"Seinfeld" DVDs

[Guy Berger]

Is anyone here a marine biologist?

[Guy Berger]

One of the all time greatest episodes: George doing the opposite

George: "My name is George, I'm unemployed and I live with my parents."

Beautiful blonde: "I'm Victoria, hi!"

Art Vandelay marathon (I think this was the only good part of that Puerto Rican Day episode)

I've got so much hand I'm coming out of my gloves!

Edited May 23, 2007 by Guy

[Guy Berger]

If somebody can find a clip of George's conversation with Elaine's boss about having sex with the cleaning lady (season 3, "The Red Dot"), please post it:

Boss: I'm going to get right to the point. It has come to my attention that you and the cleaning woman have engaged in sexual intercourse on the desk in your office. Is that correct?

George: Who said that?

Boss: She did.

George: Was that wrong? Should I have not done that? I tell you I gotta plead ignorance on this thing because if anyone had said anything to me at all when I first started here that that sort of thing was frowned upon, you know, cause I've worked in a lot of offices and I tell you people do that all the time.

[paul secor]

No Soup Franchise for You!

By GEORGE JAMES

Published: June 26, 2005

MOVE to the left. Have your money ready. And by the way, don't mention ''Seinfeld'' or ''the N word.''

The Soup Man, immortalized in pop-culture lore by ''Seinfeld'' as ''The Soup Nazi'' -- is opening takeout shops in Princeton and Ridgewood in the next couple of months to kick off a national rollout of franchises.

The company's logo features the unsmiling face of the Soup Man himself, Al Yeganeh, whose soup store on West 55th Street near Eighth Avenue in Manhattan, Soup Kitchen International, has attracted droves of customers since it opened in 1984.

Unfortunately, as far as Mr. Yeganeh is concerned, one of those customers was Jerry Seinfeld, whose television comedy had an episode in 1995 that featured a cranky, demanding soup-store owner based on Mr. Yeganeh called -- to his continuing dismay -- ''The Soup Nazi.''

''No soup for you,'' the character, played by Larry Thomas, would call out if a customer did not move or pay quickly enough.

By all accounts, Mr. Yeganeh loathes the nickname, despite the fame it has granted him. He has been quoted as saying that he was famous before ''Seinfeld,'' and that the episode ruined his personal life. When the final ''Seinfeld'' was televised, he told David Letterman that he was glad ''this clown'' was going off the air.

Yet, for all his protestations, Soup Kitchen International is doing something of a balancing act. Company officials say Mr. Yeganeh is sensitive to the Nazi reference; but the company mentions the ''Seinfeld'' connection in its literature and even on the packaging of its frozen-food line, which is scheduled to be sold in food markets in the next few months.

''We're very ginger about that whole thing,'' said John Bello, the chairman and chief executive officer of Soup Kitchen International, which will oversee the franchises, to be called ''The Original Soup Man.'' ''But the reality is, it was his soup and his store and the gestalt of the whole experience there that inspired the episode and, I think, drew a lot of attention to soup as a category and what Al was doing and took it to a new level.''

As Mr. Bello stood one recent day in the Rutgers Food Manufacturing Technology Facility here, the 31,000-square-foot building that has been serving as the company's temporary headquarters and production facility, he added, ''Would you be talking to us if that weren't out there?''

Mr. Yeganeh, who is in the process of writing a book, apparently finds such thoughts discomforting. In a rare interview for this article, primarily by e-mail messages with a brief follow-up phone call -- Mr. Yeganeh said that he had reprimanded a Toronto Globe and Mail reporter by e-mail for ''accusing'' Mr. Yeganeh in a news article of just such a thing: ''using Jerry Seinfeld to get publicity.''

Mr. Yeganeh has strict news media rules, which are in capital letters on the company's Web site, www.originalsoupman.com. Questions are to be sent by e-mail only. There are to be no follow-up questions and no mention of what he calls ''the N word.''

He has continued to avoid the news media even though he is starting a national business, letting Mr. Bello and other executives speak for the venture. For Mr. Yeganeh, it is the quality of his soup that matters most. He says that it will be made in only one facility, a plant in Indiana, under his supervision. ''Cleanliness for me is No.1,'' he said.

Julie Ruth, an associate professor of marketing in the School of Business at Rutgers University's Camden campus, said that Mr. Yeganeh may have had some prominence because of the quality of his soup before ''Seinfeld,'' but that the show only enhanced it. And, she said, despite the negative connotation of ''Nazi'' and the TV character's brusqueness, the character had an endearing quality for viewers, which company officials are now trying to tap. ''There's something about this guy,'' she said. ''He's fallible in a way that troubles but also generates some warmth. It's nice to have things in life that aren't perfectly packaged. There's a certain authenticity.''

''Given the number of people who watched 'Seinfeld,' and watch it now on repeats and on DVD's, it creates a continued buzz in the culture about that character,'' added Professor Ruth, an expert on how emotions play out in consumer behavior.

For all of that, Mr. Bello said that in the end it is about the product, and he believes he has a premier one. Zagat, he notes, gave the New York store a 27 rating on a 30-point scale. Mr. Bello, an entrepreneur and a former president of NFL Properties, approached Mr. Yeganeh two years ago with an offer to create the soup franchises. So far the company has raised $5 million from investors, including the Hall of Fame baseball player Reggie Jackson, and projects $6 million to $10 million in sales this year.

He expects to open 35 outlets by January with a goal of 1,000 in the United States and Canada within seven years. The first two, one on Chestnut Street in Ridgewood and another on Palmer Square in Princeton, are scheduled to open in September.

The Soup Man store in Ridgewood will be in a former dress shop next to the Christian Science Reading Room. One of the merchants on the street, Bob Parlegreco, owner of the Chestnut Deli, says he is not worried about the competition. He sells two soups a day in spring and summer, and three to four in the winter: 12 ounces for $2.50 and 16 ounces for $3. ''I've been here 17 years and I sell a lot of soup,'' Mr. Parlegreco said. ''And I hear his soups are high-priced.''

By comparison, the price for 12 ounces of the Soup Man's offerings will range from $5 to $7 and higher for soups like lobster bisque, said Seb Rametta, the company's executive vice president.

The soups will be sold mainly in kiosks in shopping malls, food courts, airports and other tourist destinations. New Jersey outlets, Mr. Bello said, will include Bridgewater Commons, Garden State Plaza in Paramus and the Willowbrook Mall in Wayne. ''You'll pick up your soup and get a piece of bread, your soda and a piece of chocolate in a way to replicate the experience you would have at Al's store in New York City,'' Mr. Bello added.

Next!

Ironic that another "N word" became associated with a Seinfeld actor a year or so after this article was published.

[Guy Berger]

A George divided against itself cannot stand!

[Dan Gould]

A George divided against itself cannot stand!

As far as I am concerned, that speech ranks with the very funniest moments in the series' history.

[Guy Berger]

A George divided against itself cannot stand!

As far as I am concerned, that speech ranks with the very funniest moments in the series' history.

Yes... it's a shame they didn't include the earlier part with Kramer talking about colliding worlds.

Guy

[BruceH]

"Thick, lustrous hair is very important to me."

[Guy Berger]

I've been watching the 8th season. In general not as inspired as the best moments from the 4th, 5th or 7th seasons, but with plenty of enjoyable moments.

That said, no apologies or excuses need to be made for "The Yadda Yadda", an incredible episode by any standard. I should've known it was a Peter Mehlman.

Guy