Random Worst Episodes Of 'Seinfeld' (12 items)

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  (#12) The Outing

  • Feb 11 1993

  "The Outing" starts out with George, Elaine, and Jerry waiting in the diner for an NYU student to show up for an interview. When Elaine notices a couple of women listening in on their conversation, she has a little fun by talking about Jerry and George's relationship. One of the young women turns out to be the reporter who recognizes them after arriving at Jerry's apartment later. Both men are 'outed' as LGBTQ+, and the episode gave rise to the commend, "Not that there's anything wrong with that," which has remained an element of pop culture to this day.

  Why it falls short: It may have won a GLAAD media award in 1993, but this episode is a perfect example of one that hasn't aged well. While jokes about being gay may have been considered funny in the 1990s, most people are offended by them today. The insinuation that being gay was somehow wrong — despite always decrying that there wasn't anything wrong with it — tends to fall on deaf ears today.
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  (#4) The Puerto Rican Day

  • May 07 1998

  "The Puerto Rican Day" features the main cast coming home from a game and finding the city completely gridlocked. The annual Puerto Rican Day Parade is the culprit, and after Jerry gets into a feud with another driver, nobody is going anywhere. The episode shows each of the men conning their way into a townhouse to use the bathroom and catch the last few minutes of the game while Elaine desperately attempts to get home but to no avail.

  Why it falls short: There were a lot of bottle episodes on Seinfeld, but this one is the dullest. More than that, it was incredibly racially offensive, and NBC even apologized for airing it. Overall, it's just not a funny episode, and that leaves the offensive bits standing out as the most prominent feature. Most people don't like this episode, and there are plenty who outright hate it.
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  (#9) The Mango

  • Sep 16 1993

  When Elaine admits to having faked her orgasms with Jerry, he suffers a devastating blow to his male pride and ego. He ends up pestering her throughout the episode while simultaneously calling all the women he'd slept with to see if they faked it as well. While that is going on, George finds that his libido has taken a hit, and only overcomes his issue when he eats a mango offered by Kramer, who can talk of nothing else.

  Why it falls short: It isn't a beloved episode, mostly due to the fact that a lot of people who watched it were offended. While the episode aimed to tackle racy issues like orgasms, libido, and the like, the plot was both stale and unoriginal, seeming more like a rehash of "The Ex-Girlfriend", which is also one this list.
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  (#7) The Jacket

  • Feb 06 1991

  In "The Jacket," Jerry finds a jacket he absolutely loves, and despite being extravagantly expensive, he buys it — red & white-striped liner and all. The bulk of the episode centers around George and Jerry waiting for Elaine to show up to a dinner with her father, but Elaine never shows. George and Jerry end up being uncomfortable around the gruff older man who insists Jerry not wear the jacked inside-out as they walk down the street.

  Why it falls short: The biggest problem with this episode is that it's boring. Most of the scenes take place with a couple of guys waiting for someone in a hotel lobby, which is about as funny as it must be exciting. There are some laughs, but for the most part, the episode was a dud. The only interesting part of the episode went on behind the scenes, when Lawrence Tierney, the actor who played Elaine's father, got caught trying to steal a prop butcher knife from the set. When he was confronted, he mockingly threatened to end Jerry with the knife... now, if that were in the episode, it might not have found its way on this list.
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  (#10) The Tape

  • Nov 13 1991

  When Elaine secretly records a sexy bit of dialogue into Jerry's tape he was making while performing, the guys become infatuated with the mystery woman's voice. Meanwhile, George is trying to battle his baldness with a Chinese miracle cure, but the only thing it does is make him look like an idiot and stink up the apartment. When the guys all discover that it was Elaine's voice on the tape, they turn their infatuation directly at her.

  Why it falls short: The main problem with this episode is how it ended. The men all lecherously stare at Elaine like she's a giant chicken leg from some Looney Toons cartoon from the '60s. It went against the normal tone of the series, which set the characters' platonic friendship, sans romantic interest relationship as the main point of the series. Going against it was a strange choice, and it ruined what might have otherwise been a great episode.
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  (#11) The Gum

  • Dec 14 1995

  George's childhood nemesis, Lloyd Braun, makes an appearance in "The Gum," having recently been released from a psychiatric institution, or, as George put it, "The nuthouse." Meanwhile, Kramer is working to restore a run-down movie theater whle Jerry is pulled into Braun and George's issues when he reluctantly agrees to buy Chinese chewing gum. Much of the episode's activity centers around Elaine's cleavage, as it's the driving force for many of the interactions seen throughout.

  Why it falls short: The problem with "The Gum" is that it focuses entirely too much attention on Elaine's breasts. Sure, it's funny for a cheap laugh here and there, but it was overused and abused too many times in this episode. 

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