The Kiss Hello

Wendie Malick, who guest stars in this episode, ruins almost anything in which she appears. She was Martin Crane's (John Mahoney) love interest in the final season of "Frasier" and the viewer had to suffer through ten episodes of her poor acting. At least she only is in this episode and she is far from hilarious. The Jerry, Uncle Leo, and the rest of his family portion of the episode is funny, but not quite up to the standards of a Seinfeld classic.

As though the name tags idea wasn't insane enough, Kramer gets the idea of having a community board with everyone's name and photo displayed. It's well intentioned (and so were the name tags) but backfires disastrously, of course. Not because it's an invasion of privacy, but because the people in Jerry's building have the annoying habit of greeting each other with a kiss on the cheek, and when Jerry is in their line of sight, it's unwarranted. Jerry suffers in the most hilarious way in this episode, although it's a little uncomfortable given that here he didn't do anything to deserve what happens to him and wasn't even that rude when he dodged his neighbors invasive greetings. The unflattering photo Kramer takes of Jerry with his camera, the ways Jerry tries to avoid the kisses, and the kiss on the mouth he gets from Kramer are all side splitting. Another top-notch Seinfeld episode.

Elaine's physical therapist friend Wendy (played by Wendie Malick who is currently the college president on Young Sheldon) has big hair. She also has a habit of "hello kissing." Jerry is turned off by this casual stuff and tries to avoid her. He and Elaine find her hair style ridiculous but don't have the heart to tell her. What they need is a fall guy and that turns out to be Kramer. He tends to be quite blunt and they feel he will mention her hair. In the subplot, Kramer decides to put up pictures of everyone in the apartment building with names, so they will all be friendly. Every one is kissing everyone else, but Jerry refuses and draws the wrath of everyone. There is also another plot where George decides to try to develop a relationship with Wendy by faking a wrist injury. She charges him a full fee for her services. It's really a great episode, especially as Jerry tries to talk to his apartment associates.

Season 6, Episode 16, "The Kiss Hello"

"The Kiss Hello" is rarely remembered as a classic Seinfeld episode but it's a personal favorite of mine. Jerry, for once, is the real star of the show and his acting shines more than usual; he's accompanied by his entire famiy - including Uncle Leo (Len Lesser) and Nana (Billye Ree Wallace) who are at their most insane and hilarious. Leo especially is at his very best.

Also worthy of special notice is the wonderful Wendie Malick (Just Shoot Me) as a friend of Elaine's with outrageous 50's hair, and throughout the episode she interacts with all four cast members, all making for truly hilarious scenes.