Seinfeld is alive on Netflix, at long last. But Jerry’s sneakers and George’s pothole nemesis aren’t the only things missing. John Randolph is also a no-show.
Here’s some Seinfeld trivia for ya: Fans of a certain age may not remember, but Jerry Stiller wasn’t always the Festivus-creating patriarch of the Costanza family. Before Ben Stiller’s dad added his iconic presence to the hit NBC series, another actor played Frank Costanza: That’s right, John Randolph.
The character of Frank debuted in the 22nd episode of Season 4, “The Handicap Spot.” This, Randolph’s lone appearance on Seinfeld, gave us a more genteel and soft-spoken version of Frank. When Stiller joined the cast in Season 5, he put his own stamp on the character and the rest is history.
But “The Handicap Spot” still existed. The story goes that Seinfeld co-creator Larry David had originally wanted Stiller for the role, but the actor turned it down. It wasn’t until David’s second attempt, some months later, that Stiller said yes. Once he established the Frank Costanza we know and love today, David reportedly pushed NBC to re-shoot Randolph’s scenes. (I wasn’t able to find an interview confirming exactly how the re-shoots came to happen, but David’s push for them is the story that floats around.)
Both versions of “The Handicap Spot” appear on the Season 4 DVD release of Seinfeld. Both versions were also included in Hulu’s library, which is where Seinfeld lived before it made the leap to Netflix. But now, in its new home, there’s only one version of “The Handicap Spot” to be found, and it’s the Stiller re-shoot.
I’m not trying to kick off a “Release the John Randolph” cut campaign. That version of the episode still exists on DVD if nothing else. You can also find Randolph’s clips on YouTube in various forms as well.
It’s nonetheless curious that Seinfeld‘s previous streaming home of Hulu had both versions of the episode, but Netflix only has one. Mashable has reached out to Netflix for more information, so stay tuned for updates.
