From “The Beard” to “The Cigar Store Indian,” there are someSeinfeldepisodes that don’t hold up today. On the whole,Seinfeldhas aged better than most ‘90s sitcoms. It had a delightfully dark sense of humor that continues to influence TV comedies to this day. Someepisodes ofSeinfeldare timeless. “The Contest” will always be relevant, because people will always treat their body like an amusement park. “The Chinese Restaurant” will always be relevant, because people will always struggle to get a table. “The Parking Garage” will always be relevant, because people will always forget where they parked.
But, as with any 30-year-old sitcom, there are a fewSeinfeldepisodes that haven’t aged well. In some cases, they’ve aged badly due to outdated cultural or technological references, like Y2K or the Wizard organizer. In other cases, they’ve aged badly due to problematic humor, like an episode where Jerry fetishizes Chinese women or an episode where Elaine tries to “convert” a gay man.TwoSeinfeldepisodes got nixed because of their controversial subject matter, but there were a bunch that actually got made that proved to be just as controversial. TheseSeinfeldepisodes don’t hold up today.
10The Stand-In
Season 5, Episode 16
The season 5 episode “The Stand-In” is based on the real Hollywood practice of using little people as stand-ins for child actors, because child actors can only work a certain number of hours a day. Mickey Abbott was introduced as one ofSeinfeld’s best supporting characters, and Danny Woodburn shared incredible chemistry with Michael Richards, but the episode makes a lot of jokes at the expense of the disabled community. To an enlightened modern audience, the subplot of Phil Totola exposing himself to Elaine on a date (“He took… it out”) isn’t a funny sitcom scenario; it’s sexual harassment.
9The Merv Griffin Show
Season 9, Episode 6
Kramer finds the discarded set from Merv Griffin’s talk show in a dumpster and rebuilds it in his apartment in season 9, episode 6, “The Merv Griffin Show.” The premise of Kramer hosting a 24-hour talk show from his living room is a delightfully absurd storyline befitting ofthe zanier post-Larry David seasons ofSeinfeld. ButThe Merv Griffin Showwent off the air in 1986, so the reference is lost on audiences today. Plus, the B-story of Jerry drugging his girlfriend to play with her toys has a really uncomfortable subtext.
8The Alternate Side
Season 3, Episode 11
Season 3’s “The Alternate Side” is responsible for the iconic phrase, “These pretzels are making me thirsty,” as well as Jerry’s hilarious car-rental reservation rant, but there are a couple of things that don’t hold up today. A lot of the episode hinges on reverence for Woody Allen, as Kramer lands a small role in his latest film. All this praise for Allen and his work, paired with Elaine’s inappropriate relationship with a much older artist, doesn’t sit well after all the disturbing revelations about Allen’s personal life in the years since the episode first aired.
7The Shoes
Season 4, Episode 16
On the whole, the disastrous development of Jerry and George’s sitcom pilot is one ofSeinfeld’s strongest storylines. But it reached one deeply uncomfortable juncture in season 4, episode 16, “The Shoes,” when the two bumbling creators went to plead with NBC president Russell Dalrymple at his apartment. Jerry and George are caught ogling Russell’s daughter’s cleavage. That would be bad enough on its own, but the episode goes out of its way to establish that she’s 15 years old. Considering that’s the plot point the whole episode is built on, it’s pretty painful to put on “The Shoes” today.
6The Chinese Woman
Season 6, Episode 4
When George’s wires get crossed, Jerry ends up asking out a woman named Donna Chang over the phone in season 6’s “The Chinese Woman.” However, when he meets her, he’s disappointed to find that she’s not Chinese; her full name is “Changstein.” When Elaine questions Jerry’s infatuation with Chinese women, Jerry retorts, “If I like their race, how can that be racist?” as if it’s an ironclad defense. But that misses the point that he’s still otherizing and fetishizing Chinese people. It was an odd storyline to dedicate a whole episode to, even then, and it’s hard to watch now.
5The Masseuse
Season 5, Episode 9
The season 5 episode “The Masseuse” didn’t hold up within a year of its initial airing. The B-plot sees Elaine dating a man named Joel Rifkin and trying to convince him to change it to avoid his association with the serial killer of the same name. She suggests changing it to “O.J.,” but that name would also be associated with murder seven months later. The A-plot is no better; Jerry is dating a masseuse and grows frustrated with her refusal to give him a massage. As he tries to force her to touch him, this storyline has some ominous overtones.
4The Wizard
Season 9, Episode 15
A lot ofSeinfeldepisodes about technology don’t hold up today. Now that everyone has an iPhone in their pocket, Morty’s Wizard organizer in the season 9 episode “The Wizard” doesn’t seem so impressive. But that’s not the only thing in “The Wizard” that aged poorly. Elaine doesn’t know what her boyfriend’s race is and spends the whole episode trying to figure out what it is, touching on every racial stereotype along the way. “The Wizard” satirizes the discomfort of white Americans discussing race, but the episode itself is an uncomfortable discussion of race by white Americans.
3The Beard
Season 6, Episode 16
Seinfelddelivered one of the most surprisingly progressive ‘90s sitcom episodes about homosexuality with season 4, episode 17, “The Outing” — “Not that there’s anything wrong with that!” — but it also delivered one of the most backwards episodes about homosexuality in season 6. In “The Beard,” Elaine falls in love with a gay man and attempts to “convert” him to heterosexuality. This episode has a complete misunderstanding of how sexual orientation works, and it’s difficult to watch in an age when the LGBTQ+ spectrum has been more clearly defined.
2The Millennium
Season 8, Episode 20
The season 8 episode “The Millennium” hasn’t aged poorly because of problematic humor; it’s aged poorly because the hype around the advent of the year 2000 is alien to today’s audiences. The episode sees Kramer and Newman planning competing New Year’s Eve parties for Y2K. These days, it’s hard to imagine what a big deal the turn of the millennium was. It’s heartwarming to see how much Jerry means to Kramer, and how hard he fights to be at the same party as him, but none of the stuff about the millennium itself holds up today.
1The Cigar Store Indian
Season 5, Episode 10
NoSeinfeldepisode has aged worse than season 5’s “The Cigar Store Indian” — even the episode’s title has aged poorly. In a bygone era, it was common for cigar stores to use the likeness of a Native American to represent tobacconists. In theSeinfeldepisode, after a falling-out with Elaine, Jerry buys her one of these statues as a peace offering. When he presents it to her, he makes a bunch of offensive remarks about Native Americans in front of Elaine’s friends, not realizing that one of them is Native herself.
According to the DVD commentary, Tom Gammill and Max Pross’ original script had Jerry gifting Elaine a moose head, which would’ve offended Winona as an animal rights activist. Jerry Seinfeld felt this was too reminiscent of older sitcoms and instructed them to come up with something more politically incorrect. While they succeeded in coming up with a really uncomfortable situation, they also succeeded in creating one ofSeinfeld’s most offensive episodes.
