The Parking Space
"The Parking Space" | |
---|---|
Seinfeld episode | |
Episode no. |
Season 3 Episode 21 |
Directed by | Tom Cherones |
Written by | Larry David and Greg Daniels |
Production code | 321 |
Original air date | April 22, 1992 |
Guest actors | |
"The Parking Space" is the 39th episode of the sitcom Seinfeld. The episode was the 22nd episode of the third season. It aired on April 22, 1992. The story of the parking confrontation was inspired by a similar incident that happened to writer Greg Daniels' father.[1]
Plot
Kramer tells Jerry about his friend Mike (Lee Arenberg) calling Jerry a phony. After borrowing Jerry's car to go to a flea market, Elaine and George get into a minor accident, noticing afterward that the car is starting to make a strange clanking noise; to explain it, Elaine comes up with a wild story involving a pack of teenagers with a gun.
While driving back from the flea market, George and Elaine begin looking for a parking space near Jerry's building so they can meet him at his apartment to watch a big televised fight. Eventually, George finds a space, and decides to back into it. He spends a good deal of time positioning himself perfectly (bragging to Elaine about his ability to parallel park). When he starts backing into the space, Mike, also there for the fight at Jerry's, enters the same space, front first.
The two argue over who is entitled to the space, all the while blocking traffic. Mike argues that he entered the space first, while George argues that he saw it first and was simply positioning himself, entitling him to the space. People walking by on the street witness the altercation and begin debating with one another on the circumstances of who deserves the spot. Eventually, a truck driver (played by Michael Costanza, a friend of Jerry Seinfeld's who inspired George Costanza's name) drives up and needs to get through, but the two cars are blocking his away, so he orders them to move the cars. To make way for the truck, George and Mike get neutral people to move the cars and position them perfectly after the truck is moved.
Jerry and Kramer also come down to try to settle the problem. Jerry inadvertently tells a little boy named Matthew (John Christian Graas) that his father, who owns the "fat free" yogurt store, is closing the store, and the boy gets upset. Kramer mistakenly thinks the boy's mother is pregnant. Near the end of the episode, two police officers finally arrive to supposedly resolve the situation. However, when one tells Mike to move his car, the other argues against him, and by now, it is nighttime.
At the end of the episode, Jerry is seen dashing back into his apartment, just in time to see the last few seconds of the count for knockout.
References
- ↑ Writing 'The Office': interview Greg Daniels and Mindy Kaling (NPR, November 2, 2006)
External links
- The Parking Space - Seinfeldscripts.com