"The Bookstore" is the 173rd episode of the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

Seinfeld ''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld. It aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, over nine seasons and List of Seinfeld episodes, 180 episodes. It stars Seinfeld as Jerry Seinfeld ( ...

''. This was the 17th episode for the ninth and final season. It aired on April 9, 1998. In this episode,

Jerry Jerry may refer to: Animals * Jerry (Grand National winner), racehorse, winner of the 1840 Grand National * Jerry (St Leger winner), racehorse, winner of 1824 St Leger Stakes Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Jerry'' (film), a 2006 Indian fil ...

catches his

Uncle Leo Uncle Leo is a fictional character portrayed by Len Lesser in the American sitcom ''Seinfeld ''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld. It aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, ov ...

in the act of

shoplifting Shoplifting is the theft of goods from an open retail establishment, typically by concealing a store item on one's person, in pockets, under clothes or in a bag, and leaving the store without paying. With clothing, shoplifters may put on items ...

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...

is forced to buy a book after he is caught reading it in the bookstore's public bathroom, and Kramer and

Newman Newman is a surname of English origin and may refer to many people: The surname Newman is widespread in the core Anglosphere. A *Abram Newman (1736–1799), British grocer *Adrian Newman (disambiguation), multiple people *Al Newman (born 1960) ...

attempt to start a

rickshaw A rickshaw originally denoted a two- or three-wheeled passenger cart, now known as a pulled rickshaw, which is generally pulled by one person carrying one passenger. The first known use of the term was in 1879. Over time, cycle rickshaws (also ...

business.

Plot

The cold opening features

leaving his apartment for the day while Kramer relaxes on his couch. Once Jerry leaves though, Kramer begins messing around in Jerry’s apartment, eating all his food, causing a fire that he connects a hose to his bathroom sink to put out, moving his couch into Jerry’s apartment, dismantling Jerry’s phone, arguing with a passerby (and subsequently locking Jerry’s door when the passerby comes up to beat Kramer senseless), pretending to be Jerry doing a stand-up routine, and having a party. Somehow, he manages to cover his tracks when Jerry returns and Jerry simply gripes that Kramer wasn’t using a coaster to place a glass of soda on. Jerry and

are at a

bookstore Bookselling is the commercial trading of books which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, bookpeople, bookmen, or bookwomen. The founding of librari ...

Brentano's Brentano's was an American bookstore chain with numerous locations in the United States. As of the 1970s, there were three Brentano's in New York: the Fifth Avenue flagship store at Rockefeller Center, one in Greenwich Village, and one in Whit ...

, where George hopes to meet women. Jerry spots

shoplifting. He confronts Leo about it privately, and Leo promises to return the book, but on a subsequent visit Jerry sees him shoplifting again. Jerry rats out Leo to the Brentano's security guard, intending only to scare him straight, but because Leo has a prior conviction, he now faces jail time. Jerry apologizes to Uncle Leo, but Leo tells him he never forgets when he's been betrayed. Jerry has nightmares about Leo seeking revenge on him. George takes a book, ''World Impressionism'' by

Norma Broude Norma Broude (born 1 May 1941) is an American art historian and scholar of feminism and 19th-century French and Italian painting. She is also a Professor Emerita of art history from American University. Broude, with Mary Garrard, is an early lead ...

, into the bookstore bathroom. The manager says he can't put it back on a shelf after it has been in the bathroom, forcing George to buy the book. George tries to return it, but the book has been flagged as having been in the bathroom. George tries to donate his book to charity, but even they won't take the marked book. George plans to get even with Brentano's by stealing a copy of the same book and returning it to get his money back. Jerry tries to talk the manager into letting Leo off lightly, but the store is having problems with theft so he needs to "make an example" of someone. Realizing he can sacrifice someone else to save Leo, Jerry rats on George for his attempted shoplifting. At the annual Peterman party, Elaine is depressed by the other staff showing her up at dancing, so she and a man named Zach get drunk and make out at their table. George suggests Elaine tell everyone that she and Zach are dating, so that she won't be known as the "office skank". However, she doesn't clear this with Zach, so he openly makes out with another woman. Elaine plans to use his "cheating" as her reason for ending the fake relationship. However, J. Peterman informs her that Zach is an

opium Opium (or poppy tears, scientific name: ''Lachryma papaveris'') is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which i ...

addict, and makes Elaine help him quit

cold turkey "Cold turkey" refers to the abrupt cessation of a substance dependence and the resulting unpleasant experience, as opposed to gradually easing the process through reduction over time or by using replacement medication. Sudden withdrawal from dru ...

. Elaine gets through it without trouble, and the experience inspires her to pitch a "detox poncho" for the catalogue. Kramer and

plan to run a

service. They interview potential rickshaw pullers; however, one of the candidates steals the rickshaw. Newman and Kramer track it down. Kramer loses the

counting-out game A counting-out game or counting-out rhyme is a simple method of 'randomly' selecting a person from a group, often used by children for the purpose of playing another game. It usually requires no materials, and is achieved with spoken words or hand ...

to determine who will have to pull it back. When Kramer gets tired pulling Newman in the rickshaw up a hill and sets it down, the rickshaw runs backwards over Zach.

Production

The episode's Jerry story was inspired by a news item the episode's writer,

Spike Feresten Spike Feresten (born ) is an American television writer, screenwriter, comedian and television personality, who is best known for his work on ''Seinfeld'', writing for David Letterman, and hosting the late night ''Talkshow with Spike Feresten'' ...

, saw on TV, about the rampant shoplifting being committed by the elderly. The

table read The read-through, table-read, or table work is a stage of film, television, radio, and theatre production when an organized reading around a table of the screenplay or script by the actors with speaking parts is conducted. In addition to the ca ...

for the episode was held on February 14, 1998. The opening montage of Kramer in Jerry's apartment was filmed February 16, followed by a live audience taping on February 18, during which most of the scenes were filmed. At the last minute, the Kramer story for the episode was dumped. In the original story, Kramer finds an overworked cabbie named Mohabbit (played by Ted Davis) sleeping at the wheel. Kramer offers to take over his shift for a few hours each day, but his incompetence as a driver leads to the taxicab being towed. Mohabbit and Kramer then use Kramer's car as a taxicab. This story was replaced by the rickshaw story with Newman, which was filmed on March 1. To get the sequence with the runaway rickshaw, which was filmed on location in Los Angeles, the rickshaw was hitched to a truck which pulled Newman actor

Wayne Knight Wayne Elliot Knight (born August 7, 1955) is an American actor. In television, he played Newman on '' Seinfeld'' (1992–1998) and Officer Don Orville on '' 3rd Rock from the Sun'' (1996–2001). He also voiced Igor on ''Toonsylvania'' (199 ...

along, and the truck was erased from the shots in

post-production Post-production is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording individual program segments. The ...

Controversy

In this episode, J. Peterman referred to

as "the Chinaman's nightcap". The episode prompted many

Asian American Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous people ...

viewers, including author

Maxine Hong Kingston Maxine Hong Kingston (; born Maxine Ting Ting Hong;Huntley, E. D. (2001). ''Maxine Hong Kingston: A Critical Companion'', p. 1. October 27, 1940) is an American novelist. She is a Professor Emerita at the University of California, Berkeley, wher ...

, to send letters of protest. In her letter, Kingston wrote that the term is "equivalent to

nigger In the English language, the word ''nigger'' is an ethnic slur used against black people, especially African Americans. Starting in the late 1990s, references to ''nigger'' have been progressively replaced by the euphemism , notably in cases ...

s for

blacks Black is a racialized classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin; in certain countries, often in ...

and

kike The word ''kike'' () is an ethnic slur for a Jew. Etymology The earliest recorded use of the word dates to the 1880s.

s for

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

s". Media watchdog Media Action Network for Asian Americans (MANAA) called on

to issue a public apology. NBC did not issue an apology, but it removed the offending term from the episode in the episode's rerun in May 1998. NBC's executive vice president for broadcast standards and content policy sent MANAA a letter stating that the network never intended to offend. MANAA was pleased with the studio's response despite the lack of an apology, and Kingston, while disappointed there was no apology, was pleased that the term was removed from the episode.'Seinfeld' Edits Out Anti-Asian Joke
, ''AsianWeek'', July 9–15, 1998

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bookstore Seinfeld (season 9) episodes 1998 American television episodes Bookstores in fiction