Jerry is dating the understudy for Bette Midler in her new play on Broadway, Rochelle, Rochelle: The Musical. Jerry and George end up being on a team that plays against Bette Midler's team. George gets into a whole thing with Bette while playing ball, and ends up sliding into home plate, crushing her in the process. She goes to the hospital, knocking her out of the show, putting in Jerry's gal as the performer. The whole world turns against Jerry, George, and the gal. Kramer meanwhile takes over as Bette's personal assistant. Elaine is being made fun of at her nail shop, so she has Frank, who speaks Korean, to come in and be a spy. They're caught and she is kicked out, while Frank meets an old flame from Korea. He puts the move on her, they break up, and Elaine tries to reconcile with the Korean women by giving them tickets to Rochelle, Rochelle, but they get angry b/c the understudy is in, and not Bette Midler. Elaine also gets a job with J. Peterman, who shows up for the first time to close out the Sixth Season.
Our Commentary
Sometimes when you watch an episode of Seinfeld, you suddenly realize that you are watching scenes from the greatest comedy series of all time. You can imagine that 30 years down the road, this episode will be just as fresh and funny as it was today. You have just experienced magic. This episode is one of those episodes. This is a Top 10 episode. Everything in this episode screams hilariousness. We start the ep off with some classic Seinfeld shtick of the need to console during Beaches while Jerry is on the chair and she is on the couch and we end the ep with the three Korean women, one of whom from CYE, screaming "No Bette Midler!?!?!". It's simply hilarious. LD's obsession with Rochelle, Rochelle comes to a screeching halt in this ep. From seeing it in the movie theater, with LD's voice saying Rochelle Rochelle, to George getting it on video, to the Broadway show found in this ep, Rochelle, Rochelle gave us quite a few laughs. Bette Midler is so freaking talented in this episode with her Bette Midler singing Roshelll Roshelllllllll! at the end of the song while in the hospital. She's so Bette Midler. Kramer is at his best with his obsession with Bette, from his noises that he makes, aaahhh, his imitation of Buckles: Jerry don't tease me, and his "Oh, understudies are a very shifty bunch. The substitute teachers of the theater world.", pronouncing theater as theeayter. Great stuff with the Korean women making fun of Elaine, Frank speaking Korean, the Reverend Sun Yung Moon, Tutti Fruitti, Frank's "Ever see that face on him? Like a Biiig apple pie.", George sticking it to Bette and then Bette sticking it to George, Frank's "'eno enoa juang'. Which means, 'this guy - this is not my kind of guy'.", George missing home plate, but still being called safe, the team running after George and Jerry in Central Park, and Kramer choking Bette while saying "Don't worry Kramer is going to take care of everything. See,, I got you Pineapple [the ices she wanted in order to get Kramer away from her]. I saw Beaches last night for the fourth time (sings) "You are the wind beneath my wings." And then we get one of Kramer's most hilarious scenes, where he unlocks 50 locks in order to get into Jerry's apartment and gives his infamous speech: "SO...you're all in here together. How convenient. I hope you're all proud of yourselves. So my dear you think you can get to Broadway. Well, let me tell you something. Broadway has no room for people like you. Not the Broadway I know. My Broadway takes people like you and eats them up and spits them out. My Broadway is the Broadway of Merman, and Martin, and Fontaine, and if you think you can build yourself up by knocking other people down... ...GOOD LUCK..." Meanwhile Jerry and George are dying of laughter, constantly trying to hold their laughter in. Stimply hilarious. Classic Seinfeld with Kim and Franka and link back to stopping short. Hilarious stuff with Kramer saying a side of slaw and your ass buster if any dark meat is found on Bette's sandwich. And then we have one of the greatest peripheral characters of all time make his first appearance as if in a dream. While Elaine cries in the rain, Jacopo Peterman shows up with an umbrella, taking her out for a drink, consoling her, and then hiring her. Classic. We get our final ep of the Season 6 cabbie driver, who is always at his best. Macaroni Midler, Kramer acting like he doesn't know who Jerry and George are, stagehand from CYE, him saying "you or your goons", and Gennice not crying when her grandmother dies, but a hot dog makes her lose control, finish out this beauty of a beaut of an ep and this beauty of a beaut of a season. Adam - This episode is one of the funniest episodes of all time. It links together a bunch of episodes with the stopping short, the Fusilli Jerry coming back as Macaroni Midler. And not much else. But still, 2 things are a whole lot. You have Bette Midler at her best with her crazy voice. You have Kramer as always, taking the other people's sides, over JGE, as he did with Poppie, and saying that he's not very close with them, and right here with Bette Midler, not even thinking about what the situation actually is, and Miss Rhode Island. You have a classic Seinfeld thing with George asking Jerry, where it was that he was seated at the time that she was crying, while watching Beaches, b/c if he would have been seated next to her, then obviously he had to console her. But where he was seated, that's a big move. You have the classic nail people, who are all over the world, and that they're always talking about you, everybody knows that. And Frank Costanza is at his greatest. What the hell is a face like a big apple pie? I don't know (in Kramer's voice). As if all of these hilarious things weren't enough, you get your first J. Peterman, who is at his utmost brilliance. Who else in Seinfeld can say anything to the line "I don't even know where I'm going.", and then come up with such a brilliant line as "That's the best way to get someplace you've never been." That truly made my season. Well done all, well done.
This season was one of the greats. Not as good as Season 5, at least in terms of Top 50 eps, but better than the first 3 seasons. 9 episodes made the Top 50 during the 2nd Siyum, then in the 3rd Siyum, nothing was changed, thereby making the number static at 9 out of 24 episodes, compared to 0 out of 5 episodes in Season 1, 1 out of 12 in Season 2, 8 out of 23 episodes in Season 3, 8 out of 24 episodes in Season 4, and 14 out of 22 episodes in Season 5 made the Top 50. This is a testament to its greatness. LD, LC, JS, JA, JLD, MR, WK, PB, KP, SM, BB, PC, and HS all did excellent jobs writing and acting, while AA did a great job directing, in these hilarious episodes of Seinfeld. Props all around to all who injected a bit of joy and comedy into the bloodstream of Season 6. That said, let us enter Season 7 together in joy and harmony, b/c although Season 6 did have 9 out of 24 episodes making the Top 50, Season 7 has 13 out of 24, that's more than half the season for those who can't count. So, it's better than Season 6, which was already one of the most hilarious seasons. In any event, see you there friend of friends.
Adam - Season 6 on the whole was somewhat of a disappointment. You have one episode for me that would be on my Top 10, 6:24 The Understudy. But comparing Season 6 to Season 5 is like comparing apples to oranges. Greatness to goodness. After Season 5, you felt that the best has yet to come and that it would either duplicate its 12 Top 50 episodes or even surpass it. But not only did it not duplicate it, it lost 4 episodes to make it only 8. That alone shows how this season was kind of a disappointment. Nevertheless, it is still much better than the first 3 seasons, but it does not beat the other seasons. They did a great job ending said season on an extremely high note with 6:24 The Understudy. Now let's take that into the new season and welcome Season 7 with open arms. 8 out of 24, compared to 0 out of 5 episodes in Season 1, 0 out of 12 in Season 2, 6 out of 23 in Season3, and 5 out of 24 in Season 4, and 12 out of 22 episodes in Season 5 made the Top 50.
EPISODE GUIDE from Jerry Seinfeld: The Entire Domain by Kathleen Tracy
110."The Understudy" (May 18, 1995)
SUMMARY Jerry is dating Bette Midler's understudy. George and Jerry are suspected, by the cast of Bette's show
and Kramer, of deliberately injuring the star during a softball game so the girlfriend can perform in her place.
Kramer becomes Bette's personal assistant. Elaine thinks the Korean manicurists are making fun of her, so she
takes George's father with her to translate. She also meets the owner of a catalog, J. Peterman, and gets herself a
new job.
DIRECTOR Andy Ackerman
TELEPLAY Marjorie Gross and Carol Leifer
GUEST CAST Bette Midler (Herself); William Bastiani (Vendor #2); Bok Yun Chon (Lotus); Amy Hill (Kim);
June Kyoto Lu (Ruby); Adelaide Miller (Gennice); Vonnie C. Rhee (Sunny); Craig Thomas (Player #1); Michael
James McDonald (Player #2); Lou DiMaggio (Stagehand); Jason Beck (Umpire); Bob Shaw (Cabbie); Johnny
Silver (Vendor #1)
RECURRING CAST John O'Hurley (Jacopo "J." Peterman); Jerry Stiller (Frank Costanza)
