The Chinese Restaurant - Production

Production

" was the point where the network said, 'You know, we really don't understand what you're trying to do with this show, and we think it's wrong. But we're going to air it anyway.' I was thrilled that NBC took that attitude. We had done enough good things at that point that they were willing to trust us."

"The Chinese Restaurant" was written by series co-creators Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld and directed by Tom Cherones, who directed all of season two's episodes. David came up with the idea of the real-time episode while he and Seinfeld were waiting for a table at a Chinese restaurant in Los Angeles. When David presented the episode to NBC executives, he received a negative reaction. The network felt that there was no real story and viewers would not be interested. Executive Warren Littlefield commented that he thought there were pages missing from the script he had received. David argued that each character had a storyline; Jerry's story was he recognized a woman but did not know from where, Elaine's story was that she was very hungry and George's story was that he was unable to use the phone. NBC disagreed and objected to the broadcast of the episode. To satisfy the executives, staff writer Larry Charles suggested the group's storyline to be on their way to a one-night screening of Plan 9 from Outer Space, and thus introducing a "ticking clock" scenario to the story. When the NBC executives still objected, David threatened to quit the show if the network would force any major changes upon the script. Seinfeld supported David and NBC eventually allowed them to produce "The Chinese Restaurant" without any significant alterations, although they strongly advised them not go through with it, and postponed the broadcast until near the end of the season.

"The Chinese Restaurant" was first read by its cast on December 5, 1990; it was filmed on December 11. Filming took place at CBS Studio Center in Studio City, Los Angeles, California, where all filming for the second season took place. As only one location was used, it took roughly half of the time it usually took for an episode to be filmed. Cast members have remarked that the filming was shorter than on any other episode. A few changes were made; in the first draft of the script, George, Jerry and Elaine entered the restaurant talking about their least favorite holiday. In the version that aired, they talk about combining the jobs of policemen and garbagemen into a single job. In the original draft, the three friends also discussed how to spend the long waiting period in the future, with George suggesting they bring a deck of cards and that Jerry bring a jigsaw puzzle with nothing but penguins. One scene was cut before broadcast, featuring George explaining to Jerry that he pulled his hamstring while trying to untuck the covers of a hotel bed during his recent stay in Boston. George can be seen grabbing his hamstring as he walks to the phone. The scene was later included on the Seinfeld seasons one and two DVD boxset.