The Dealership

"**The Dealership**"
"The Dealership"
Seinfeld episode
Episode no.	Season 9; Episode 11
Directed by	Andy Ackerman
Written by	Steve Koren
Production code	911
Original air date	January 8, 1998
Guest appearances
	Patrick Warburton as David Puddy; Daniel Hagen as Rick; Joel McCrary as Don; Michael Kagan as Willie; Dee Freeman as Service Assistant; Rif Hutton as Salesman; Howard Mann as Willie Sr.; Catherine Schreiber as Saleswoman; Steve Susskind as Customer #1; Loretta Fox as Customer #2; Deirdre Lovejoy as Customer #3 (uncredited); Steve Koren as Cab Driver (uncredited);
Episode chronology
← Previous; "The Strike"	Next →; "The Reverse Peephole"
	Seinfeld season 9
	List of episodes

Last updated April 06, 2024

"The Dealership" is the 167th episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld . This was the 11th episode of the ninth and final season.^[1] It aired on January 8, 1998.^[2] This episode follows the characters' escapades at a car dealership, which Jerry is visiting in hopes of getting an insider deal on a new car through his friendship with David Puddy.

Plot

Jerry plans to buy a car with an insider deal from David Puddy, who has been promoted to car salesman. George gives Jerry tips to avoid being conned. Jerry complains to Elaine about Puddy's new habit of giving high fives, which he considers crude and primitive. Elaine passes on these criticisms to Puddy, leading them to break up. Jerry's insider deal becomes less favorable, as Puddy starts ringing up charges for extras.

Kramer tells a salesman, Rick, that he makes the car buying decisions for Jerry and demands a test drive. Kramer gives the car a full test of a Kramer daily routine, testing the limits of its fuel tank (as he often drives at near empty when borrowing Jerry's car, to avoid paying for gas). Rick is thrilled when they get the gasoline needle below the red line. With the dealership in sight, they drive on to see how far they can go. The car finally runs out of gas. Kramer exits the car and leaves without taking Rick's business card.

George borrows a dollar to buy a Twix candy bar from a vending machine, but the machine rejects Jerry's crinkled bill. He asks a mechanic for change; the mechanic says he has none. George inserts change collected from under the vending machine, but the Twix bar catches on its ring. George seeks assistance from a salesman. When they return to the machine, the dangling Twix bar and the one behind it are gone. George sees the mechanic eating them, but he claims it was a 5th Avenue bar.

Jerry enlists George's tough negotiating skills to bargain with Puddy, but all George can think about is the Twix bar. George complains to the manager about the mechanic, then sets up a ten-candy bar lineup in order to prove the mechanic cannot tell a Twix bar from a 5th Avenue bar, only to find his lineup being eaten by the dealership staff. Irritated by their incorrect guesses at what they are eating, he reveals that the entire lineup was Twix bars, in an attempt to set up the mechanic. To get a great deal on his car, Jerry reconciles Elaine and Puddy. Puddy agrees to give Jerry a great deal, but Jerry loses it by refusing Puddy a high five. Jerry, George, and Elaine take a cab ride home.

Production

Elaine's "bossy" pose (raising one finger while saying "David") was worked out by actors Jerry Seinfeld and Julia Louis-Dreyfus on the set.^[4]

Reception

In a 2012 retrospective review for The A.V. Club , David Sims argued that "The Dealership" is representative of a subtle drop in quality that Seinfeld experienced in its ninth season. Comparing it to two similar episodes from Seinfeld's earliest seasons, "The Chinese Restaurant" and "The Parking Garage", he opined that it lacks their brilliance because its scenarios are more bizarre. He particularly criticized the George story, noting that despite the story centering on George's inability to get a Twix bar, he suddenly acquires ten of them with no explanation, and instead of eating them he uses them in an incomprehensible scheme. He summed up that the episode, though still "laugh-out-loud funny", makes the viewer miss Seinfeld's earlier years.^[3]

Related Research Articles

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, with a total of nine seasons consisting of 180 episodes. The show's ensemble cast stars Seinfeld as a fictionalized version of himself and focuses on his personal life with three of his friends: best friend George Costanza, former girlfriend Elaine Benes, and neighbor from across the hall, Cosmo Kramer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elaine Benes</span> Major character on the TV show Seinfeld

Elaine Marie Benes is a fictional character on the American television sitcom Seinfeld, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Elaine's best friend in the sitcom is her ex-boyfriend Jerry Seinfeld, and she is also good friends with George Costanza and Cosmo Kramer. Louis-Dreyfus received critical acclaim for her performance as Elaine, winning an Emmy, a Golden Globe and five SAG Awards. She reprised the role during season 41 of Saturday Night Live in 2016.

"The Apology" is the 165th episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. This was the ninth episode for the ninth and final season. It first aired on December 11, 1997. In this episode, Jerry learns his girlfriend is a nudist, George tries to get an apology out of his old friend Jason Hanky through Hanky's participation in Alcoholics Anonymous's twelve-step program, and Kramer gives up on keeping his showers short, opting to instead spend all day in the shower.

"The Jacket" is the third episode of the second season of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld and the show's eighth episode overall. In the episode, Jerry Seinfeld buys an expensive suede jacket and has dinner with the father of his ex-girlfriend Elaine Benes. Elaine's father Alton, a war veteran and writer, makes Jerry and his friend George Costanza very uncomfortable. Elaine is delayed and Jerry and George are stuck with Alton waiting for her at the hotel.

"The Phone Message" is the ninth episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld, and the fourth of the show's second season. The episode concerns protagonist Jerry Seinfeld dating a woman who likes a commercial for cotton Dockers he dislikes. Meanwhile, his friend George Costanza leaves an obnoxious message on the answering machine of his girlfriend, and goes to great lengths to prevent her from hearing it.

"The Deal" is the ninth episode of the second season of NBC's Seinfeld, and the show's 14th episode overall. The episode centers on protagonists Jerry and Elaine Benes who decide to have a sexual relationship, with a set of ground rules. However, as their "relationship" progresses, they experience difficulties maintaining their original friendship.

"The Sniffing Accountant" is the 68th episode of the sitcom Seinfeld, being the fourth episode of the series' fifth season. It aired on NBC on October 7, 1993.

"The Fusilli Jerry" is the 107th episode of the sitcom Seinfeld. Featuring the introduction of David Puddy, the episode also features Kramer receiving vanity plates that say "ASSMAN" as well as marital problems between George's parents. This is the 21st episode of the sixth season. It aired on April 27, 1995.

"The Butter Shave" is the 157th episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. It is also the first episode of the ninth and final season. It aired on September 25, 1997. In this episode, George gets a new job and preferential treatment due to his co-workers mistakenly thinking he has a physical disability, Kramer rubs butter all over his body and accidentally burns it into his skin, and Elaine and David Puddy break up at the tail end of a European vacation, forcing them to endure an uncomfortable transatlantic flight together.

"The Voice" is the 158th episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. This was the second episode for the ninth and final season. It aired on October 2, 1997. The episode's title refers to a joke Jerry and his friends share about his girlfriend's stomach having a voice, which ends up coming between Jerry and his girlfriend. Meanwhile, a chance encounter with David Puddy leads to Elaine renewing their relationship, George sticks with a job where his co-workers all hate him because he has a one-year contract with the company, and Kramer hires an intern and works with him on creating an oil bladder system.

"The Junk Mail" is the 161st episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. It was the fifth episode of the ninth and final season. The episode aired on October 30, 1997. In this episode, Jerry is gifted a van by a childhood friend and cannot turn it down for fear of hurting his feelings, Elaine mistakenly thinks she has fallen in love when the sight of a man triggers memories of an old commercial he appeared in, and Kramer, tired of getting swamped with junk mail, tries to stop all delivery of his mail, only to uncover a conspiracy by the United States Postal Service to keep the public from realizing that mail is pointless. Produced when e-mail was becoming a mainstream form of communication, the episode reflected the popular prediction of the time that postal service would soon become obsolete.

"The Burning" is the sixteenth episode of the ninth and final season of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld, and the 172nd episode overall. This episode first aired on March 19, 1998. It was written by Jennifer Crittenden and directed by Andy Ackerman.

"The Finale" is an episode of the American television sitcom Seinfeld. As the two-part series finale, it comprises the 179th and 180th episodes of the show and the 23rd and 24th episodes of the ninth season. It aired on NBC on May 14, 1998, to an audience of 76 million viewers. In the preceding hour, a clip show called "The Chronicle" aired. The initial running time for the finale was 1 hour and 15 minutes.

"The Pie" is the 79th episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. This was the 15th episode for the fifth season. It aired on February 17, 1994. The episode's main running theme is characters adamantly refusing to eat certain foods served to them without giving an explanation. A store mannequin that looks just like Elaine is also a focus in multiple plot threads of the episode.

"The Mom & Pop Store" is the 94th episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. This was the eighth episode for the sixth season. It aired on November 17, 1994. In this episode, George buys a car said to have belonged to Jon Voight. Meanwhile, Kramer takes all of Jerry's sneakers to a "Mom and Pop" shoe repair store, leaving him with nothing but cowboy boots to wear while he tries to figure out whether or not he is invited to Tim Whatley's Thanksgiving party.

"The Doorman" is the 104th episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. This is the 18th episode for the sixth season. It aired on February 23, 1995. In this episode, Jerry and Elaine contend with a creepy doorman, George fears he is developing male breasts, and Kramer and Frank Costanza try to go into business with a bra for men.

"The Face Painter" is the 109th episode of NBC sitcom Seinfeld. It is the 23rd episode of the series's sixth season. It aired on May 11, 1995. The table reading for "The Face Painter" was held on March 26, 1995. In this episode, Jerry, Elaine, Kramer, and David Puddy go to two Stanley Cup playoff games, where Puddy dismays Elaine and an El Salvadoran priest with his rowdy displays of New Jersey Devils fandom. Meanwhile, Kramer holds a grudge against a chimpanzee who hit him with a banana peel, and George resolves to take the dramatic step of telling his girlfriend he loves her.

"The Soup Nazi" is the 116th episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld, which was the sixth episode of the seventh season. It first aired in the United States on November 2, 1995.

"The Maid" is the 175th episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. This was the 19th episode of the ninth and final season. It aired on April 30, 1998. In this episode, Jerry hires a maid and ends up having a sexual relationship with her, George tries to get people to give him a good nickname, and Elaine falls into a chain of phone problems after Kramer subscribes her phone number to an incessant fax service.

"The Reverse Peephole" is the 12th episode of the ninth season(the 168th overall) of the television comedy series Seinfeld. It was written by Spike Feresten and directed by Andy Ackerman. In this episode, Jerry gets rid of his wallet and ultimately replaces it with a European carry-all, Kramer and Newman face possible eviction after they reverse the peepholes on their doors and Newman begins an affair with the super's wife, and Elaine has to recover a friend's fur coat which she mistakenly threw out a window.

References

↑ "Seinfeld Season 9 Episodes". TV Guide . Retrieved December 14, 2021.
↑ "The Dealership" - TV.com
1 2 Sims, David (March 15, 2012). "The Dealership / The Reverse Peephole". The A.V. Club . Retrieved 21 May 2021.
↑ Louis-Dreyfus, Julia; Alexander, Jason; Warburton, Patrick; Ackerman, Andy (2007). Seinfeld Season 9: Audio Commentary - "The Dealership" (DVD). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

External links

"The Dealership" 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 . Retrieved December 14, 2021.

[2] "The Dealership" - TV.com

[SimsAV-3] 1 2 Sims, David (March 15, 2012). "The Dealership / The Reverse Peephole". The A.V. Club . Retrieved 21 May 2021.

[4] Louis-Dreyfus, Julia; Alexander, Jason; Warburton, Patrick; Ackerman, Andy (2007). Seinfeld Season 9: Audio Commentary - "The Dealership" (DVD). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

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