The Baby Shower (Seinfeld)

Larry Charles wrote the episode, which was directed by Tom Cherones, and was partly based on a friend of his who was pregnant but did not want to experience childbirth.

George is excited, as the baby shower is an opportunity to confront the woman who had given him the worst date of his life by pouring Bosco chocolate sauce on his red collared shirt while doing performance art.

Jerry is frustrated by his television's bad reception, and is convinced by Kramer to have cable illegally installed by two Russians (Vic Polizos and James Lashly).

[6] Charles explained that the writing staff of the show considered it a challenge to weave together loose ideas into one episode.

[6][7] The episode was partly based on a friend of Charles, who was pregnant but did not want to experience childbirth and therefore asked the doctor to anesthetize her.

[2] The Leslie character was largely based on Karen Finley and Johanna Went, two performance artists who both used foods in their acts, Charles considered them "a ripe target for satire".

[2] As Charles was always trying to find elements that were unusual in sitcoms, the episode had a scene in which Jerry dreams he is interrogated by the FBI for his illegal cable hookup, and is killed by their gunfire while trying to escape.

[8] In audio commentary he recorded for the Seinfeld: Volume 1 DVD set, Charles noted how he established three of the episode's four storylines in one scene, in which the characters eat and talk at Monk's Cafe.

[4] Some dialogue was removed from the scene, as Kramer initially told Jerry Benjamin Franklin would have wanted free cable.

[4] Margaret Reed, best known for her role on the soap opera As the World Turns, appeared as Mary Cantardi, a woman who screams at Jerry for not calling her back after a date.

[11][12] Norman Brenner, who worked as Richards' stand-in on the show for all its nine seasons,[13] appears as an extra in the first scene of the episode, standing at the counter at Monk's Cafe.

[14] It received a Nielsen rating of 12.4 and an audience share of 21, indicating that 12.4% of American households watched the episode, and that 21% of all televisions in use at the time were tuned into it.

Mike Flaherty and Mary Kaye Schilling of Entertainment Weekly graded the episode with a D, stating "After a promising opening, this baby quickly degenerates into heavy-handed farce".