Word: seinfeldisms
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...Barber, like most Seinfeld episodes, expanded from a writer's real-life experience. Andy Robin, 24, a former Saturday Night Live writer who joined the Seinfeld staff this season, remembered the anxiety he felt about switching barbers, from the old man who had cut his hair for years to a younger barber in the same shop. "It was like breaking up with your lover," he says. He proposed an episode in which Jerry goes through similar angst after a bad haircut...
David and Seinfeld liked the idea. But with four main characters to showcase, a Seinfeld episode needs several stories going at the same time. Robin had another embarrassing moment to offer. Last year, when he was free- lancing TV scripts, he pitched an idea for a Seinfeld episode to David. Though David liked the idea, Robin left the meeting unsure whether he had a firm assignment or not. Why not put George (Jason Alexander), the hapless job seeker, in a similar dilemma? At the end of an upbeat job interview, the company president says, "I want you to have this...
...Seinfeld and David like the episode, but have problems with the second half. "Act Two," says Seinfeld, "is what separates the men from the boys." The chief problem is the Kramer-Elaine subplot, which doesn't seem to go anywhere. They decide to replace it with an entirely new story line, in which the barbers' nephew arrives from Italy to claim the chair that once belonged to his late father, only to find that Elaine has bought it, precipitating a family crisis...
Most sitcoms are run by committee; the writers get together regularly to revise or "punch up" scripts. Not on Seinfeld. David and Seinfeld themselves write the last draft of every script. Sitting at abutting desks in David's office, they labor over The Barber for three days. The clock is ticking. Seinfeld's weekly production cycle starts on Wednesday and ends with a Tuesday-night taping. But this week's script won't be ready until Saturday -- inordinately late. Even with the taping pushed back to Wednesday, the cast and crew will have to work all weekend...
...TABLE: The pivotal event of a Seinfeld week is the table reading, when the actors get their first chance to read the script and the producers can see how it plays. On Saturday afternoon, a dozen actors and writers gather around a long picnic table on the Seinfeld set, scripts in hand. With director Tom Cherones interpolating stage directions, the actors perform The Barber. David fills in as one of the barbers himself, offering a florid Italian accent. There is much laughter and applause...