ABSTRACT
In the hour-long or two-part last episode of the record-breaking US sitcom Seinfeld (#169: ‘The Finale’, 14 May 1998) the four main characters – Jerry Seinfeld, George Costanza, Cosmo Kramer and Elaine Benes – are granted a trip to Paris in the NBC company jet. This treat is a compensation for the studio having kept the pilot of Jerry’s show on the shelf for fi ve years before accepting it, as a result of organizational politics. The plane, due to an onboard accident precipitated by Kramer trying to remove some water lodged in his ear whilst swimming, is forced to put down in a fi eld outside the fi ctional town of Latham, Massachusetts. As they wait for the plane to be repaired they walk into the town and witness a fat man being robbed of his money and car at gunpoint on the other side of the street.
