Seinfeld (Series, The) (DVD)

Connect to Facebook/Twitter, recommend via email and much more.

---

16) "The Stand-In"—Hired as a stand-in on a soap opera, he convinces his "little person" friend to use lifts, which doesn't sit well with the other little people. Meanwhile, George and his girlfriend face-off over who's going to be the one to call it quits.

17) "The Wife"—Jerry goes along with it when his girlfriend needs him to pretend to be her husband so she can get a dry-cleaning discount, but comes back to haunt him when it all gets back to his family. Meanwhile, George is peeing in public showers, and just might get turned in. Courtney Cox guests.

18) "The Fire"—George tries to own up to his feelings after he panics during an apartment fire, Kramer dates a co-worker of Elaine's who drives her crazy and heckles Jerry at his show, and Jerry decides to get his revenge by heckling her at her workplace.

19-20) "The Raincoats"—It's a tale of two sets of parents as the Seinfelds and Costanzas experience life's little setbacks and coincidences, while Jerry and his girlfriend seek time to themselves at a movie . . . where Newman happens to be. Judge Reinhold guests.

21) "The Hamptons"—This is the funny "ugly baby" episode, in which George's girl goes topless at the Hamptons and everyone sees her chest before he does, Jerry's girlfriend catches George naked in all his tiny glory ("It was shrinkage!"), and Kramer scores a lobster trap.

22) "The Opposite"—George comes to the realization that his instincts and rationalizations are making him one of life's losers, and decides to do the opposite from now on—something that works so well he even gets a dream job with the Yankees. Meanwhile, Elaine's luck runs sour after buying a bad box of Jujyfruits, and Kramer appears on the Kathie and Regis show to plug his coffee table book.

Video: Remastered in High Definition, the 1.33:1 video really looks sharp, even stretched to fit a 16x9 widescreen television screen. The colors are vibrant and there isn't much in the way of bleed or pulsation. What more can I say? It looks great.

Audio: The sound quality is almost as good, with English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo and what appears to be French Mono, though it's tough to tell much of a reduction in quality. Subtitles are in English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Extras: As with the other sets, this one is packed with all sorts of bells and whistles on four discs in four clear, slim keep-cases that fit into a cardboard sleeve and box. There's a color bi-fold insert that lists the episodes and credits (surprising, not the air-dates and guest stars), but for descriptions of the episodes you have to look at the backs of the keep-cases. There are roughly 13 hours of bonus materials, which, of course, counts the commentaries. But boy, the Seinfeld people know how to do extras right. There's so much that it'll take a while just to describe it all, much less comment:

Disc 1 has a short feature on the character of George, with talking-head appearances by the stars, executive producer Larry David, studio honchos, and the casting director. But the "Inside Looks" on four episodes are like mini-features themselves, with the same format but focusing on each episode rather than a character. All of them are entertaining and informative, and even the real Kramer (Kenny Kramer) appears to tell how Larry David was actually barred from Joe's for squeezing the fruit. Fans will like the three deleted scenes on this disc as well. Again, as with previous releases, you can watch episodes with trivia pop-ups that are quirky and in the spirit of the show. Promos and TV spots are strictly for diehards and historians, but the commentaries are pretty decent.

Included on this disc are commentaries for "The Mango" (Richards, Alexander, and Louis-Dreyfus) and "The Glasses" (writers Tom Gammill and Max Pross), and it's clear from this commentary and others that the three co-stars spent a marathon session recording comments for commentaries for a number of seasons. Sometimes the energy sags, and by comparison the writers seem to come up with more insights. But both are still above average.

Disc 2 offers a clip of Seinfeld doing an extended stand-up routine on "Master of His Domain," as well as a deleted scene for "The Non-Fat Yogurt" and Inside Looks for three episodes, including that one and "The Lip Reader" and "The Barber." Co-producer Peter Mehlman teams with writer Carol Leifer for a commentary on "The Lip Reader" and with Gammill and Pross on "The Masseuse," while the three co-stars offer the commentary for "The Non-Fat Yogurt."

Disc 3 features four deleted scenes, though fans ought to know that all of the deleted scenes are really unused takes, rather than scenes completely foreign to each script. Inside looks and deleted scenes are provided for "The Conversion," "The Stall," "The Marine Biologist," and "The Pie," with director Tom Cherones and his production designer handling a visual-oriented commentary for "The Marine Biologist" and Gammill and Pross offering the commentary for "The Pie."

Disc 4 has a blooper reel that's really quite entertaining (Richards: "How 'bout that Dinkus," as Louis-Dreyfus crumples to the floor). Deleted scenes are included for "The Fire," "The Raincoats," and "The Opposite," while Inside Looks are provided for those plus "The Hamptons." Mehlman and Leifer offer the commentary for "The Hamptons," and finally, for fans who've been wondering when the star was going to make an appearance, Seinfeld appears with David to comment on the last episode of the season, "The Opposite."

As I said, it's clear that the stars were getting a bit weary and loopy recording so many of these things ("What show is this?" Alexander asks, at one point), but even so, the commentaries are still worthwhile.

Bottom Line:Remastered in High Definition and commercial-free, "Seinfeld" Season Five, with its trivial and intimate-secrets humor, qualifies as one of life's guilty pleasures.

---

Connect to Facebook/Twitter, recommend via email and much more.

---