The Bookstore

"**The Bookstore**"
"The Bookstore"
Seinfeld episode
Episode no.	Season 9; Episode 17
Directed by	Andy Ackerman
Story by	Spike Feresten and Darin Henry & Mark Jaffe
Teleplay by	Spike Feresten
Production code	917
Original air date	April 9, 1998
Guest appearances
	Wayne Knight as Newman ; Barney Martin as Morty Seinfeld ; Liz Sheridan as Helen Seinfeld ; Len Lesser as Uncle Leo ; John O'Hurley as J. Peterman; Jonathan Penner as Zach; Ted Rooney as Crichton; Jon Gries as Rusty; Sonya Eddy as Rebecca DeMornay; Merrin Dungey as cashier; Joe Goddbiff as Hobo Joe; Ruth Cohen as Ruthie Cohen (uncredited);
Episode chronology
← Previous; "The Burning"	Next →; "The Frogger"
	Seinfeld season 9
	List of episodes

Last updated October 31, 2024

"The Bookstore" is the 173rd episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld . This was the 17th episode for the ninth and final season. It aired on April 9, 1998.^[1] In this episode, Jerry catches his Uncle Leo in the act of shoplifting, George is forced to buy a book after he is caught reading it in the bookstore's public bathroom, and Kramer and Newman attempt to start a rickshaw business.

Plot

Jerry and George are at a bookstore, Brentano's, where George hopes to meet women. Jerry spots Uncle Leo shoplifting. He confronts Leo about it privately, and Leo promises to return the book, but on a subsequent visit, Jerry sees him shoplifting again. Jerry rats out Leo to the Brentano's security guard, intending only to scare him straight, but because Leo has a prior conviction, he now faces jail time. Jerry apologizes to Uncle Leo, but Leo tells him he never forgets when he's been betrayed. Jerry has nightmares about Leo seeking revenge on him.

George takes a book into the bookstore bathroom and later tries to put it back on a shelf, but the manager says he cannot after the book has been in the bathroom, forcing George to buy it. George tries to return it, but the book has been flagged as being in the bathroom. George tries to donate his book to charity, but even they won't take the marked book. George plans to get even with Brentano's by stealing a copy of the same book and returning it to get his money back. Jerry tries to talk the same manager who caught George into letting Leo off lightly, but the store is having problems with theft, so he needs to "make an example" of someone. Realizing he can sacrifice someone else to save Leo, Jerry rats on George for his attempted shoplifting.

At the annual Peterman party, Elaine is depressed by the other staff showing her up dancing, so she and a man named Zach get drunk and make out at their table. George suggests Elaine tell everyone that she and Zach are dating, so she won't be known as the "office skank". However, she doesn't clear this with Zach, so he openly makes out with another woman. Elaine plans to use his "cheating" as her reason for ending the fake relationship. However, J. Peterman informs her that Zach is an opium addict, and makes Elaine help him quit cold turkey. Elaine gets through it without trouble, and the experience inspires her to pitch a "detox poncho" for the catalog.

Kramer and Newman plan to run a rickshaw service. They interview potential rickshaw pullers; however, one of the candidates steals the rickshaw. Newman and Kramer track it down. Kramer loses the counting-out game to determine who will pull it back. When Kramer gets tired of pulling Newman in the rickshaw up a hill and sets it down, the rickshaw runs backward over Zach.

Production

The episode's Jerry story was inspired by a news item the episode's writer, Spike Feresten, saw on TV, about the rampant shoplifting being committed by the elderly.^[2]

The table read for the episode was held on February 14, 1998.^[2] The opening montage of Kramer in Jerry's apartment was filmed February 16, followed by a live audience taping on February 18, during which most of the scenes were filmed.^[2] At the last minute, the Kramer story for the episode was dumped. In the original story, Kramer finds an overworked cabbie named Mohabbit (played by Ted Davis) sleeping at the wheel. Kramer offers to take over his shift for a few hours each day, but his incompetence as a driver leads to the taxicab being towed. Mohabbit and Kramer then use Kramer's car as a taxicab. This story was replaced by the rickshaw story with Newman, which was filmed on March 1.^[2] To get the sequence with the runaway rickshaw, which was filmed on location in Los Angeles, the rickshaw was hitched to a truck which pulled Newman actor Wayne Knight along, and the truck was erased from the shots in post-production.^[3]

Controversy

In this episode, J. Peterman referred to opium as "the Chinaman's nightcap". The episode prompted many Asian American viewers, including author Maxine Hong Kingston, to send letters of protest. In her letter, Kingston wrote that the term is "equivalent to niggers for blacks and kikes for Jews". Media watchdog Media Action Network for Asian Americans (MANAA) called on NBC to issue a public apology. NBC did not issue an apology, but it removed the offending term from the episode in the episode's rerun in May 1998. NBC's executive vice president for broadcast standards and content policy sent MANAA a letter stating that the network never intended to offend. MANAA was pleased with the studio's response despite the lack of an apology, and Kingston, while disappointed there was no apology, was pleased that the term was removed from the episode.^[4] As of October 2024, the term is restored in the streaming version of the show on Netflix.

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References

↑ "Seinfeld Season 9 Episodes". TV Guide . Archived from the original on December 14, 2021. Retrieved December 14, 2021.
1 2 3 4 Seinfeld Season 9: Notes About Nothing - "The Bookstore" (DVD). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. 2007.
↑ Seinfeld Season 9: Inside Look - "The Bookstore" (DVD). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. 2007.
↑ 'Seinfeld' Edits Out Anti-Asian Joke Archived 2007-10-10 at the Wayback Machine , AsianWeek, July 9–15, 1998

External links

"The Bookstore" at IMDb

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[tvguide-1] "Seinfeld Season 9 Episodes". TV Guide . Archived from the original on December 14, 2021. Retrieved December 14, 2021.

[NaN-2] 1 2 3 4 Seinfeld Season 9: Notes About Nothing - "The Bookstore" (DVD). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. 2007.

[3] Seinfeld Season 9: Inside Look - "The Bookstore" (DVD). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. 2007.

[4] 'Seinfeld' Edits Out Anti-Asian Joke Archived 2007-10-10 at the Wayback Machine , AsianWeek, July 9–15, 1998

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v t e Seinfeld episodes
Season 1	"The Seinfeld Chronicles" "The Stake Out" "The Robbery" "Male Unbonding" "The Stock Tip"
Season 2	"The Ex-Girlfriend" "The Pony Remark" "The Jacket" "The Phone Message" "The Apartment" "The Statue" "The Revenge" "The Heart Attack" "The Deal" "The Baby Shower" "The Chinese Restaurant" "The Busboy"
Season 3	"The Note" "The Truth" "The Pen" "The Dog" "The Library" "The Parking Garage" "The Cafe" "The Tape" "The Nose Job" "The Stranded" "The Alternate Side" "The Red Dot" "The Subway" "The Pez Dispenser" "The Suicide" "The Fix-Up" "The Boyfriend"† "The Limo" "The Good Samaritan" "The Letter" "The Parking Space" "The Keys"
Season 4	"The Trip"† "The Pitch" "The Ticket" "The Wallet" "The Watch" "The Bubble Boy" "The Cheever Letters" "The Opera" "The Virgin" "The Contest" "The Airport" "The Pick" "The Movie" "The Visa" "The Shoes" "The Outing" "The Old Man" "The Implant" "The Junior Mint" "The Smelly Car" "The Handicap Spot" "The Pilot"†
Season 5	"The Mango" "The Puffy Shirt" "The Glasses" "The Sniffing Accountant" "The Bris" "The Lip Reader" "The Non-Fat Yogurt" "The Barber" "The Masseuse" "The Cigar Store Indian" "The Conversion" "The Stall" "The Dinner Party" "The Marine Biologist" "The Pie" "The Stand In" "The Wife" "The Raincoats"† "The Fire" "The Hamptons" "The Opposite"
Season 6	"The Chaperone" "The Big Salad" "The Pledge Drive" "The Chinese Woman" "The Couch" "The Gymnast" "The Soup" "The Mom & Pop Store" "The Secretary" "The Race" "The Switch" "The Label Maker" "The Scofflaw" "The Highlights of 100"† "The Beard" "The Kiss Hello" "The Doorman" "The Jimmy" "The Doodle" "The Fusilli Jerry" "The Diplomat's Club" "The Face Painter" "The Understudy"
Season 7	"The Engagement" "The Postponement" "The Maestro" "The Wink" "The Hot Tub" "The Soup Nazi" "The Secret Code" "The Pool Guy" "The Sponge" "The Gum" "The Rye" "The Caddy" "The Seven" "The Cadillac"† "The Shower Head" "The Doll" "The Friar's Club" "The Wig Master" "The Calzone" "The Bottle Deposit"† "The Wait Out" "The Invitations"
Season 8	"The Foundation" "The Soul Mate" "The Bizarro Jerry" "The Little Kicks" "The Package" "The Fatigues" "The Checks" "The Chicken Roaster" "The Abstinence" "The Andrea Doria" "The Little Jerry" "The Money" "The Comeback" "The Van Buren Boys" "The Susie" "The Pothole" "The English Patient" "The Nap" "The Yada Yada" "The Millennium" "The Muffin Tops" "The Summer of George"
Season 9	"The Butter Shave" "The Voice" "The Serenity Now" "The Blood" "The Junk Mail" "The Merv Griffin Show" "The Slicer" "The Betrayal" "The Apology" "The Strike" "The Dealership" "The Reverse Peephole" "The Cartoon" "The Strongbox" "The Wizard" "The Burning" "The Bookstore" "The Frogger" "The Maid" "The Puerto Rican Day" "The Chronicle"† "The Finale"†
† Indicates two-part episode