Good News, Bad News

Storyline

The series opens with Jerry Seinfeld and George Costanza (Jason Alexander) seated at Pete's Luncheonette, debating the placement of one of George's shirt buttons. Jerry says that the button is too high and it looks like George lives with his mother. Jerry tells George about a woman he met in Lansing, Michigan, Laura (Pamela Brull), who's coming to New York, and they discuss whether her intentions are romantic. Laura teaches Political Science and he met her, when he did the show in Lansing. Jerry tells George that Laura is coming in for a seminar and said that maybe they will get together. George says that Jerry is a back-up, he a plan-B, a contingency. Jerry doesn't know what hotel she is staying at, so he cannot call her. She didn't make any firm plans, and its Saturday night. The next evening, Jerry tells his neighbor Kessler (Michael Richards) that he thinks he misunderstood the situation with Laura. Kesser ruined the night for Jerry by revealing the outcome of the Mets game. Jerry had taped the game and had avoided human contact all night to watch it at night. Kessler hasn't been out of the building in 10 years. Kessler claims that he was almost a lawyer. However, Jerry then receives a telephone call from Laura, who asks if she can stay overnight at his apartment as she could not find a decent hotel room in NYC. Though Jerry agrees, he's still unsure whether or not her visit is intended to be romantic. George on the other hand, believes, this is the signal. Jerry and George continue to debate the issue, with the former determined to find the true nature of her visit. Jerry brings in an extra bed for Laura to sleep in. George says that this is the signal since it is not possible that Laura did not find a decent hotel room in the whole city. While waiting at the airport for Laura to arrive, Jerry and George try to identify the possible signals Laura might give upon her arrival, with George explaining the meaning of various greetings (Luggage kept down before the hug is a good sign, anything in the lip area is good, the shoulder hugs, but with hips wide apart are bad, the hand sandwich (with one hand at the bottom and other hand on the top) is ambiguous as everything depends on the layering, and so on. However, when Laura arrives, her greeting is ambiguous. She grabs Jerry from behind (the surprise blindfold) and never puts her bags down. Upon arriving at Jerry's apartment Laura removes her shoes and some excess clothes to get comfortable, asks for wine, turns down the light and asks if she can stay over a second night. As Jerry removes his shoes and begins to grow confident, the phone rings for Laura. When Laura gets off the phone, she tells Jerry: "Never get engaged." Jerry then realizes that he has no chance with Laura but has already committed himself - and his one-bedroom apartment - to an entire weekend with her, including a 5-hour sightseeing boat ride around Manhattan.