We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.
Enthusiasts of Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David’s hit sitcom “Seinfeld” would be able to tell you that the title character (Seinfeld) had many, many girlfriends over the course of the show’s 180 episodes. Indeed, Jerry usually only dated his partners for plot purposes, allowing them to stick around for a single episode. The following week, Jerry would be dating someone new. A metric on the show’s DVDs pointed out that Jerry dated a grand total of 72 women over the course of the series’ nine years. That means he dated each woman for an average of 45-and-a-half days. Only five of the 72 women dated Jerry for more than one episode.
Advertisement
It’s easy to see why Jerry never dated anyone for an extended period. Jerry and the other three leads of “Seinfeld” were meant to be shallow, petty, childish, and awful. They were neurotic and self-serving characters, and the show’s humor spring from their foibles. If any of the characters managed to find a relationship they could foster and nurture, it would imply they had grown up. “Seinfeld” had a mandate that no one learn any lessons, so it was vital to keep Jerry and his cohorts perpetually single.
The longest relationship Jerry ever had was with Rachel (Melanie Smith), who lasted a whopping four episodes. She was in the two-part episode “The Raincoats” as well as “The Hamptons” and “The Opposite.” She must have made an impression on David, seeing as Smith later went on to appear in an episode of his discomfort sitcom “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” She played one of the fictional Larry David’s ex-girlfriends, who insisted he attend her Incest Survivors Anonymous meeting.
Advertisement
Smith also, it turns out, had a hand in giving “Curb Your Enthusiasm” its title. In a 2024 interview with Cracked, Smith revealed that she was one of maybe seven people who attended a very early screening of the “Curb” pilot and that she, along with the other six, chose the title together.
Melanie Smith was in tight with the Curb Your Enthusiasm producers
Smith, it seems, was a good friend of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” executive producer Bob Weide and was considered a trusted confidant. As such, her role on “Seinfeld” led directly into Smith’s “Curb” gig, and she was let into the screening rooms early to watch “Curb” while it was still in development. Indeed, she was able to take a sneak peek at what was, at the time, a mystery project that Weide had put together. This was in the early months of 1999, at which point Smith was asked for her input on the prototype of what was to be “Larry David: Curb Your Enthusiasm,” a one-shot TV special. As she remembered it:
Advertisement
“Larry asked Bob to come up with this mockumentary special. Bob started working on it, and I talked with him during all of that. Then Bob called me one day and said, “We’re trying to name it, and we’re going to do a screening with just five people.” Maybe it was seven of us, but it was just a few people with Bob and Larry. It was in a screening room, and we were given a sheet of paper with maybe 12 names. We all checked off which one we wanted. Pretty much everyone said ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm.'”
Smith added that David is almost exactly the same in person as he is on “Curb” (although one might assume the real David isn’t quite as socially clueless). The actor, for her part, has worked on multiple high-profile shows during her career, having appeared on “Beverly Hills 90210” and on five episodes of “Melrose Place” back in the 1990s. She also played Ziyal, the Bajoran/Cardassian lovechild of Gul Dukat (Marc Alaimo) on several episodes of “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.” Most recently, Smith published a 2023 self-help book titled “Unfinished Business: 8 Steps to Heal Your Trauma, Transcend Your Past, and Transform Your Life.”
Advertisement
