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"The Sponge" is the 119th episode of the
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
sitcom '' Seinfeld''. This was the ninth episode for the seventh season. It aired on December 7, 1995. In this episode,
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 Presid ...
and Elaine face sexual crises when the
Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 ...
brand of
contraceptive sponge The contraceptive sponge combines barrier and spermicidal methods to prevent conception. Sponges work in two ways. First, the sponge is inserted into the vagina, so it can cover the cervix and prevent any sperm from entering the uterus. Secondly ...
s is taken off the market, while Kramer participates in an
AIDS walk AIDS Walk is a walkathon fundraiser that raises money to combat the AIDS epidemic. Since 1985, AIDS Walk Los Angeles has drawn hundreds of thousands of supporters to walk, and millions more to donate, raising more than $90 million to combat HIV ...
and Jerry dates a tireless do-gooder whose phone number he got from the list of Kramer's sponsors.


Plot

At
Monk's Café Monk's Café is a fictional coffee shop from the NBC sitcom ''Seinfeld''. The exterior of Tom's Restaurant on the corner of West 112th Street and Broadway, near Columbia University, which first appears in season 1 episode 3, "The Robbery," is ...
, Kramer asks Jerry and Elaine to sponsor him for an
AIDS walk AIDS Walk is a walkathon fundraiser that raises money to combat the AIDS epidemic. Since 1985, AIDS Walk Los Angeles has drawn hundreds of thousands of supporters to walk, and millions more to donate, raising more than $90 million to combat HIV ...
. On the list of sponsors Jerry sees Lena Small, whom he wanted to call for a date, but her number is unlisted. Jerry takes down the number and calls Lena. Elaine, excited by how things are going with her boyfriend, Billy, says she is going shopping for
contraceptive sponge The contraceptive sponge combines barrier and spermicidal methods to prevent conception. Sponges work in two ways. First, the sponge is inserted into the vagina, so it can cover the cervix and prevent any sperm from entering the uterus. Secondly ...
s. Kramer informs her the sponge was taken off the market. Jerry boasts that he has been wearing size 31 pants since college.
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 Presid ...
tells his fiancée Susan that Jerry actually wears size 32 and modifies the tag to a 31; this initiates a fight about sharing other people's secrets. Firmly unwilling to change birth control methods, Elaine goes on a hunt for the sponges. After visiting multiple stores which are out of stock, she purchases 60 sponges at Pasteur Pharmacy. Jerry tells George that he found Lena on the AIDS walk list. George then tells Susan against Jerry's wishes, resolving their argument. This passes along the phone tree until it reaches Lena. When Lena tells him she doesn't mind him taking her number from the AIDS walk list, he gets turned off from her being "too good", assuming she must also be chaste. Jerry tells George he is "out of the loop" because he told Susan. Determined that her 60 sponges must last the rest of her life, Elaine refuses to give one to George so that he can have makeup sex with Susan and puts Billy through a rigorous examination to make sure he is "sponge-worthy". Although their first sexual encounter leaves her with no regrets, she denies him morning-after sex, unwilling to spare two sponges. With George and Susan suffering increasing sexual frustration for lack of the sponge, she convinces him to use a condom, but by the time they get the wrapper open his erection has passed. When Kramer is exhausted just from walking up the stairs to his apartment, Jerry fears he is too out-of-shape to do the AIDS walk. Despite Jerry's warnings, Kramer stays up all the night before playing poker. At the AIDS walk, he refuses to wear an AIDS ribbon. "Ribbon bullies", led by
Bob and Cedric This is a list of characters who appeared on ''Seinfeld''. This list features only characters who appeared in multiple episodes; those that appeared in only one are not included here. Primary characters Jerry Seinfeld George Costanza Elaine ...
, beat Kramer nearly senseless. He still manages to stumble across the finishing line before collapsing; Jerry, however, assumes this was because of his staying up all night and walks away in scorn. George see that Kramer is not wearing a ribbon and asks him where his ribbon is. At Lena's, Jerry finds half her closet space is occupied by contraceptive sponges and realizes that she is not chaste at all. However, he is compelled to tell her his secret about his pant size and she dumps him.


Production

Peter Mehlman Peter Mehlman (born ) is an American television writer, comedian, and producer, best known for serving as a writer and producer on the TV series ''Seinfeld'' through nearly all of the show's nine-year run from 1989–98. He also created the 19 ...
was inspired to write this episode when he heard that the extremely popular Today sponge was being taken off the market. His initial plan was to dovetail Elaine's hoarding of the Today sponge with Kramer and Newman trying to run a stock market scam, George and a girl agreeing to date for a week and then break up by mutual consent, and Jerry trying to conceal from Lena the fact that he got her number from an AIDS walk list. These additional plot threads were either drastically reworked or completely replaced. Mehlman had in fact once obtained a woman's unlisted number from an AIDS walk list. The idea of Jerry modifying the waist size on the tag of his pants was contributed by Jerry Seinfeld himself. The "ribbon bullies" story was motivated by the ''Seinfeld'' crew's dislike for being expected to wear AIDS ribbons at the Emmy Awards. The AIDS walk scene was filmed on the Central Park set of the CBS Radford lot. Elaine's statement that she's going to do a "hard target search of every drug store, general store, health store, grocery store in a 25-block radius" is a parody of a similar statement made by Samuel Gerard in the 1993 film '' The Fugitive.''


Option pricing

A paper by
Avinash Dixit Avinash Kamalakar Dixit (born 6 August 1944) is an Indian-American economist. He is the John J. F. Sherrerd '52 University Professor of Economics Emeritus at Princeton University, and has been Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Economics at Lin ...
used this episode to explore an
option value Option or Options may refer to: Computing *Option key, a key on Apple computer keyboards *Option type, a polymorphic data type in programming languages * Command-line option, an optional parameter to a command *OPTIONS, an HTTP request method ...
problem in determining the "spongeworthiness" of potential partners.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sponge Seinfeld (season 7) episodes 1995 American television episodes