The Wizard (Seinfeld episode)

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Seinfeld episode
"The Wizard"

The Boca Breeze coverage of the condo president election.
Episode no. 171
Airdate February 26, 1998
Writer(s) Steve Lookner
Director Andy Ackerman
Guest star(s) Mike McShane
Seinfeld - Season 9
September 1997 - May 1998
  1. The Butter Shave
  2. The Voice
  3. The Serenity Now
  4. The Blood
  5. The Junk Mail
  6. The Merv Griffin Show
  7. The Slicer
  8. The Betrayal
  9. The Apology
  10. The Strike
  11. The Dealership
  12. The Reverse Peephole
  13. The Cartoon
  14. The Strong Box
  15. The Wizard
  16. The Burning
  17. The Bookstore
  18. The Frogger
  19. The Maid
  20. The Puerto Rican Day
  21. The Clip Show, Part 1
  22. The Clip Show, Part 2
  23. The Finale, Part 1
  24. The Finale, Part 2
List of all Seinfeld episodes

The Wizard is the one-hundred and seventy-first episode of the hit NBC sitcom Seinfeld. This was the 15th episode for the 9th and final season. It aired on February 26, 1998.

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Jerry buys his dad a $200 Wizard organizer for a birthday present. George receives a message from Susan's parents, the Rosses. Jerry and George debate about the race of Elaine's new boyfriend and that intrigues her - is he black?. George returns the call from the Rosses; the Foundation is having an event this weekend, but George doesn't want to attend, so he comes up with a story that he has to close on his house in the Hamptons. Kramer announces his retirement, a Hollywood big shot has optioned his coffee table book about coffee tables. Elaine finds evidence that leads her to believe her boyfriend is black. Susan's parents see George on the street in the city, during the time he is supposed to be in the Hamptons.

Jerry is woken up early in the morning at his parents' house and gives his father the Wizard, which apparently Jerry got from a deal at only $50. Morty is only impressed by it being a "tip calculator", although Jerry claims it does other things. Later he discovers that Kramer has moved down there, to join the other retirees. Elaine laughs when Susan's parents ask her about George's house in the Hamptons, revealing the lies. Morty, who can't run for president of the condo association because he was nearly impeached earlier, decides that Kramer should be elected condo board president of Del Boca Vista phase III, so Morty will run things from behind the scenes, like a "puppet regime". Elaine schemes to try to determine her boyfriend's race. As George finds out the Rosses knew that he lied, and they allowed him to continue lying, he keeps building on his lie and picks up the Rosses to take them to the Hamptons, to "see who'll blink first".

Kramer begins his campaign and the Boca Breeze has good things to say about him. When Elaine's boyfriend says they are an interracial couple, she is convinced he is black. Kramer receives some bad press from the Boca Breeze; it's damage control time. Kramer suggests buying each member of the board one of those Wizard "tip calculators". Jerry knows he can't get the deal he told his father he'd received, but Kramer says not to worry, Bob Sacamano's father lives down there and can help them out. Elaine and her boyfriend discover they are just a white couple, he is not black and she is not hispanic, as each other thought. Sacamano's father comes through with knock-off "tip calculators" called "the Willard", which are defective, costing Morty and Kramer the election. George and the Rosses reach the Hamptons, where he blinks first and the truth is revealed. The Rosses definitely dislike George.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Trivia

  • The hot dog vendor was Franklin Delano Romanowski from the episode "The Betrayal", however, his name was not mentioned.
  • Mr. Ross said that it was March in that episode, but the actual American airdate of this episode was in February. This could mean that sometimes the airdate and the actual date in an episode are not around the same day.
  • The headlines of the Boca Breeze newspapers read: "Kramer Ahead in the Polls", "Kramer: I Will Increase Social Security", "Vacancy in Building Four" (last one follows Kramer slapping a VOTE KRAMER sticker on the bumper of an ambulance)
  • The sub-headlines of the Boca Breeze newspapers read: "Larry David Gets Hole In One", "Larry David Hurts Elbow", "Larry David Never to Play Golf Again." (Incidentally, David's show, Curb Your Enthusiasm, features an episode where he gets kicked out of a golf club.)