhead Warren Littlefield.”
One of my favorites and they mentioned my name I would have a table before them
James Hong: "Relationships are so difficult!"
2:52 - what was that noise? Lol
"He yelled Cartwright... and I missed her..."
If it was me I would have went to Sky Burger
This episode reminds me of a Carol Burnett skit
I always wanted to have a profile in the RUclips called Cartwright
1:52 Like what? The Chinese restaurant blows up? What was he expecting?
I think he meant anything to move the story forward like they go and can’t pay the bill so they end up working there or they get a waiter they can’t understand l, something like that
@vanparty That's an interesting idea, and its certainly plausible, but how do you really know that's what the writers were thinking?
CARTWRGHT!!!!! FOUR!!!!
James Hong?? Not a word?
Friend of mine runs an online movie watching club and one of them turned out to be Plan 9. But when Jerry says it's the worst movie ever made, I have to disagree -- in our little movie watching circle we've watched some of the most godawful crap you can imagine that makes Plan 9 look like Scorsese's finest work!
Think...The Honeymooners...one room.
I always wondered why Kramer wasn't in that show.
And so once again as it often is in television history: THE NETWORK AND ALL ITS GEEKS.....WERE WRONG!
Waiting for Godot
"Cartright!!!!!!" Lololololol
@vanparty talk about obscure references :P
In summary: Most TV execs haven’t got a clue.
I concur
Genghis Cohen sounds like a Bob's Burgers restaurant name
I'd say it shows that they're willing to get over their ego and give the artists a chance.
have been* ... Today no rich loser is willing to do anything that doesn't make them even more money, even if the planet explodes because of their ego. Common sense and humanity in rich people has died 2 decades ago
Sad for kramer, he should've slid in to rescue
You’re not Cartwright !
In first 4-5 seasons(I dont remember when exactly but its when they changed her hair style) the Elaine character was just a masterpiece of character. Later on they changed her too much she was very hard to like at all, total and complete bitch, they turned everyone in caricatures of themselves but no one as much as Elaine. She was just ruined and unwatchable.
100% I was so pissed off at what they did to her. They ruined my favorite character.
@vanparty Genius.
Yet just another example of Hollywood executives being completely disconnected shortsighted and clueless from what the public likes! There has been literally dozens of examples of Hollywood executives thru the decades of fighting & disagreeing with productions that turn out to be thee most popular in history!
How/why these networks keep these incompetant and clueless executives on staff is beyond me..
It shows how much network execs know jack shit about their own trade....
Probably the same critics who thought Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath were crap.
Yeap bib NBC producer Warren Littlefield "Nothing Happens" you did not get it at all. Seinfeld was a brilliant innovative show.
Warren littlefield is a example of why network television sucked back then.
Hollywood Networks thru the decades have unfortunately been lead by dozens of shortsighted Warren Littlefield types. There have likely been hundreds of fantastic excellent shows & movies that would have been huge hits if not for the incompetence of shortsighted ignorant executives..
cartwright!
it was a stressful episode
yep, not one of my favorites, either. The dialogues have saved it somehow, but overall I got bored quite fast of watching the same scene for 20 minutes... and I NEVER get bored of things I like, so go figure!
seinfeld four...seinfeld four,lol
My favorite episode
Little Warren's fallow brain field.
It's not so much that they know jack shit, it's just that any time someone tries to innovate, they're terrified, because WHAT IF IT DOESN'T WORK?!?!?!
they should have to turn down a couple tables in the beginning because they're waiting for krammer. and then turn down one at the end right before krammer arrives. not in the pornografic sense.
Seinfeld 4 !!!!!
Comments from the Exec(s) show their obvious lack of vision. Network TV died because of people like Warren Littlefield. How can people with no sense of humour recognise groundbreaking comedy? All his Inside Looks show how clueless he was.
Seinfeld Table 4!
CARTWRIGHT
Uff. Julia is forever beautiful.
Am I the only one who thought Tom Cherones was George Lucas?
Every one of these people has aged significantly except Larry David.
Bald and no facial hair helps. And he's nuts about sunscreen. And he eats healthy. And he has no money worries.
@@SoFloCo-ne4rk Yeah but Jason Alexander is just as bald and has had no facial hair on occasion, but he got old. Larry David's secret is to look 60 at 40, then look 60 at 70. Not a bad strategy.
Nbc what is wrong with you? I love all the episodes of this show. Bring the show back jerry.
That would ruin the legacy. Let the amazing 9 seasons stand as a monument of greatness that all other sitcoms should strive to achieve.
I'll give you my actual reply, in about 5.....10 minutes. 😎
How simple-minded do you have to be to claim that nothing is happening in that episode. Or in Seinfeld in general.
When I first watched the show many years ago, nothing seemed revolutionary to me. Just another sitcom. Very funny but not revolutionary. Found it very strange when I read/watched all that stuff about how "weird" the show was. There's some theme in every episode, like the frustration of waiting for a table in a restaurant here.
WHY is this video such POOR QUALITY???!!! EGADS!!! This is 2021!!!!!
You can find out restaurants of a specific cuisine just 1 or 2 miles from your place by using Restaau.co.uk. You can view details of a restaurant with telephone, location, photos, description and reviews from internet community about that restaurant I have been using it, and it is very useful
how about you take your piece of shit advertisement and shove it up your ass, tard? Nobody likes your kind here (and I have worked in marketing / advertising, too, so I know a scumbag when I see one)
Without Kramer, this episode isnt as good as the other
I made a video that was supposed to have a toy robot escape another robot, but instead the battery died, I went with it and it reminded me of this!
like, huh??
I didn't care for the Chinese Restaurant that much.
Talk about being a show about nothing. NOTHING HAPPENS!!!
This is ridiculous. Pretty much every episode of "I Love Lucy" (most popular TV series in history) was like this. The whole way they play up the "nothing happens" is just to build up the show. It is just a way to brand the show. Seinfeld is pretty much a copy of "I Love Lucy."
No way. "I Love Lucy" had its last episode 34 years prior to this one. There are vast differences in writing, production and expectations for TV shows from the 50s compared to the 90s. People absolutely did not expect an episode of a new show to be like what this episode was like. Of course "something" does actually happen, but it's not just branding to say that Seinfeld was different from its peers at the time.
It is a show about nothing.