The Parking Space

Last updated
"The Parking Space"
Seinfeld episode
Episode no.Season 3
Episode 22
Directed by Tom Cherones
Written by Larry David and Greg Daniels
Production code322
Original air dateApril 22, 1992 (1992-04-22)
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
 Previous
"The Letter"
Next 
"The Keys"
Seinfeld season 3
List of episodes

"The Parking Space" is the 39th episode of the sitcom Seinfeld . The episode was the 22nd episode of the third season. [1] It aired on NBC on April 22, 1992. [1] The story centers on George's protracted struggle with Kramer's friend Mike to claim a parking space they both entered at the same time. The story of the parking confrontation was inspired by a similar incident that happened to writer Greg Daniels' father. [2]

Contents

Plot

Kramer tells Jerry about his friend Mike calling Jerry a "phony". George and Elaine borrow Jerry's car to go to a flea market. Kramer is incensed at not having been invited to the outing. After getting into a minor accident, they notice that the car is starting to make a strange clanking noise. In order to soften Jerry's anger over the car damage, Elaine comes up with a wild story about them being pursued by a pack of teenagers with guns.

George and Elaine look for a parking space near Jerry's building so they can meet him at his apartment to watch a big televised boxing match. George spends a good deal of time positioning himself perfectly (bragging to Elaine about his ability to parallel park) to back into a 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 that entering front first instead of using the prescribed parallel parking method is illegitimate. People walking by on the street witness the altercation and begin debating the merits of each side. A truck carrying a supply of ice cream needs to get through, but the two cars are blocking his way, so the driver orders them to move the cars. George and Mike get neutral people to move the cars (since they do not trust each other to do so) and reposition them after the truck has passed.

Jerry and Kramer also came down to try to settle the problem. Jerry inadvertently tells a little boy named Matthew that his father, who owns a "fat free" yogurt store, is closing the store, and the boy gets upset. Kramer mistakenly thinks the boy's mother is pregnant, and she becomes outraged. George and Elaine apologize to Kramer for not inviting him to the flea market, but he rejects their apology. Two police officers arrive to resolve the parking situation. However, when one tells Mike to move his car, the other argues in support of Mike, and by then, it is nighttime. With George and Mike still arguing, Jerry runs back to his apartment, just in time to see the last few seconds of the count for knockout.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cosmo Kramer</span> Fictional character in the American television sitcom Seinfeld

Cosmo Kramer, usually referred to simply by his surname, is a fictional character in the American television sitcom Seinfeld (1989–1998) played by Michael Richards.

"The Bottle Deposit" is a two-part episode, the 131st and 132nd episodes, and 21st and 22nd episodes of the seventh season, of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld, first aired on May 2, 1996. It was originally an hour-long episode, but was split into two parts for syndication.

"The Parking Garage" is the 23rd episode of the situation comedy Seinfeld. It was the sixth episode of the show's third season. It aired on October 30, 1991 on NBC.

"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 Andrea Doria" is the 144th episode of American television sitcom Seinfeld. This was the tenth episode for the eighth season, originally airing on NBC on December 19, 1996. In this episode, Jerry helps Newman with getting a transfer by filling in for him on his mail route, Kramer's preference for veterinarians over doctors leads to him exhibiting dog-like behavior, Elaine dates a "bad breaker-upper", and George tries to win the pity of a tenant association so he can get a new apartment.

"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 Pothole" is the 150th episode of the sitcom Seinfeld. This was the 16th episode for the eighth season. It aired on February 20, 1997. In the episode, Jerry is unwilling to kiss his girlfriend after she unknowingly brushes her teeth with a toothbrush that fell in the toilet, George tries to recover his keys from a paved-over pothole, Kramer adopts a highway and handles the maintenance work himself, and Elaine moves into a janitor's closet so that she can get delivery from a favored Chinese restaurant. This episode earned Andy Ackerman an Emmy Award for Outstanding Direction. Jerry Seinfeld, in an appearance on The Tonight Show the night before the episode aired, declared "The Pothole" to be one of the best episodes of the series.

"The Merv Griffin Show" is the 162nd episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. This was the sixth episode of the ninth and final season. It aired on November 6, 1997, and appeared on DVD ten years later. In this episode, Kramer finds the original set for The Merv Griffin Show and uses it to revive the show in his apartment, Elaine contends with a new co-worker who stealthily sidles behind her, and Jerry drugs his girlfriend so that he can play with her collection of toys.

"The Dealership" is the 167th episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. This was the 11th episode of the ninth and final season. It aired on January 8, 1998. 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.

"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. 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.

"The Puerto Rican Day" is the 176th episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. It aired on May 7, 1998, and was the 20th episode of the ninth and final season. It was the show's second-highest-rated episode of all time, with 38.8 million viewers, only behind the series finale. The episode aired one week before the two-part clip show and the two-part series finale aired. It was a rare late-series return to a "plot about nothing" style and filmed in real-time, a format more often seen in early seasons. The episode follows the cast's misadventures as they try to escape from the traffic surrounding the Puerto Rican Day Parade.

"The Label Maker" is the 98th episode of NBC sitcom Seinfeld. This was the 12th episode for the sixth season. It aired on January 19, 1995. The episode follows a pair of Super Bowl tickets which are repeatedly gifted from one person to another, while Kramer and Newman take drastic steps to keep each other from cheating at Risk and George fears he is competing for his girlfriend's affections with her roommate. The episode popularized the term regifting.

"The Highlights of 100" is the 14th and 15th episode of the sixth season of the American sitcom Seinfeld, and the 100th and 101st episode overall. Written by Peter Mehlman and directed by Andy Ackerman, the episode originally aired on NBC on February 2, 1995. The episode is a clip show to celebrate the series' 100th episode with no new content apart from a 50 second long intro by Jerry Seinfeld. In syndication, it airs as two separate episodes of 30 minutes each, with a second intro at the beginning of the second episode. This is the first episode in the series not to open with a stand-up routine.

"The Doodle" is the 106th episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. This is the 20th episode for the sixth season and aired on April 6, 1995. In this episode, Jerry's apartment is infested with fleas, George struggles over his girlfriend's opinion of his physical appearance, Kramer indulges his love for Mackinaw peaches, and Elaine loses a literary manuscript that she is expected to review for a job interview.

"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 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 Cadillac" is an hour-long, two-part episode of NBC sitcom Seinfeld. It was the 124th and 125th episode and 14th and 15th episode for the seventh season. It aired on February 8, 1996. This was the last episode to be co-written by Jerry Seinfeld.

"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 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.

References

  1. 1 2 "Seinfeld Season 3 Episodes". TV Guide . Archived from the original on 2 December 2021. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  2. Writing 'The Office': interview Greg Daniels and Mindy Kaling Archived 2018-05-18 at the Wayback Machine (NPR, November 2, 2006)