The Sponge

"**The Sponge**"
"The Sponge"
Seinfeld episode
Episode no.	Season 7; Episode 9
Directed by	Andy Ackerman
Written by	Peter Mehlman
Production code	709
Original air date	December 7, 1995
Guest appearances
	Heidi Swedberg as Susan Ross; Scott Patterson as Billy; Jennifer Guthrie as Lena; David Byrd as Roger Hoffman; John Paragon as Cedric; Yul Vazquez as Bob; Ileen Getz as Organizer; Steven Hack as Walker #1; Patricia Bethune as Walker #3; Susan Moore as Monica;
Episode chronology
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	Seinfeld season 7
	List of episodes

"The Sponge" is the 119th episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. This was the ninth episode for the seventh season.^[1] It aired on December 7, 1995.^[1] In this episode, George and Elaine face sexual crises when the Today brand of contraceptive sponges is taken off the market, while Kramer participates in an AIDS walk and Jerry dates a tireless do-gooder whose phone number he got from the list of Kramer's sponsors.

Plot

At Monk's Café, Kramer asks Jerry and Elaine to sponsor him for an AIDS walk. On the list of sponsors Jerry sees Lena Small, whom he wanted to call for a date, but her number is unlisted. Jerry takes down the number and calls Lena. Elaine, excited by how things are going with her boyfriend, Billy, says she is going shopping for contraceptive sponges. Kramer informs her the sponge was taken off the market. Jerry boasts that he has been wearing size 31 pants since college. George tells his fiancée Susan that Jerry actually wears size 32 and modifies the tag to a 31; this initiates a fight about sharing other people's secrets.

Firmly unwilling to change birth control methods, Elaine goes on a hunt for the sponges. After visiting multiple stores which are out of stock, she purchases 60 sponges at Pasteur Pharmacy. Jerry tells George that he found Lena on the AIDS walk list. George then tells Susan against Jerry's wishes, resolving their argument. This passes along the phone tree until it reaches Lena. When Lena tells him she doesn't mind him taking her number from the AIDS walk list, he gets turned off from her being "too good", assuming she must also be chaste. Jerry tells George he is "out of the loop" because he told Susan. Determined that her 60 sponges must last the rest of her life, Elaine refuses to give one to George so that he can have makeup sex with Susan and puts Billy through a rigorous examination to make sure he is "sponge-worthy". Although their first sexual encounter leaves her with no regrets, she denies him morning-after sex, unwilling to spare two sponges. With George and Susan suffering increasing sexual frustration for lack of the sponge, she convinces him to use a condom, but by the time they get the wrapper open his erection has passed.

When Kramer is exhausted just from walking up the stairs to his apartment, Jerry fears he is too out-of-shape to do the AIDS walk. Despite Jerry's warnings, Kramer stays up all the night before playing poker. At the AIDS walk, he refuses to wear an AIDS ribbon so "ribbon bullies", led by Bob and Cedric, beat Kramer nearly senseless. He still manages to stumble across the finishing line before collapsing; Jerry, however, assumes this was because of his staying up all night and walks away in scorn. However, when George asks where his AIDS ribbon is, Kramer realizes his mistake.

At Lena's, Jerry finds half her closet space is occupied by contraceptive sponges and realizes she is not chaste at all. However, he is compelled to tell her his secret about his pant size and she dumps him.

Production

Peter Mehlman was inspired to write this episode when he heard that the extremely popular Today sponge was being taken off the market.^[2] His initial plan was to dovetail Elaine's hoarding of the Today sponge with Kramer and Newman trying to run a stock market scam, George and a girl agreeing to date for a week and then break up by mutual consent, and Jerry trying to conceal from Lena the fact that he got her number from an AIDS walk list.^[2] These additional plot threads were either drastically reworked or completely replaced. Mehlman had in fact once obtained a woman's unlisted number from an AIDS walk list.^[3] The idea of Jerry modifying the waist size on the tag of his pants was contributed by Jerry Seinfeld himself.^[4]

The "ribbon bullies" story was motivated by the Seinfeld crew's dislike for being expected to wear AIDS ribbons at the Emmy Awards.^[3] The AIDS walk scene was filmed on the Central Park set of the CBS Radford lot.^[4]

Elaine's statement that she's going to do a "hard target search of every drug store, general store, health store, grocery store in a 25-block radius" is a parody of a similar statement made by Samuel Gerard in the 1993 film The Fugitive.

Option pricing

A paper by Avinash Dixit used this episode to explore an option value problem in determining the "spongeworthiness" of potential partners.^[5]^[6]

References

^ ^a ^b "Seinfeld Season 7 Episodes". TV Guide. Retrieved December 10, 2021.
^ ^a ^b Gardner, Robert (October 9, 1995). "The Writers: Peter Mehlman: The Genesis of a Seinfeld Episode". Playback. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
^ ^a ^b Mehlman, Peter (2006). Seinfeld Season 7: Audio Commentary - "The Sponge" (DVD). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
^ ^a ^b Seinfeld Season 7: Notes about Nothing - "The Sponge" (DVD). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. 2006.
^ Dixit, Avinash (2012). "An Option Value Problem from Seinfeld". Economic Inquiry. 50 (2): 563–565. doi:10.1111/j.1465-7295.2011.00377.x. S2CID 15630873.
^ Pilon, Mary (21 July 2010). "The Economics of 'Seinfeld'". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 9 September 2014.

External links

"The Sponge" at IMDb

[tvguide-1] "Seinfeld Season 7 Episodes". TV Guide. Retrieved December 10, 2021.

[MehlmanGen-2] Gardner, Robert (October 9, 1995). "The Writers: Peter Mehlman: The Genesis of a Seinfeld Episode". Playback. Retrieved 27 January 2020.

[AudioCom-3] Mehlman, Peter (2006). Seinfeld Season 7: Audio Commentary - "The Sponge" (DVD). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

[NaN-4] Seinfeld Season 7: Notes about Nothing - "The Sponge" (DVD). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. 2006.

[5] Dixit, Avinash (2012). "An Option Value Problem from Seinfeld". Economic Inquiry. 50 (2): 563–565. doi:10.1111/j.1465-7295.2011.00377.x. S2CID 15630873.

[6] Pilon, Mary (21 July 2010). "The Economics of 'Seinfeld'". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 9 September 2014.

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v t e Seinfeld episodes
Season 1	"The Seinfeld Chronicles" "The Stake Out" "The Robbery" "Male Unbonding" "The Stock Tip"
Season 2	"The Ex-Girlfriend" "The Pony Remark" "The Jacket" "The Phone Message" "The Apartment" "The Statue" "The Revenge" "The Heart Attack" "The Deal" "The Baby Shower" "The Chinese Restaurant" "The Busboy"
Season 3	"The Note" "The Truth" "The Pen" "The Dog" "The Library" "The Parking Garage" "The Cafe" "The Tape" "The Nose Job" "The Stranded" "The Alternate Side" "The Red Dot" "The Subway" "The Pez Dispenser" "The Suicide" "The Fix-Up" "The Boyfriend"† "The Limo" "The Good Samaritan" "The Letter" "The Parking Space" "The Keys"
Season 4	"The Trip"† "The Pitch" "The Ticket" "The Wallet" "The Watch" "The Bubble Boy" "The Cheever Letters" "The Opera" "The Virgin" "The Contest" "The Airport" "The Pick" "The Movie" "The Visa" "The Shoes" "The Outing" "The Old Man" "The Implant" "The Junior Mint" "The Smelly Car" "The Handicap Spot" "The Pilot"†
Season 5	"The Mango" "The Puffy Shirt" "The Glasses" "The Sniffing Accountant" "The Bris" "The Lip Reader" "The Non-Fat Yogurt" "The Barber" "The Masseuse" "The Cigar Store Indian" "The Conversion" "The Stall" "The Dinner Party" "The Marine Biologist" "The Pie" "The Stand In" "The Wife" "The Raincoats"† "The Fire" "The Hamptons" "The Opposite"
Season 6	"The Chaperone" "The Big Salad" "The Pledge Drive" "The Chinese Woman" "The Couch" "The Gymnast" "The Soup" "The Mom & Pop Store" "The Secretary" "The Race" "The Switch" "The Label Maker" "The Scofflaw" "The Highlights of 100"† "The Beard" "The Kiss Hello" "The Doorman" "The Jimmy" "The Doodle" "The Fusilli Jerry" "The Diplomat's Club" "The Face Painter" "The Understudy"
Season 7	"The Engagement" "The Postponement" "The Maestro" "The Wink" "The Hot Tub" "The Soup Nazi" "The Secret Code" "The Pool Guy" "The Sponge" "The Gum" "The Rye" "The Caddy" "The Seven" "The Cadillac"† "The Shower Head" "The Doll" "The Friar's Club" "The Wig Master" "The Calzone" "The Bottle Deposit"† "The Wait Out" "The Invitations"
Season 8	"The Foundation" "The Soul Mate" "The Bizarro Jerry" "The Little Kicks" "The Package" "The Fatigues" "The Checks" "The Chicken Roaster" "The Abstinence" "The Andrea Doria" "The Little Jerry" "The Money" "The Comeback" "The Van Buren Boys" "The Susie" "The Pothole" "The English Patient" "The Nap" "The Yada Yada" "The Millennium" "The Muffin Tops" "The Summer of George"
Season 9	"The Butter Shave" "The Voice" "The Serenity Now" "The Blood" "The Junk Mail" "The Merv Griffin Show" "The Slicer" "The Betrayal" "The Apology" "The Strike" "The Dealership" "The Reverse Peephole" "The Cartoon" "The Strongbox" "The Wizard" "The Burning" "The Bookstore" "The Frogger" "The Maid" "The Puerto Rican Day" "The Chronicle"† "The Finale"†
† Indicates two-part episode