The Big Picture
Jason Alexander earned seven Emmy nominations for his portrayal of George Costanza on Seinfeld Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander, Michael Richards, and Jerry Seinfeld each contributed to the show’s massive success. Jason Alexander threatened to quit Seinfeld when his character’s role started diminishing, but Larry David ensured he remained in the show, allowing George to become a fan-favorite and giving Alexander the opportunity to become a sitcom legend.
Ask Seinfeld fans who their favorite character is and you’re sure to get a wide array of answers. Ironically, the man behind the title, Jerry Seinfeld, isn’t usually found at the top of the list. Based on series co-creator Larry David, Jason Alexander’s George Costanza might just be the best because he is the worst. The guy was relieved when he found out that his fiancé, Susan (Heidi Swedberg), died from toxic poisoning by licking the envelopes for their wedding invitations. He was Jerry’s best friend, but he wasn’t a good friend. George’s wants came first and it was hilarious to watch him have a meltdown and get his comeuppance in nearly every episode.
Jason Alexander was so great in his portrayal of George that he was nominated at the Emmys for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series seven years in a row, yet somehow never won. Those nominations showed how integral the character of George and the man playing him was to Seinfeld. He was just as important as Jerry himself (as were Michael Richards as Kramer and Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Elaine). There couldn’t be a Seinfeld without George Costanza, but there almost was, when in Season 3, Jason Alexander went to Larry David and threatened to quit over a reason that seems hard to imagine now.
Seinfeld
The continuing misadventures of neurotic New York City stand-up comedian Jerry Seinfeld and his equally neurotic New York City friends.
Release Date July 5, 1989
Cast Jerry Seinfeld, Jason Alexander, Michael Richards, Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Main Genre Comedy
Genres Comedy
Rating TV-PG
Seasons 9
Studio NBC
Elaine’s ‘Seinfeld’ Popularity Took Away From George
When the series began in 1989, it was a series far from what it would become. Seinfeld’s 1989 pilot wasn’t even called Seinfeld. Instead, it was titled The Seinfeld Chronicles. George and Jerry were there, but there was no Elaine and Kramer was more creepy and less lovable than the next-door neighbor named Kessler. Elaine Benes would show up as Jerry’s ex-girlfriend in the next episode. There was a little teasing of the traditional will-they-won’t-they romantic sitcom trope between the two in the beginning, but thankfully it went nowhere when Jerry and Elaine realized they were better off as friends. Seinfeld wasn’t about tradition and there certainly wasn’t a place for lasting romance.
It was not hard for Elaine to stand out as the only woman in the group of friends. That minority status wasn’t the only reason why Elaine became such a big part of Seinfeld. Instead, she steered clear of sitcom tropes and could be just as dirty, vindictive, and self-absorbed as the men were. The Jerry and George dynamic of two guy best friends complaining about their lives was nothing new, but to have a friendship between the opposite sex where neither wanted to be with the other romantically was something we didn’t see much of in that era. Julia Louis-Dreyfus was so good as Elaine that she was nominated for seven Emmys too, even taking home the trophy in 1996.
So many episodes of Seinfeld throughout Seasons 2 and 3 focus more on Jerry and Elaine, such as Jerry’s worry about Elaine possibly living so close to him in “The Apartment” or the time they briefly got back together in “The Deal.” That doesn’t mean George faded away. He still had many great moments, but there were often times when it was his job to react to someone else’s story by giving a funny reaction to whatever was happening. Then came the time when George shockingly wasn’t in a Seinfeld episode at all.
Jason Alexander Told Larry David He Felt Mistreated
The third episode of Season 3 of Seinfeld was called “The Pen.” Here, Jerry and Elaine leave New York City to take a trip to Florida to visit Jerry’s parents at the retirement village they live in. It’s not one of the best episodes of the series, but it’s still a good one, with the plot focusing on Jerry being gifted a pen from a resident that can write upside down like an astronaut pen. Jerry taking the pen was a bad move, as he wasn’t supposed to accept it. Poor Elaine also has to sleep on the guest sofa couch, with the bar going across it so uncomfortable that it makes her back hurt, and she can’t get any sleep. There are two huge pieces missing from this episode, however. There is no George, and no Kramer. (Kramer wasn’t in “The Chinese Restaurant” from Season 2 either.)
For Jason Alexander, this was incredibly frustrating. He was already watching his role as George Costanza start to diminish, and now, somehow, he wasn’t in an episode at all. That’s when he decided to approach Larry David, the man his character was based on. According to Jennifer Keishin Armstrong’s book, Seinfeldia: How a Show About Nothing Changed Everything, Alexander told David, “If you write me out again, do it permanently.” When Larry David attempted to explain how difficult it was to make room for four main characters in every episode, Alexander snapped back at him. “Don’t tell me your problems. If you don’t need me here, I don’t want to be here.”
Jason Alexander has confirmed this to be true. In an interview with Access Hollywood in 2017, he said he told David, “If you do that again, do it permanently. If you don’t need me to be here every week, I’d just as soon go back home and do what I was doing.” Alexander talked about how he could go back to working in theater, which is what he was doing before he got the Seinfeld gig. He added, “Thank God (David) didn’t say take a hike, because I would have had no life and no career.”
‘Seinfeld’ Found a Way To Include All Four Characters
It was a bold move for Jason Alexander to make such a comment, as he wasn’t the star that he would become. TV show history is littered with actors who thought they were bigger than the show, only to find themselves punished for their behavior. Alexander wasn’t being George Costanza-level selfish, though. He didn’t necessarily think he was bigger than Seinfeld, but he simply wanted to be a part of it. Larry David didn’t punish Alexander by writing him out of more episodes or by reducing his role. Not only did Jason Alexander appear in every Seinfeld episode for the rest of its run, but his character also grew and became more integral, growing into someone even more wildly neurotic, to the point that he became the favorite character for many of the show’s biggest fans.
It was Season 4 when Seinfeld really took off as a pop culture phenomenon. That’s when everything really started to click, thanks first to its most famous episode, “The Contest.” More and more, Jerry, Elaine, George, and Kramer were always together, and when they weren’t, their separate stories somehow crossed with each other to bring everything back on. Season 4 is when Seinfeld really let loose. It was already getting better by the week, but in 1992 and 1993 is when the show erupted in viewership because it decided to throw everything at the wall, and nine times out of ten, it stuck.
Most of George Costanza’s best (and sometimes sadly relatable) moments come from Season 3 onward. Season 5 focused on George with classic episodes like “The Marine Biologist” and “The Opposite.” Later, we’d get George’s great arc with Susan and all the fun episodes where his job with the New York Yankees was highlighted. This is when Jason Alexander’s annual Emmy nominations happened. That would have all been lost if Jason Alexander had quit. Instead of being a sitcom legend, he’d still be a theater actor. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Seinfeld is available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.
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