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'{{Infobox Television episode | Title = The Phone Message | Series = Seinfeld | Image = | Caption = | Season = 2 | Episode = 4 | Airdate = February 13, 1991 | Production = 207 | Writer = [[Larry David]]<br/>[[Jerry Seinfeld]] | Director = [[Tom Cherones]] | Guests = *Tory Polone as Carol *[[Gretchen German]] as Donna | Episode list= [[Seinfeld (season 2)|''Seinfeld'' (season 2)]]<br>[[List of Seinfeld episodes|List of ''Seinfeld'' episodes]] | Season list = | Prev = [[The Jacket (Seinfeld)|The Jacket]] | Next = [[The Apartment (Seinfeld)|The Apartment]] }} "'''The Phone Message'''" is the ninth episode of the [[NBC]] [[sitcom]] ''[[Seinfeld]]'', and the fourth of the show's [[Seinfeld (season 2)|second season]]. The episode concerns [[protagonist]] [[Jerry Seinfeld (character)|Jerry Seinfeld]] ([[Jerry Seinfeld]]) dating a woman who likes a commercial for cotton [[Dockers]] he dislikes. Meanwhile, his friend [[George Costanza]] ([[Jason Alexander]]) leaves an obnoxious message on the [[answering machine]] of his girlfriend, and has to go to a lot of trouble to prevent her from hearing it. Written by series co-creators Seinfeld and [[Larry David]] and directed by [[Tom Cherones]], the episode was produced to replace a script by staff writer [[Larry Charles]]. Charles had written an episode called "The Bet", revolving around [[Elaine Benes]] ([[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]]) buying a handgun. The script's gun content was deemed too provocative and, in little time, Seinfeld and David wrote "The Phone Message" to fill the production void. Though the episode met with positive critical responses, its initial broadcast on February 13, 1991, was watched by an underwhelming audience of 13 million viewers, causing NBC to put the show on a two-month [[Recess (break)|hiatus]]. ==Plot== George is excited when he finds that he and Jerry are having dates on the same night. Both of their dates go well up to the point that they have to say goodnight. George's date Carol ([[Tory Polone]]) asks George to come up to her place for some coffee, but George tells her that he can't drink coffee at night because it "keeps [him] up". Once she leaves his car he realizes he made a mistake, as "coffee" is a [[euphemism]] for sex. Jerry's date Donna ([[Gretchen German]]) remarks that she likes a cotton [[Dockers]] commercial that Jerry absolutely hates,<ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52ywPfRh3zw#</ref> and with that ends his interest in her. George decides to call Carol, but gets her answering machine. He leaves her an extremely long, obnoxious message, and is concerned that she will think he is an idiot. Jerry's friend [[Elaine Benes]] ([[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]]) tells George how something similar happened to her brother-in-law, who took care of the problem by secretly switching the tape. Jerry advises George to wait a few days for Carol to call back; George agrees, but continues to leave increasingly angry—and eventually almost hostile—messages on her machine. When he discovers she was out of town, he decides to go through with the plan of changing the tape. Frustrated by his inability to use an answering machine, George convinces Jerry to go with him. They decide to wait for Carol outside her apartment, and George will distract her while Jerry changes the tape. They succeed, but, just as they are about to leave Carol's apartment, she tells George that she had already heard the messages and found them funny, adding that she "loves jokes like that." ==Production== ==="The Bet"=== {{see|Seinfeld (season 2)#"The Bet"}} [[File:Julia Louis-Dreyfus (1994).jpg|thumb|right|In the cancelled episode "The Bet", Julia Louis-Dreyfus' character, Elaine Benes, makes a bet with Jerry about being able to buy a gun.|alt=A woman with black hair tied in a knot wearing a black dress, at a crowded event.]] Staff writer [[Larry Charles]] had written a script for an episode entitled "The Bet". In the episode, which was also known as "The Gun", Elaine would bet against Jerry on the ease of buying a handgun to protect herself. The episode's subplot revolved around Jerry's neighbour [[Cosmo Kramer|Kramer]] returning from a vacation in [[Puerto Rico]], claiming he had sex with a stewardess on his flight home. George and Jerry would remain skeptical, and make a bet with him; eventually, George, Jerry and Elaine would go to the airport to check if Kramer was telling the truth.<ref name="NAN"/> In writing "The Bet", Charles had attempted to make a "funny, dark-themed" episode.<ref name="InsideBet">{{cite video|people=[[Larry Charles|Charles, Larry]]; [[Julia Louis-Dreyfus|Louis-Dreyfus, Julia]]; [[Jason Alexander|Alexander, Jason]]; [[Tom Cherones|Cherones, Tom]]|title=Seinfeld Seasons 1 & 2: Inside Looks - "The Bet"|medium=DVD|publisher=Sony Pictures Home Entertainment|date=November 3, 2004}}</ref> Sets for the episode were built. Bobbi Jo Lathan was cast as flight attendant Lucy Merrit<ref name="NANStranded">{{cite video|title=Seinfeld Seasons 1 & 2: Notes about Nothing - "The Stranded"|medium=DVD|publisher=Sony Pictures Home Entertainment|date=November 3, 2004}}</ref> and [[Ernie Sabella]] was cast as gun salesman Mo Korn,<ref name="NANSubway">{{cite video|title=Seinfeld Season 3: Notes about Nothing - "The Subway"|medium=DVD|publisher=Sony Pictures Home Entertainment|date=November 3, 2004}}</ref> who was described in the script as "overweight, greasy, slow and low-key".<ref name="NAN"/> However, during the [[read-through]] of the episode, it was negatively received by cast and crew members; both Alexander and director [[Tom Cherones]] felt the episode's gun content was too provocative.<ref name="InsideBet"/> When she read a scene that referenced the assassinations of [[John F. Kennedy]] and [[William McKinley]], Louis-Dreyfus turned to Alexander and stated, "I'm not gonna do this."<ref name="InsideBet"/> Though they did not want to, the cast started rehearsing.<ref name="InsideBet"/> After twenty minutes they convinced Cherones to talk to Charles.<ref name="InsideBet"/> On his way to Charles' office, Cherones bumped into NBC executive Glenn Padnick, with whom he talked to Charles, eventually agreeing not to film the episode.<ref name="InsideBet"/> Commenting on the episode, Charles stated "You know, it would have been an interesting show, but {{interp|...}} we couldn't solve the funny problem of it. It never seemed to quite be as funny as it should be and, because of that, the balance was off and the darkness kind of enveloped it, and it could never really emerge from that darkness and become what it should have been. So, it was disappointing but also understandable."<ref name="InsideBet"/> Both Lathan and Sabella were given roles in later episodes; Lathan appeared as Patti in the [[Seinfeld (season 3)|season three]] episode "[[The Stranded]]",<ref name="NAN"/><ref name="NANStranded"/> while Sabella was cast as the "greasy naked guy" in "[[The Subway (Seinfeld)|The Subway]]", also for the show's third season.<ref name="NAN"/><ref name="NANSubway"/> ==="The Phone Message"=== Series co-creator [[Larry David]] co-wrote the episode with Seinfeld in two days, as, with the cancellation of "The Bet", they had little time to write the script. George's storyline was largely based on David's personal experiences of leaving phone messages to women that would mean the end of a relationship.<ref name="Inside">{{cite video|people=[[Larry David|David, Larry]]; Padnick, Glenn|title=Seinfeld Seasons 1 & 2: Inside Looks - "The Phone Message"|medium=DVD|publisher=Sony Pictures Home Entertainment|date=November 3, 2004}}</ref> David had previously written a sketch for ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' regarding a man who went into his girlfriend's house to erase her answering machine.<ref name="Inside"/> The sketch was never produced, allowing David to use its storyline for the ''Seinfeld'' episode.<ref name="Inside"/> Jerry's storyline was based on Seinfeld's own predicaments, as he extremely disliked the cotton Dockers commercial discussed in the episode.<ref name="Inside"/> A few changes were made to the first few drafts of the script. Additional dialogue between George and Jerry regarding dates during the 1850s was removed for timing purposes.<ref name="NAN"/> During his date with Donna, Jerry would mention his remark about ponies in the earlier episode "[[The Pony Remark]]", but this was later changed to remark about leaving a note when committing suicide.<ref name="NAN"/> Initially, Kramer's first name was revealed in the episode; though the information was removed from the eventual script, the idea of revealing Kramer's first name would be further exploited in the [[Seinfeld (season 6)|season six]] episode "[[The Switch (Seinfeld)|The Switch]]".<ref name="NAN">{{cite video|title=Seinfeld Seasons 1 & 2: Notes about Nothing - "The Phone Message"|medium=DVD|publisher=[[Sony Pictures Home Entertainment]]|date=November 3, 2004}}</ref> [[Gretchen German]] was cast as Donna, Jerry's date.<ref name="NAN"/> [[Gina Hecht]], who would go on to portray George's psychiatrist Dana Foley during the show's [[Seinfeld (season 4)|fourth season]], also auditioned for the part.<ref name="NAN"/> Tory Polone, who portrayed George's date Carol, had previously appeared in the 1989 [[TV Movie|television film]]s ''When We Were Young'' and ''Sparks''.<ref name="NAN"/> The episode was first read by the cast on Friday, December 14, 1990. Table reads usually took place on Wednesdays, but the read-through of "The Bet" had been held on December 12.<ref name="NAN"/> Directed by Cherones, as were all other episodes of the second season,<ref>{{cite book|author=Lavery, David; Dunne, Sara Lewis|title=Seinfeld, master of its domain: revisiting television's greatest sitcom|publisher=[[Continuum International Publishing Group]]|year=2006|ISBN=9780826418036|page=232}}</ref> "The Phone Message" was filmed in front of a live audience on December 19, 1990.<ref name="NAN"/> Jerry's stand-up routine had been filmed one day earlier.<ref name="NAN"/> ==Reception== The episode was first broadcast in the United States on February 13, 1991, on NBC.<ref>{{cite news|title=Seinfeld: episode by episode|work=[[Seattle Post-Intelligencer]]|date=May 7, 1998}}</ref> "The Phone Message" received a [[Nielsen ratings|Nielsen rating]] of 9.7 and an audience share of 15, indicating that 16.1% of American households watched the episode, and that 26% of all televisions in use at the time were tuned into it.<ref name="NAN"/> [[Nielsen Media Research]] also estimated that approximately 13 million American viewers watched the episode,<ref name="NAN"/> making it the 59th most-watched show of the week it was broadcast in.<ref>{{cite news|title=Nielsen Ratings|work=[[The Tampa Tribune]]|author=Belcher, Walt|date=February 21, 1991|page=6}}</ref> Disappointed with the ratings, as earlier episodes had averaged between 19 and 22 million viewers each, the network put the show on a two-month [[Recess (break)|hiatus]].<ref name="NAN"/> When the series returned in its original timeslot behind ''[[Cheers (TV series)|Cheers]]'', its high ratings and increasing popularity led NBC to order the full season.<ref name="NAN"/> "The Phone Message" gained positive responses from critics. Jerry's dumping Donna because she likes the commercial has been frequently cited as an example of how the show's central characters would often break up with people for "fantastically insignificant reasons".<ref>{{cite book|title=Seinfeld: the totally unauthorized tribute (not that there's anything wrong with that)|publisher=[[Three Rivers Press]]|page=102|author=Wild, David|year=1998|isbn=}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,987667,00.html|title=Forgetting Nothing|author=Malanowski, Jamie|date=January 12, 1998|volume=151|work=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|accessdate=October 24, 2009}}</ref> In a 1998 article, the staff of South Carolina newspaper ''[[The State (newspaper)|The State]]'' cited "The Phone Message" as "{{interp|...}}the first episode that made an impression on [them]", referring to ''Seinfeld'' as "the comedic version of ''[[Hill Street Blues]]''."<ref>{{cite news|work=[[The State (newspaper)|The State]]|author=Robinson, Bill|title=Readers Script Final Act for Jerry, Elaine, Kramer and George|date=May 9, 1998|page=D1}}</ref> ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'' critics Mike Flaherty and Mary Kaye Schilling [[Academic grading in the United States|graded]] the episode with a B+, calling it "the first of two consecutive and classic George angst-fests, as Jason Alexander—master of frantic venom—begins to make the character his own."<ref name="EW">{{cite web|author=Schilling, Mary Kaye; Flaherty, Mike|url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20189707,00.html|title=The ''Seinfeld'' Chronicles: Season Two|work=[[Entertainment Weekly]]|date=April 7, 2008|accessdate=August 26, 2009}}</ref> ==Errors== *When the door to Jerry's apartment is opened, the apartment number is clearly 3A, as opposed to 5A in other episodes *Jerry tells Donna that he has never watched one "I Love Lucy" episode, but in "The Apartment" he mentions Fred Mertz to his show audience ==References== {{Reflist}} ==External links== {{wikiquote|Seinfeld#The_Phone_Message_.5B2.4.5D|"The Phone Message"}} *{{imdb episode|0697751|"The Phone Message"}} *[http://www.seinology.com/scripts/script-09.shtml Full Episode Script] {{seinfeld}} {{good article}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Phone Message, The}} [[Category:Seinfeld (season 2) episodes]] [[Category:1991 television episodes]]'