Seinfeld's video rental stores!

Let's scrutinize a sitcom's set WAY too closely, shall we? I think anyone who is nostalgic for the 80s or 90s thinks back fondly on video rental places. There were several locally owned video places near me when I was a kid, and each weekend I'd love to go to the store, spend like fifteen minutes just wandering the aisles looking at the VHS boxes and decided what to get. So one a recent re-watch of Seinfeld I was happy to see the group occasionally using a video rental place as a backdrop. And thanks to the show now being in HD, you're able to take a real good look at what exactly is available in these places! Let's explore a 90s sitcom's fictionalized video rental store, shall we? Oh, and click the pictures to open up larger version of them to scrutinize along!

Okay, so first off, one thing has always jumped out at me in this episode (Season 1, episode 2). Look to the left there. The adult section is right on the main floor?? Now plenty of independent rental stores back in the day had an adult video section, but I've NEVER been in one that didn't separate it in SOME way! A different room, some kind of screen, a curtain, or something, so some random kid doesn't just start browsing the adult videos. I think the entrance to the store is to the left, too, which means everyone that comes in has to pass the adult section! That is weird! Now, one reason that the section may be placed there is because it's actually used in the episode, as Jerry picks up a box and shows it to Elaine. So it had to be around where they were browsing. But it's placement in a different episode had no such excuse:

So this is taken from season 4, episode 21. I'm not sure if this is supposed to be the same video store, as the layout looks almost entirely different. But if you notice, the adult section is still out in the open. This time it's to the left, under a big neon sign that says "Adult-X"! Once again, the adult section is right by the entrance where everyone would have to walk past! And the weirdest thing about it being here this time is that unlike the other episode, there's no reason for it to be here, as the characters don't pick anything from there or mention it at all. I'm just so baffled by that decision! But enough about the weird placement of the adult section, let's take a closer look at what's on display!

So taking a look at these stills, it's obvious that there was not much thought into what tapes would go where on these shelves. After all, it's just the background, so I'm sure they didn't think the audience would pay much attention. On top of that, on an SD TV I'm sure the picture would have been too blurry to make out too many of these. So here we have the 'Comedy' section, though I don't think there's a single comedy on that row of tapes. Elaine here is holding Cocoon 2, which she talks about in the episode. Next to it is, I believe, Casablanca. The box next to that is partially obscured, I can see "Once" and "clear", not sure what movie that is. The box that's obscuring it is a volume of The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin! Oh man I loved that show when I was a kid! Oddly enough, that pink Teddy Ruxpin box shows up in a couple of places throughout this store. The only other movie I can make out here is to Elaine's left, called Major Dunder starring Charlton Heston. The movie's tagline says "an army of civil war renegades battle the enemy in a bloody showdown." I'm pretty sure that doesn't belong in the comedy section either.

While Elaine is checking out the adult video, we can see the large wall pretty clearly. I don't think there's a sign saying what this section is supposed to be, but I've found four more Teddy Ruxpin videos, Beverly Hills Cop, and the Blues Brothers on that wall, so I'm pretty sure this video store is very, very confused.

Yet another random hodgepodge on this wall as well! It's so frustrating because some of these boxes seem pretty distinct, but I just don't recognize the covers. But what I can say is there is yet another pink box of Teddy Ruxpin over Elaine's shoulder. Above her seems to be some kind of basketball video? On the other side of her are two videos that actually have a matching theme, one behind her head says World War II Victory at Sea, and below that is another World War II tape. To the right of that lower WWII tape is one that I wish I could make out more, it says The All-Star something something and has two people featured on it. One of these boxes isn't even a movie! The blue box on the top shelf I believe says Video Tape Repair. I'm guessing it's one of those cleaning tapes you'd put in to clean the heads of the machine.

Okay, lots of weird ones here and man I wish I could make out some more of these a bit clearer. There's one that was driving me crazy here, and after too much searching around I eventually found it. To the left of Susan's head there is a Godzilla movie, and to the left of THAT one was one that I recognized from when I was a kid. There's two faces, and the face on the right is some kind of weird scaly alien. After searching around, it's called Enemy Mine and I know nothing about it but man I remember that freaky looking alien head! To the left of Enemy Mind is the first Karate Kid. On the other side of Susan's head is Gremlins, then something I can't figure out, then a giant boxed Poltergeist II! Oddly enough, below that, there seems to be two adult videos between Susan and her girlfriend. The video closes to her girlfriend is just a girl in underwear and the title looks to say "Nice N Tight"? At least I think that's what it says! One last movie on this screen that is worth noting. If I could direct your attention to the copy of Aliens between George and Susan. Now look to the right. That box says "Dunder Klumpen" on it, and I immediately was curious what the heck that was. The box art also looks quite busy. This is apparently a Swedish movie from 1974 that mixes live action and animation, and all Rotten Tomatoes has to say about it is "A Swedish father chases his son who chases his sister's dolls who have run away with a tiny creature." That's pretty much all the info they give, but it has an audience score of 88% with over 500 reviews. So, check out Dunder Klumpen I guess?

So there you have it folks. I had WAY too much fun looking around this fake video rental place than I should have. I know there's at least one more episode that has a video store in it, so maybe I'll do a part two at some point. Thanks for reading!