The Millennium (Seinfeld)
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"The Millennium" is the 154th episode of the
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...
''
Seinfeld ''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld. It aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, over nine seasons and List of Seinfeld episodes, 180 episodes. It stars Seinfeld as Jerry Seinfeld ( ...
''. It was the 20th episode of the eighth season and aired on May 1, 1997. In this episode, Kramer and
Newman Newman is a surname of English origin and may refer to many people: The surname Newman is widespread in the core Anglosphere. A *Abram Newman (1736–1799), British grocer *Adrian Newman (disambiguation), multiple people *Al Newman (born 1960) ...
plan rival
millennium A millennium (plural millennia or millenniums) is a period of one thousand years, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting point (ini ...
parties,
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 Presiden ...
tries to get fired in the most spectacular manner possible, and
Jerry Jerry may refer to: Animals * Jerry (Grand National winner), racehorse, winner of the 1840 Grand National * Jerry (St Leger winner), racehorse, winner of 1824 St Leger Stakes Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Jerry'' (film), a 2006 Indian fil ...
ends up in a three-way struggle with his girlfriend and his girlfriend's stepmother over what numbers they appear at on each other's
speed dial Speed dial is a function available on many telephone systems allowing the user to place a call by pressing a reduced number of keys. This function is particularly useful for phone users who dial certain numbers on a regular basis. In most case ...
.


Plot

The
New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...
management asks
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 Presiden ...
to leave the
New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...
and become their head
scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement **Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom **Scouts BSA, sectio ...
. He decides to leave in a blaze of glory with a dramatic firing, but his efforts only end up making him look better. He wears
Babe Ruth George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Su ...
's uniform and gets food stains on it, but Mr. Steinbrenner praises him, thinking it shows an "out with the old, in with the new" mentality. George runs through
Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the origi ...
during a game, wearing a flesh-colored body suit, that wins the enthusiasm of fans. He destroys a Yankees'
World Series trophy The Commissioner's Trophy is a trophy presented each year by the Commissioner of Baseball to Major League Baseball’s (MLB) World Series champion. Recent trophy designs contain flags representing each team in North America's top two league ...
by hitching it to his car and driving through the parking lot while screaming insults with a
megaphone A megaphone, speaking-trumpet, bullhorn, blowhorn, or loudhailer is usually a portable or hand-held, cone-shaped acoustic horn used to amplify a person's voice or other sounds and direct it in a given direction. The sound is introduced into ...
. This finally brings the ire of Steinbrenner, but Mr. Wilhelm takes the blame for ordering the destruction of the trophy, gets fired and takes the job with the Mets. Elaine tries to run an ethnic-themed clothes store called Putumayo out of business after receiving bad
customer service Customer service is the assistance and advice provided by a company to those people who buy or use its products or services. Each industry requires different levels of customer service, but in the end, the idea of a well-performed service is that ...
. She tries shopping at a competing store, Cinco de Mayo, but discovers that the same woman owns both stores. She tells Kramer to change all the price tags to 99 cents, but he accidentally breaks the pricing gun before he can finish. Instead, he takes the
desiccant A desiccant is a hygroscopic substance that is used to induce or sustain a state of dryness (desiccation) in its vicinity; it is the opposite of a humectant. Commonly encountered pre-packaged desiccants are solids that absorb water. Desiccant ...
packs from the clothes, eats some chips the store gives out to customers, and unknowingly drops one of the desiccant packs in the
salsa Salsa most often refers to: * Salsa (Mexican cuisine), a variety of sauces used as condiments * Salsa music, a popular style of Latin American music * Salsa (dance), a Latin dance associated with Salsa music Salsa or SALSA may also refer to: A ...
. Kramer and
Newman Newman is a surname of English origin and may refer to many people: The surname Newman is widespread in the core Anglosphere. A *Abram Newman (1736–1799), British grocer *Adrian Newman (disambiguation), multiple people *Al Newman (born 1960) ...
are planning rival
millennium A millennium (plural millennia or millenniums) is a period of one thousand years, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting point (ini ...
parties. Newman's party is called "Newmannium". Fearing all his friends will go to Newmannium, Kramer accepts an offer to co-host Newmannium instead, under the condition that they do not invite
Jerry Jerry may refer to: Animals * Jerry (Grand National winner), racehorse, winner of the 1840 Grand National * Jerry (St Leger winner), racehorse, winner of 1824 St Leger Stakes Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Jerry'' (film), a 2006 Indian fil ...
. However, moved by loyalty to Jerry, Kramer resurrects his own party and gets Elaine to come. Newman lets Jerry come to Newmannium in exchange for Elaine's presence. Jerry points out to Newman that since he booked Newmannium for the Millennium new year, the hotel would have scheduled it on December 31, 2000 due to there being no
year zero A year zero does not exist in the Anno Domini (AD) calendar year system commonly used to number years in the Gregorian calendar (nor in its predecessor, the Julian calendar); in this system, the year is followed directly by year . However, the ...
, while
millennium celebrations The millennium celebrations were a worldwide, coordinated series of events to celebrate and commemorate the end of 1999 and the start of the year 2000 in the Gregorian calendar. The celebrations were held as marking the end of the 2nd millennium ...
are held almost universally on December 31, 1999, making Newman's party a year late. After a subpar date, Jerry notices his girlfriend, Valerie, has moved his number from number 7 to 9 on her
speed dial Speed dial is a function available on many telephone systems allowing the user to place a call by pressing a reduced number of keys. This function is particularly useful for phone users who dial certain numbers on a regular basis. In most case ...
. He takes her on an extravagant date to get his speed dial "ranking" boosted up to 1. Her domineering stepmom demands Jerry surrender the number 1 spot. When Valerie hears of this, she takes her stepmom off speed dial altogether. Her stepmom instigates trouble by putting Jerry on her speed dial. Valerie has Jerry negotiate to get himself off her stepmom's speed dial in exchange for Valerie putting her back on her speed dial, but the stepmom only concedes to hiding Jerry's number in her emergency speed dials. Later, she's poisoned by eating the desiccant-contaminated salsa. When Valerie calls
poison control A poison control center is a medical service that is able to provide immediate, free, and expert treatment advice and assistance over the telephone in case of exposure to poisonous or hazardous substances. Poison control centers answer question ...
, Jerry answers. Valerie is disgusted at this and hangs up.


Production

The
table read The read-through, table-read, or table work is a stage of film, television, radio, and theatre production when an organized reading around a table of the screenplay or script by the actors with speaking parts is conducted. In addition to the ca ...
for the episode was held on March 5, 1997, and filming took place on March 11. The fans cavorting with the bodysuit-clad George were played by ''Seinfeld'' writers
Steve Koren Steve Koren is an American writer/producer and screenwriter. Most notably, he has written for ''Saturday Night Live'', '' Seinfeld'', and ''Veep''. He also wrote or co-wrote the movies '' Bruce Almighty'', '' Click'', '' A Night at the Roxbury ...
,
Gregg Kavet Gregg Kavet is a writer and director who worked on NBC's ''Seinfeld'' for several seasons with collaborator Andy Robin. The team wrote episodes including "The Jimmy", "The Hot Tub", "The Caddy", " The Bottle Deposit", "The Fatigues", " The Comebac ...
,
Andy Robin Andy Robin is a writer who worked on NBC's ''Seinfeld'', alone and with collaborator Gregg Kavet. Their episode "The Fatigues" won the 1997 Writers Guild of America Award. Robin and Kavet wrote and directed the feature film ''Live Free or Die'' ...
, and
Spike Feresten Spike Feresten (born ) is an American television writer, screenwriter, comedian and television personality, who is best known for his work on ''Seinfeld'', writing for David Letterman, and hosting the late night ''Talkshow with Spike Feresten'' ...
. Cut material from the episode included a
callback Callback may refer to: * Callback (comedy), a joke which refers to one previously told * Callback (computer programming), executable code that is passed as a parameter to other code * Callback (telecommunications), the telecommunications event tha ...
to " The Comeback": When George is talking about getting fired, Kramer asks "Is Steinbrenner married?", prompting George to angrily shoot back "I'm not saying I had sex with his wife!" The scenes with Jerry and Valerie’s mother parody ''
The Graduate ''The Graduate'' is a 1967 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Mike Nichols and written by Buck Henry and Calder Willingham, based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Charles Webb, who wrote it shortly after graduating from Wil ...
''.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Millennium Seinfeld (season 8) episodes 1997 American television episodes New Year television episodes Fiction set in 1999 Fiction featuring the turn of the third millennium