"The Pie" is the 79th episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. This was the 15th episode for the fifth season. It aired on February 17, 1994.
Plot
is miffed after his girlfriend Audrey refuses to try a bite of his apple pie without telling him why. In a clothing store, Kramer sees a mannequin that looks just like Elaine. Elaine and George visit the store. Elaine demands to know the source of the mannequin, but the lady that works at the clothing store refuses to tell her. Meanwhile, George is interested in an expensive suit that will soon be on sale at half price. Seeing another customer is interested in the suit, George hides the suit so the other customer will not find it on the sale day. As George buys the suit, the other customer swears vengeance. Jerry and Audrey go to eat at Poppie's, her father's restaurant. In the bathroom, Jerry notices that Poppie doesn't wash his hands after using the bathroom. When he sees Poppie kneading the pizza dough with his unwashed hands, Jerry refuses to eat the pizza in the same manner that Audrey rejected the pie, which she interprets as him taking revenge. Elaine returns to the clothing store where she finds the "Elaine" mannequin posed bent over, with another mannequin spanking "her". Elaine is so furious that she steals the mannequin and runs off. George becomes concerned by the "swooshing" noise the suit makes when he walks, as he is wearing it to a job interview. George's prospective employer takes him to dinner. When George notices his rival for the suit surreptitiously watching him from the kitchen, he fears the food has been tampered with, so he refuses to taste the dessert. For this he doesn't get the job, but he nonetheless considers it a wise decision, since everyone who ate the dessert became violently ill. When Jerry finds out that Audrey has since eaten a whole slice of apple pie at the same restaurant where she refused it before, he furiously goes to Poppie's restaurant to tell her off. While he is there, a health inspector arrives and shuts down the restaurant, giving Jerry the opportunity to gloat. He never finds out why Audrey refused to eat the pie. Kramer suffers from a bad itch that is only relieved at the hands of Olive, a waitress from Monk's who has long fingernails. Kramer's itch eventually heals and he plans to break up with Olive so as to not upset her. He tells her that the mannequin is his new girlfriend and goes out to the car to zestfully make out with it while Olive watches in dismay. Elaine learns from someone that she saw the "Elaine" mannequin in another city, causing her to fret on their origin. The mannequin is a success across the nation and it is revealed that Ricky, the obsessive TV enthusiast she met in "The Cigar Store Indian", was the one who designed the mannequin.
Production
Though the cast reading took place on January 13, 1994, Julia Louis-Dreyfus' birthday, the filming of this episode did not take place until February due to the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Though the show's production staff considered moving from CBS Studio Center to Paramount Studios, CBS's stage crew spent three weeks renovating the stage before it was put back into use as CBS considered Seinfeld one of its best tenants. As an additional incentive to come back, CBS planned on renovating its New York Street backlot, which did not see its appearance until season six. Tom Gammill once witnessed a chef leave a restaurant restroom without washing his hands after using the toilet, providing the basis for Poppie's story. Gammill and his writing partner Max Pross named Poppie as a setup for the climactic joke, "Poppie's hands are poopy," which was ultimately replaced with "Poppie is a bit sloppy." The incident with the pie was based on a real-life incident as told to the writers by Seinfeld himself. They were struck by how the normally easygoing Seinfeld was so upset over such a trivial incident. The character Olive was based on a cashier at the House of Pies.
