The Foundation (Seinfeld)

"**The Foundation**"
"The Foundation"
Seinfeld episode
Episode no.	Season 8; Episode 1
Directed by	Andy Ackerman
Written by	Alec Berg & Jeff Schaffer
Production code	801
Original air date	September 19, 1996
Guest appearances
	Janeane Garofalo as Jeannie; Susan Walters as Dolores; Bruce Davison as Wyck; Grace Zabriskie as Mrs. Ross; Warren Frost as Mr. Ross; John O'Hurley as J. Peterman; Joe Urla as Dugan; Todd Bosley as Joey; Diana Castle as Mrs. Zanfino; Stuart Quan as Sensei; Herb Mitchell as Businessman #1; Robert Louis Kempf as Businessman #2; Lawrence Mandley as Larry; Lauren Bowles as Waitress #1; Peggy Lane as Waitress #2; Paige Tamada as Clara; Robert Padnick as Willie; Ruth Cohen as Ruthie; Renee Fishman as Monk's Cafe Patron (uncredited);
Episode chronology
← Previous; "The Invitations"	Next →; "The Soul Mate"
	Seinfeld season 8
	List of episodes

Last updated April 06, 2024

"The Foundation" is the 135th episode of the American television sitcom Seinfeld . This was the first episode of the eighth season,^[1] and as such was the first episode in which Jerry Seinfeld assumed command of the show following the departure of its co-creator, Larry David. It was originally broadcast on the NBC network on September 19, 1996.^[1]

In the episode, following the death of his fiancée Susan Ross at the end of the previous season, George finds himself tasked with being on the board of directors at a foundation dedicated to her memory. Meanwhile, Kramer inspires Elaine to take charge after J. Peterman abandons his company and runs off to Myanmar (Burma), and Jerry discovers that his and George's severed engagements make them more attractive to women.

Plot

While George wishes to move on from his fiancée Susan's tragic demise, her parents want to keep her memory alive by creating a foundation in her honor, inspired by words of comfort Jerry told them at the funeral. Interrupting George's celebration of his rediscovered bachelorhood, the Rosses ask him to sit on the board of directors. George is horrified at the prospect of all his free time being sacrificed to the foundation but uncomfortable with refusing.

In a last demonstration of their remarkable similarity, Jerry and Jeannie Steinman simultaneously voice a desire to break off their engagement. Dolores from "The Junior Mint" asks Jerry out on a coffee date; he realizes that her interest in him was renewed because she heard of his engagement, which proves his willingness to commit. However, she doesn't believe him when he tells her the breakup was mutual and storms out. Still intrigued by how the engagement earned him a date, Jerry makes up a questionnaire to determine how a man's relationship history affects his attractiveness to women.

After a nervous breakdown, J. Peterman runs off to Myanmar and leaves Elaine in charge of his catalog. Kramer convinces Elaine she can run the company by telling her how he became a dominating karate student. She impresses the employees with her commanding attitude and puts her idea for an "urban sombrero" on the cover. Jerry, having learned that Kramer's karate classmates are preadolescent children, suggests Elaine visit Kramer at his class, hoping to wreck her newfound confidence. When she sees that Kramer has only been fighting kids, she angrily shoves him down. Emboldened by this, the kids lure Kramer to an alley and beat him up in retaliation. Elaine hears that her urban sombrero diminishes the alertness of those who wear it, further ruining her confidence.

George is informed that Susan's parents planned to give him and Susan an opulent townhome and a considerable portion of their riches as wedding presents, but now he is stuck at the foundation as her possessions are auctioned off to benefit various charities. Jerry calls to inform him that widowers got the best responses on his questionnaire from several attractive women at Monk's, but George's obligation to the foundation prevents him from meeting them.

Production

Jerry Seinfeld took over the role of executive producer following the departure of Larry David beginning with this episode. As a result of his added duties with the show, his traditional stand-up comedy segments were scrapped. The episode was dedicated to Marjorie Gross, a writer for the show who died of ovarian cancer in June 1996.^[2]

The spinning shot of George yelling "Khan!" was accomplished with a device which consisted of a camera fitted inside a barrel and rotated with a crank.^[3] This upward-panning camera technique is repeated by George in "The Dealership" and by Elaine in "The Susie". One of the things being auctioned off at the foundation is Susan's doll collection, seen in "The Doll."

The episode's Kramer story was inspired by a college friend of writers Alec Berg and Jeff Schaffer. Their friend would often brag about how he was advancing in karate ranks, but they later learned he was in a class otherwise consisting of young children.^[3] The scene in which Kramer is beaten up by the children in an alley was shot as a callback to the "ribbon bullies" scene in Season 7's "The Sponge".^[2]

In a parallel of the episode's Elaine story arc, Jerry Seinfeld was not entirely happy with how the episode turned out, and experienced a loss of confidence that he could do the show without David. He would find his footing with running the show over subsequent episodes in the season.^[3]

Cultural references

This episode makes several references to Star Trek films. Jerry paraphrases a line from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan ("He's really not dead. As long as we remember him."). Kramer mentions his Katra, the Vulcan spirit which he notes was introduced in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock . George's prolonged yelling of "Khan!" parodies William Shatner's delivery of that line in Star Trek II.

Related Research Articles

<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 Engagement" is the first episode of the seventh-season and the 111th overall episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. The episode broke with the standalone story format of earlier seasons, making a major change in the series status quo by having regular cast member George Costanza become engaged to Susan Ross. Susan was a recurring character during season 4 of the series but had not been seen since. The episode aired on September 21, 1995.

"The Bizarro Jerry" is the 137th episode of the American television sitcom Seinfeld. This was the third episode of the eighth season, originally airing on the NBC network on October 3, 1996. The title and plot extensively reference Bizarro Superman originally published by DC Comics. This episode introduced the phrase "man-hands.”

"The Soul Mate" is the 136th episode of the American television sitcom Seinfeld. This was the second episode for the eighth season, originally airing on September 26, 1996. In this episode, George tries to figure out what caused the damage to a briefcase he left behind at a meeting of the Susan Ross foundation, Elaine is attracted to a man based on his professed disinterest in having children, and Jerry and Kramer find themselves on opposing sides of a love triangle.

"The Chicken Roaster" is the 142nd episode of the sitcom Seinfeld. This was the eighth episode for the eighth season, originally airing on November 14, 1996. The episode's story follows the mishaps which follow when Kenny Rogers Roasters opens a branch in the characters' neighborhood. The restaurant's neon sign shines into Kramer's apartment, disturbing first him and then Jerry after they switch apartments, but Jerry opposes Kramer's efforts to shut the restaurant down since a college friend of his is assistant manager at the branch. Meanwhile, Elaine is in danger of being fired from J. Peterman after she misuses the company account for personal purchases.

"The Little Jerry" is the 145th episode of the sitcom Seinfeld. It was the 11th episode of the eighth season, originally airing on January 9, 1997. In this episode, Kramer buys a rooster and enters him into cock fights, George dates a prison inmate, and Elaine's boyfriend Kurt discovers he is going bald after he stops shaving his head.

"The Money" is the 146th episode of the sitcom Seinfeld. This was the 12th episode for the eighth season, originally airing on NBC on January 16, 1997. In a follow-up to the episode "The Cadillac", the story has Jerry traveling to Florida to buy his parents' Cadillac back from Jack Klompus. Meanwhile, Jerry's father Morty Seinfeld gets a job at The J. Peterman Company and Kramer and his girlfriend have problems sleeping together.

"The Van Buren Boys" is the 148th episode of the sitcom Seinfeld. This was the 14th episode for the 8th season, originally airing on February 6, 1997. In this episode, everyone is convinced Jerry's new girlfriend is a loser, Elaine ghostwrites Peterman's autobiography, and Kramer and George have separate run-ins with a New York street gang whose sign is holding up eight fingers, because the gang is named for the eighth President of the United States, Martin Van Buren.

"The Susie" is the 149th episode of the sitcom Seinfeld. This was the 15th episode for the eighth season, originally airing on February 13, 1997. In this episode, Jerry unintentionally terrorizes a bookie, George avoids all contact with his girlfriend so that she cannot break up with him, and Elaine ends up leading a double life at the office after a co-worker starts mistakenly calling her "Susie".

"The English Patient" is the 151st episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. It was the 17th episode for the eighth season and aired on March 13, 1997. The English Patient, central to Elaine's storyline in this episode, won Best Picture at the 69th Academy Awards, eleven days after this episode aired.

"The Muffin Tops" is the 155th episode of the sitcom Seinfeld. This was the 21st episode of the eighth season. It aired on May 8, 1997, on NBC. In this episode, George dates a woman while pretending to be a tourist from Arkansas, Kramer starts running a "Peterman Reality Tour" after finding out he is the basis for most of the stories in J. Peterman's autobiography, and Elaine and Mr. Lippman run a business selling only the tops of muffins.

"The Summer of George" is the 156th episode of the sitcom Seinfeld. It was also the 22nd and final episode of the eighth season. It originally aired on May 15, 1997 on NBC. In this episode, after being fired from the New York Yankees, George wallows in idleness, while assisting Jerry with a girlfriend who is too much work for him to handle by himself. Meanwhile, Elaine is menaced by an unstable, violent woman who does not swing her arms when she walks, but everyone else dismisses the matter as a catfight.

"The Frogger" is the 174th episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. It is the 18th episode for the ninth and final season. It first aired on April 23, 1998. In this episode, Elaine eats a vintage cake from King Edward VIII's wedding, Jerry maintains a relationship with a woman he doesn't like in order to avoid running into a serial killer, and George tries to preserve his high score on the Frogger machine at his high school hangout.

"The Postponement" is the 112th episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld, and the second episode of the seventh season. It aired in the U.S. on September 28, 1995. The story picks up from the plot of the previous episode, as an increasingly agitated George tries to postpone his engagement to Susan Ross, and Elaine reacts to the news of the engagement with extreme bitterness and jealousy. "The Postponement" also initiated the plot thread of Kramer suing Java World for serving him an excessively hot cup of coffee.

"The Secret Code" is the 117th episode of NBC sitcom Seinfeld. This was the seventh episode of the seventh season. It aired on November 9, 1995. In this episode, George is unwilling to share his ATM code with his fiancée Susan, and finds himself entrapped in awkward social situations after he loses his talent for lying. Meanwhile, Elaine finds herself infatuated with a man because he cannot recall their first meeting, Jerry's plans to appear in a television commercial are repeatedly frustrated by his foot falling asleep, and Kramer tries to help out the local fire department.

"The Shower Head" is the 126th episode of NBC sitcom Seinfeld. This is the sixteenth episode for the seventh season. It aired on February 15, 1996. It had 32.3 million US viewers. This episode focuses on Jerry and George's struggles to get their respective parents to move out of New York. Meanwhile, the tenants of Jerry's apartment building are made miserable by the new low-flow showerheads, and Elaine takes a drug test for work which comes back positive for opium.

"The Friar's Club" is the 128th episode of NBC sitcom Seinfeld. This is the 18th episode for the seventh season, originally airing on March 7, 1996. In this episode, Jerry jeopardizes his chances of becoming a member of the New York Friars' Club when he accidentally takes a club jacket home with him, George hopes to spend more time with Jerry by fixing him up with his fiancé Susan's best friend, and J. Peterman saddles Elaine with the workload of her hard-of-hearing co-worker.

"The Wig Master" is the 129th episode of the NBC situation comedy Seinfeld. This is the 19th episode for the seventh season, originally airing on April 4, 1996. The episode follows the mishaps which befall George and Kramer as a result of their parking at a discount parking lot, while Jerry feels emasculated by Elaine's new boyfriend, who holds out the promise of a discount on a designer dress in order to keep her going out with him.

"The Cartoon" is the 169th episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. This was the 13th episode for the ninth and final season. It aired on January 29, 1998. In this episode, aspiring actress Sally Weaver becomes a success with a show where she vilifies Jerry, Elaine struggles to see the humor in a cartoon that appears in The New Yorker, and George is disconcerted when Elaine and Kramer point out that the woman he is dating looks a lot like Jerry.

References

1 2 "Seinfeld Season 8 Episodes". TV Guide . Retrieved December 10, 2021.
1 2 Seinfeld Season 8: Notes About Nothing - "The Foundation" (DVD). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. 2007.
1 2 3 Seinfeld Season 8: Inside Look - "The Foundation" (DVD). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. 2007.

External links

"The Foundation" 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] 1 2 "Seinfeld Season 8 Episodes". TV Guide . Retrieved December 10, 2021.

[NaN-2] 1 2 Seinfeld Season 8: Notes About Nothing - "The Foundation" (DVD). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. 2007.

[InsLook-3] 1 2 3 Seinfeld Season 8: Inside Look - "The Foundation" (DVD). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. 2007.

[1]

[2]

[3]

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