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Of all the great things about television, the greatest is that it’s on every single day. TV history is being made, day in and day out, in ways big and small. In an effort to better appreciate this history, we’re taking a look back, every day, at one particular TV milestone.
IMPORTANT DATE IN TV HISTORY: September 23, 1993
PROGRAM ORIGINALLY AIRED ON THIS DATE: Seinfeld, “The Puffy Shirt” (season 5, episode 2). [Stream on Hulu.]
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: Few Seinfeld episodes capture that show’s ability to turn the silliest nonsense into pop-culture buzz words. The plot is so dumb, so simple, so funny. Kramer is dating a fashion designer who is also a “low-talker,” one of those Seinfeldisms that describe one of the many idiosyncrasies of urban living. Curse those low-talkers! You never know what they’re asking you to agree to!
Jerry learns this lesson the hard way when he agrees to wear one of Leslie’s designs while he’s on the Today show (with host Bryant Gumbel – oh how long ago this show was). When the shirt arrives … it’s puffy. Blowsy. Pirate-like.
As always, Elaine is the best. After about a solid minute of laughing at Jerry, she switches to ridiculing his look and telling him he can’t talk about a benefit to clothe the homeless while looking “like the Count of Monte Cristo.” Almost better is Bryant Gumbel’s absolute inability to resist mocking Jerry for his ridiculous shirt.
The best Seinfeld episodes blended the recognizable (low-talkers; the awkwardness of social obligations that you can’t get out of) with the ridiculous (puffy shirts; George’s brief stint as a hand model). “The Puffy Shirt” pulls this off better than almost any other Seinfeld episode, and it does so while delivering the show’s foremost accomplishment of costume design. Brilliant.
