Jerry Seinfeld's Least Favorite Seinfeld Episode

For nine seasons, “Seinfeld” was one of the funniest sitcoms ever to hit network television. The show abandoned the conventional wisdom of what a comedy should be (much to the chagrin of some NBC executives), but gradually won over television viewers with its sharp-edged tone and divine ensemble cast that included Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander, and Michael Richards. And the fact that its humor can get pitch dark never stopped viewers from causing a drop in ratings. Although more than a few fans of the show were taken aback when George's fiancee Susan died from licking cheap envelopes at the end of season seven, they got over their shock and returned in the fall.

The show hit its share of nerves, except for Susan's shocking death. “Puerto Rican Day” episodePublic protests were sparked by , which shows Kramer accidentally setting a Puerto Rican flag on fire and stomping on it to put out the flames. Meanwhile, the actors once rebelled against the episode where Elina gets a gun (script sold for for quite a lot of money at auction). And Jason Alexander was famous for “The Bris” which he found offensive in the ritual torture of Jews.

What about the man who gave the series its name? Did Jerry Seinfeld ever feel like “Seinfeld” went too far? You might be surprised to learn that he did, and it's one of the series' early classics.

The Season 3 episode “The Alternate Side” is perhaps best known for launching Seinfeld's catchphrase, “These pretzels are making me thirsty.” This is the only line of dialogue given to Kramer when he stars in the Woody Allen film, from which he is fired after accidentally breaking a beer glass and sending a shard into the director's eye. While this is going on, George gets a temporary job re-parking the neighbors cars on the days when the other side of the street is being cleaned (in George's Circle Five, I think).

The element of this episode that upset Seinfeld involved Elaine's 66-year-old boyfriend having a stroke just as she was about to divorce him. The man's condition worsens when George's accident causes a traffic jam in the street, preventing him from getting to the ambulance and its medics.

In 2012, while appearing on Bravo's Watch What Happens Live, Seinfeld told Andy Cohen, “There was one instance where a guy had a stroke and we were nursing him on the couch. I felt very uncomfortable in that episode.” Seinfeld didn't elaborate on his discomfort with the scenario, but it's possible that getting older and having more people who have had strokes played a role. It stands out as a particularly dark episode during the series' run, but again the show killed susan! And then it led to her death for a grimly disturbing series of episodes the following season. But everyone has their sensitive areas, and this was apparently Seinfeld.