"The Pitch" is the 43rd episode of the sitcomSeinfeld. It is the third episode of the fourth season. It aired on September 16, 1992.
Plot
executives meet Jerry after his comedy act and ask him to come up with an idea for a TV series. George decides he can be a sitcom writer and comes up with the idea of it being "a show about nothing". Kramer trades Newman a radar detector for a helmet. Later Newman receives a speeding ticket due to the detector being defective. While waiting to meet the NBC executives, George and Jerry meet "Crazy" Joe Davola, a writer and "total nut" who goes to the same therapist as Elaine. Jerry, desperately searching for conversation, says he'll see him at a party Kramer will soon be having. When it becomes apparent that Joe knows nothing about it and was not invited, Jerry makes a hasty and unsuccessful attempt to backtrack. George becomes more and more nervous about the impending meeting. Jerry tries to calm him down by building him up. In the meeting, George argues with the executives about his proposed premise. It does not go over well with them and when they show displeasure, George refuses to compromise on the idea. Jerry later blasts George for his actions. George starts a relationship with one of the executives, Susan Ross. When George brings her to Jerry's apartment, Kramer drinks spoiled milk and vomits on her. Crazy Joe Davola, upset at not being invited to Kramer's party, attacks Kramer, kicking him in the head. However, Kramer was wearing Newman's helmet at the time, which saves him any visible injury. When Kramer tells Jerry this, he warns him that Davola says he is looking for Jerry as well.
Production
In syndication, this episode does not feature Jerry's stand-up routine and also uses Season 3's logo at the beginning, as is also the case in "The Ticket", "The Cheever Letters", and "The Virgin". Both this and "The Ticket" were originally broadcast as a one-hour episode, but are shown separately in syndication. The primary storyline about Jerry and George co-creating the showJerry was a tongue-in-cheek homage to the process that Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David experienced when co-creating the show Seinfeld. In the Season 4 DVD extra documentary called "The Breakthrough Season", Jason Alexander and Castle Rock Entertainment executive Glenn Padnick discussed their initial skepticism about using this idea in not only one episode but as an arc for an entire season. Alexander found it to be "insane" and "self-aggrandized". Padnick described the arc about the Jerry show as "inside baseball on a show that most people didn't know even existed."
Critical reception
Linda S. Ghent, Professor in the Department of Economics at Eastern Illinois University, discusses this episode in view of the asymmetric information dramatized. Ghent explains: "Millions of Americans" enjoyed the part of the episode in which Jerry makes a tele-caller see things from his perspective. The Pew Charitable Trusts weighed in on this episode, naming telemarketing one of the contributors to "rudeness in America".
