‘Seinfeld’ introduced us to four of the craziest characters and gave us some iconic dialogues like “yada yada yada” and “no soup for you”! So why was it cancelled despite its soaring success?
The iconic American sitcom is often described as “A show about nothing“. Released 30 years ago, ‘Seinfeld’ proved that you do not need to do things the traditional way to make a show successful. Co-created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, ‘Seinfeld’ was one of the biggest 90s TV shows alongside ‘Friends’. It instantly became the most popular sitcom of the time. So, what was the reason behind cancelling a hit show like ‘Seinfeld’?
HIGHLIGHTS —
- $110 million offer for ‘Seinfield’ Season 10!
- Was ’Seinfeld’ almost cancelled?
- End of ‘Seinfeld’
In 1998, NBC executives made an offer of $5 million per episode for the tenth season of ‘Seinfeld’. This meant Jerry Seinfeld would have taken home $110 million. Despite the massive offer, he refused to do a season 10 of ‘Seinfeld’.
$110 million offer for ‘Seinfeld’ Season 10!
In 1998, the NBC executives made an offer of $5 million per episode for the tenth season of ‘Seinfeld’. This meant Jerry Seinfeld would have taken home $110 million. Despite the massive offer, he refused to do a season 10 of ‘Seinfeld’. In an interview with “Fox”, Executive of NBC, Warren Littlefield said: “We didn’t mess around. What we put on the table was unheard of. We went in there with a staggering sum and there was tremendous confidence that no one could walk away from it. Seinfeld came to me and said, ‘I don’t have a life, I’m not married, I don’t have kids’. We gave it everything we had, he was tempted, but in the end, it was a quality of life decision.”
Of course, given the fact that the nine seasons of ‘Seinfeld’ had already made Jerry Seinfeld very rich, it wasn’t a very provoking offer. He was making million dollars per episode by the ninth season and his co-stars around $600,000. Even today, the show’s re-runs have earned him around $400 million. The record-breaking success of ‘Seinfeld’ has made Jerry Seinfeld one of the highest-paid comedians in the world. So, just another $110 million offer was probably not enough for a season 10 of ‘Seinfeld’.
In an interview with “The New York Times Magazine”, Jerry Seinfeld talked about ending the 90s superhit American sitcom. He was questioned about the massive $5 million offer too. To which he replied that he had no second thoughts about turning down that huge paycheck as it was the perfect moment to end the show. He also talked about how a show as great as ‘Seinfeld’ couldn’t last forever. The most important word in the art for him was proportion. “How much? How long is this joke going to be? How many words? How many minutes?” Getting that right was what made it art or mediocre for him.
The finale of ‘Seinfeld’ ended by bidding adieu to its favourite characters Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer. With a show that has managed to produce some of the most memorable episodes, the finale was surely not it. The episode received many negative reviews from the audience
Was ‘Seinfeld’ almost cancelled?
The earlier president of NBC, Brandon Tartikoff, approved the show only for a four-episode arc as opposed to the usual thirteen. The show was then titled ‘The Seinfeld Chronicles’. Rick Ludwin, who was behind the late-night programming for NBC, managed to convince the executive producers to produce four more episodes and re-run the pilot. The show then received considerably better ratings and an order for a second season.
End of ‘Seinfeld’
The finale of ‘Seinfeld’ ended by bidding adieu to its favourite characters Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer. With a show that has managed to produce some of the most memorable episodes, the finale was surely not it. The episode received many negative reviews from the audience.
The end episode of ‘Seinfeld’ saw Jerry striking a deal with NBC to create a fictional show called ‘Jerry‘. The gang headed out to Paris in a private jet sent by NBC. The jet crashed in Latham, where they had to wait for it to get repaired. While waiting they saw a man get carjacked, but instead of helping, they laughed at him (typical ‘Seinfeld’, right?). The cops arrested all four of them under the “Good Samaritan Law” for not helping the man. They hired Jackie Chiles as their lawyer who was a spoof of Johnnie Cochran. This annoyed the district attorney and evoked him to find every nitty-gritty thing related to the four of them. The district attorney called witnesses who had made a guest appearance earlier on the show like Mabel Choate, Sidra, Dr. Wexler, Leslie, the Soup Nazi, Babu Bhatt, and Jackie Chiles. In the end, all four of them are sent behind bars.
Did you find the ending of ‘Seinfeld’ apt or not? Tell us in the comment section below!
