"Seinfeld": "The Comeback"

As I mentioned briefly in the introduction to this blog, this 1997 episode finds George Costanza (Jason Alexander) belatedly thinking of a comeback to a joke made by another Yankees staffer. When he finds out the staffer has gone to work for Firestone in Akron, George goes there to offer his snappy rejoinder. Which, of course, isn't all that snappy. And the show got some things wrong about Akron. After the jump, a 1997 Beacon Journal article by Glenn Gamboa about the episode.
Here's the article:
Sometimes, fiction is a stranger to truth.
As the buzz about the city's surprise inclusion in the ultra-hip sitcom Seinfeld on Thursday night wore down yesterday, Akronites turned up the attention on some points the show didn't get exactly right.
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
In case you missed it, the show went something like this: Jerry's neurotic pal George eats a lot of shrimp during a New York Yankees board meeting. Some guy makes fun of him and then takes a job in Akron working for Firestone.
George is demoralized, but comes up with a snappy retort. He flies to Akron to zing the guy. George meets with executives at Firestone. He zings. He gets zung. He goes home.
All right, so it wasn't too realistic.
Yeah, jumbo jets don't fly into Akron airports very often.
OK, Firestone doesn't have a board of directors any more. And its parent company, Bridgestone/Firestone Inc., left Akron for Nashville, Tenn., in 1992.
Sure, the room where George met the Firestone board was as big as some closets in the executive suites over on Firestone Parkway.
Does it really matter?
"I think it's an honor," said Mark Williamson, communications director for the city of Akron. "One of the only times Seinfeld leaves the neighborhood, they come to Akron. What more can you ask for?"
Trevor Hoskins, Bridgestone/Firestone's senior vice president, didn't mind, either. He said the company was happy to help the show's creators.
"The reaction to the Seinfeld program has been tremendous from both our employees and our customers," said Hoskins. "They're absolutely delighted with the recognition. And the wonderful thing about this is that it was free."
Even though more and more companies pay filmmakers to place their products or logos in their movies, Bridgestone/Firestone didn't pay a cent.
It did, however, lend them a Firestone sign that hung in the meeting room.
Even though Firestone was purchased by Tokyo-based Bridgestone Corp. in 1988, the company believed it was OK to use the Firestone name in the Seinfeld context.
"We were once a leading tire company in Akron," said Hoskins. "And we chose to give them the Firestone sign because it fit better with Akron and the origins of the company. When a program of the quality and popularity of Seinfeld calls up, we wanted to do whatever we could."
Seinfeld's writers contacted Bridgestone/Firestone about using the company for the episode about three weeks ago, said Hoskins. However, the company did not let its employees know about the mention ahead of time.
"We didn't advise anyone that we were going to do it because you never know if it will happen until it does," said Hoskins.
The result, Hoskins said, was a load of calls from thrilled employees and customers yesterday.
"It's generated more phone calls and good will than projects that involved much more planning," said Hoskins.
Even at NBC affiliate WKYC (Channel 3), where a lot of energy is going into preparations for next weekend's NBA All-Star Game, the Seinfeld-Akron connection caught some people by surprise.
And they weren't the only ones.
Thursday's Seinfeld was seen in 23.9 percent of Northeast Ohio homes on Cleveland NBC affiliate WKYC (Channel 3), according to overnight Nielsen ratings. That's about par for the series, which had a 22.5 rating the previous week, and was not even the most-watched show on Channel 3 that night; ER had a 30.3 rating.
And it was also well behind the 35 rating for The Drew Carey Show on ABC affiliate WEWS (Channel 5) on Wednesday.
But former Clevelander Carey's show -- which showcased other Cleveland mainstays, among them Mayor Michael White, former Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar and comic Martin Mull -- was promoted so relentlessly on Channel 5 that one wag dubbed it "DrewsChannel 5."
Seinfeld added to a week's worth of evidence that Northeast Ohio has become the center of the television universe.
Both Carey's show and NBC's hit 3rd Rock From the Sun are set here, and Carey was a guest star on Tuesday's episode of Home Improvement.
Carey's show, which also featured several Akron references, was another feather in the city's cap, said Williamson.
"You have people mentioning Akron on two of the most popular TV shows in the country at a time of year when a lot of people are watching TV," he said. "That's great.". Read more!

"Private Practice": Which County?

According to several sites, "Private Practice's" Dr. Cooper Freedman, played by the pictured Paul Adelstein, is from Akron. I have not yet found the specific episode mentioning that. But if so, there is some geographical confusion on the show. In the second season episode "Nothing To Fear," as Cooper is agreeing to marry Charlotte (KaDee Strickland), he says, "The Cuyahoga County Freedmans meet the Kings of Monroeville!" As we know, Akron is in Summit County. Read more!

"Hot in Cleveland"

The first original sitcom for TV Land also brought a Cleveland-set series back to prime time for the first time in more than five years, since "The Drew Carey Show" limped to a conclusion. Like Carey's show, it is shot in Hollywood -- but, like the earlier show, it also has been busily name-dropping Northeast Ohio: references to Carey, Euclid Avenue and LeBron James, and an episode set partly in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Ohio connection extends to casting. Wendie Malick, though from Buffalo, is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University. (I have an interview with her here: www.ohio.com/entertainment/96238004.html .) Valerie Bertinelli's fiance, Tom Vitale, is from Cuyahoga Falls. And an upcoming episode will include a guest-starring turn by the great Tim Conway, formerly of Chagrin Falls and Cleveland. Read more!

"Hot Tub Time Machine"

The bizarro comedy has four guys being sent back in time to Winterfest 1986 -- and getting a chance to fix some things in three of their lives. And a key plot element is the January 1987 Browns-Broncos playoff game, notorious for "The Drive." But read on ...


In the movie Lou (played by Rob Corddry) observes people watching the game. Remembering details of it, including the outcome, he begins to make -- and win -- bets on specific plays. But he forgets that having him and his friends back in the past might change history. And, after making an especially outrageous (and vulgar) bet, he watches as Elway's game-tying pass falls incomplete -- and the Browns win the game.

Sadly, "Hot Tub Time Machine" does not stay in the past long enough to show how the Browns then did in a revised-history Super Bowl.

Read more!

"Harvey"

Hat tip to Lynne Sherwin for passing along this item, from a column by Mark J. Price:
Denver playwright Mary Chase won a Pulitzer Prize in 1945 for Harvey, a whimsical tale about Elwood P. Dowd, a perpetually intoxicated fellow who may or may not be best friends with a giant bunny.
Broadway crowds lined up to see Harvey, which is kind of funny since Harvey couldn't be seen.
The offbeat comedy starring Frank Fay opened to rave reviews and sold-out shows Nov. 1, 1944, at the 48th Street Theatre in New York. It had a remarkable run of 1,775 performances over four years.
For Ohio residents who were lucky enough to get tickets, the humor hit close to home.
The script has many references to Akron. . . .
In the play, Elwood P. Dowd's grasp on sanity is a subject of debate. He holds one-sided conversations with his rabbit pal and introduces the invisible creature to puzzled strangers. Dowd's sister, Veta Simmons, wants to have her brother committed to a mental institution.
Dr. Chumley, operator of the local asylum, quizzes Dowd about the giant rabbit.
Harvey has the power to stop time in its tracks, Dowd says. The psychiatrist can travel anywhere he wants for as long he wants, and when he wishes to return, no time will have elapsed, Dowd says.
"I'd go to Akron," Chumley says wistfully.
The doctor confesses that his fantasy is to sit under an Akron tree, drink Akron beer and chat with a beautiful Akron woman for two weeks.
Would the rabbit allow it?
"I have never heard Harvey say a word against Akron," Dowd replies.
The dialogue had special meaning to Harvey cast member Jesse White [pictured, left, with Fay, seated, and two other cast members], who originated the role of Wilson, the orderly at Chumley's hospital. White grew up in Akron. (end column)

By the way, White also appeared in the 1950 movie version which starred James Stewart.


Read more!

"Three Rivers": Close By

The short-lived CBS drama was set in the fictional Three Rivers Medical Center in Pittsburgh. But the opening scene of the premiere is at a high-rise construction site in Cleveland where a supervisor falls several floors. The supervisor is taken to "North Ohio Regional Hospital" in Cleveland -- but he has lost brain function. He is taken off life support and his organs harvested, with his heart going to Three Rivers for a transplant. Read more!

"Covert Affairs": Hooking Up

In the new spy series for USA Network, which premieres Tuesday, CIA agent Annie Walker (played by Piper Perabo) gets into a crime scene by implying she was a prostitute who witnessed the crime. And what kind of prostitute? Well, her name is Amber Truesdale and, she says, "I'm a good girl. I come from a church-going family in Akron. . . . My mother told me to always do the right thing." Read more!