TV FUN FACT: THE “SEINFELD”/”ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW” CONNECTION

The “pilot” that Jerry and George wrote for NBC on season 4 of SEINFELD, is the same plot of an actual episode of THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW.

In George & Jerry’s pilot for “JERRY”, a man gets in an accident with Jerry and is sentenced to be his butler since he has no insurance.

In Episode 26 — “Andy’s English Valet” — in Season 3 of THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW, English tourist Malcolm Merriweather causes an accident with his bicycle, and having no money, is sentenced to pay off his fine by being Andy’s butler.

Incidentally, when they’re coming up with ideas for shows, George also pitches an idea about an antiques store that Jerry dismisses as being dumb … this same idea was the basis for the beloved British series LOVEJOY.

UPDATE: Ha! Someone just pointed me to Jerry Seinfeld’s tweet this week about his secret Andy Griffith tribute of making the characters say “hey, ___” when they entered just like on THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW (“Hey, Andy!” “Hey, Barn!”) So I guess he has many of them … it’s just always perplexed me that all these years after SEINFELD wrapped and nobody ever puts the Malcom Merriweather/”Jerry” pilot connection together. Andy’s passing seemed like the right time to point out another instance of his enduring legacy to TV land. :)

“Goober says ‘hey’!”