Seinfeld to End His Show, Dealing Stiff Blow to NBC
By BILL CARTER
Seinfeld," the most popular television comedy of the 1990s and the centerpiece of the most profitable night in television history, will stop production at the end of this season, Jerry Seinfeld, the show's creator and star, said Thursday.
The loss of "Seinfeld," which made the country laugh at the soup Nazi, close-talkers, chip double-dippers and loaves of marble rye, is a serious blow to NBC, which has already seen its prime-time strength begin to weaken this season.
The show has anchored NBC's big Thursday night since 1993, leading the network to its No. 1 position and to record-making profits, approaching $1 billion this year. "Seinfeld" alone has made more than $200 million a year in profits for NBC, according to advertising industry estimates. "Seinfeld" has become a cultural signpost in a class with "I Love Lucy" and "The Honeymooners."
NBC itself considered the show so important that in trying to persuade Seinfeld to stay, it offered him what one executive said was the most lucrative deal ever extended to a television star.
With the departure of the show, the balance of power in the competition for supremacy during prime time may well shift.
In a statement, NBC said: "To keep a show of this caliber at its peak has been a great undertaking. We respect Jerry's decision that at the end of this season it's time to move on."
An NBC official who spoke only on condition of anonymity said the network would not try to dissuade Seinfeld by making further offers between now and the end of the television season.
The decision to shut down the show, long anticipated in the television industry, was Seinfeld's, who is both the show's star and its main creative force. Associates of Seinfeld's said he decided late Tuesday to wrap up production with a special finale episode this spring. Episodes that go into production during the next few months will be geared toward that finale.
"He just decided to go out on top," one associate said, speaking on condition of anonymity and comparing the decision to that of a top athlete who wants to leave the arena before fans believe his skills are eroding.
The half-hour show revolves around four single, slightly neurotic and self-absorbed friends who negotiate the perils of love and life in New York City. The characters are Jerry Seinfeld, who plays himself as a stand-up comedian; Elaine Benes, his former girlfriend and platonic pal; George Costanza, his high-school buddy who has trouble keeping jobs, and Kramer, his eccentric neighbor who barges in and out of Jerry's apartment.
Some media critics have said this year's episodes fell short of the show's highest standards, but Seinfeld maintained that he was proud of the work and was not quitting because of those comments.
"Seinfeld," now in its ninth season, remains the top-rated comedy in television this season, second only in overall rating to the NBC drama "ER." But for the past full year, counting the repeats, "Seinfeld" has been the most watched show in all of television. The comedy, in reruns, is also the highest-rated syndicated series in television, and is expected to eventually make almost $1 billion in syndication revenues.
Seinfeld's decision came after long and emotional discussions with his co-stars and production staff, and after intense negotiations with executives from NBC. Seinfeld's associates said the network offered a deal that would have been the richest in television history if Seinfeld, a former stand-up comedian, had agreed to continue the show for just one more year.
One executive familiar with the negotiations said Seinfeld was "walking away from more money than has ever been offered before to a television star."
The executive estimated that NBC, led in the negotiations by Robert C. Wright, the network's president, and Jack Welch, the chairman and chief executive of General Electric, NBC's parent company, had offered Seinfeld a deal worth about $5 million an episode to keep his show in production. "Seinfeld" produces 22 episodes a season.
"When Jerry said he was turning it down, Jack just went numb," said the executive familiar with the negotiations.
Some reports have set Seinfeld's salary at $1 million an episode, but the executive said Seinfeld had been at that figure three years ago. "He already makes much more than that," the executive said. "But this deal was a huge jump over that."
Seinfeld's also profits the syndication of his series. Forbes magazine put his income for last year at $94 million.
But Seinfeld has said for some time that his decision about continuing the show would not hinge on money. He said he wanted to follow the tradition of stand-up comedians and leave the stage with the audience wanting more.
His immediate career plans involve a return to his roots in stand-up comedy. Seinfeld had already agreed to perform a one-man comedy special for HBO next August. He is calling that special "Laid to Rest," and he plans to use material from his stand-up comedy act one last time.
The circumstances of the negotiations between NBC and Seinfeld were unusual because the decision about whether to continue the series rested entirely with Seinfeld, who runs both the writing and production staff. He took over sole control of those functions after the 1996 season when his partner, Larry David, who had created the series with him, quit.
Other than Seinfeld, the rest of the show's ensemble -- Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Elaine), Jason Alexander (George) and Michael Richards (Kramer) -- had already agreed to terms for another season after some acrimonious discussions last spring led to a settlement that is paying them each a record $600,000 for each episode this season.
As recently as Monday, NBC executives had expressed confidence that Seinfeld would decide to return, at least partly to ensure that his co-stars would have another year at those huge salaries.
The show's departure will force NBC to make difficult decisions. First, it must find a replacement for the show next fall. The network's next most highly regarded comedy is "Frasier," but that show anchors Tuesday night and NBC would risk hurting that night by moving "Frasier" to Thursday.
In addition, the network must decide what to do about the rest of its Thursday-night lineup. For the past several years, NBC has been unable to find a companion show to follow "Seinfeld" that had similar widespread appeal. Industry executives have speculated for some time that without "Seinfeld" on Thursday, NBC would be suddenly vulnerable.
To compound these problems, the network faces an extremely costly renewal for "ER," which is also shown on Thursday nights and has a contract that expires in May. And though NBC has been in the No. 1 position for three years, the ratings for its regular shows have fallen about 10 percent this year. Without "Seinfeld," the drop-off could become much more severe.
Overall, these are tough times for all the networks, which find it increasingly hard to create hit shows. But the other networks should all benefit from the absence of "Seinfeld." NBC executives have identified Fox as their most serious competitor, and Fox executives already have a contingency plan in place to attack NBC on Thursday night if "Seinfeld" is gone.
The show began on July 5, 1989, as "The Seinfeld Chronicles." Except for Elaine, all the show's characters were in place in that pilot, but Kramer, played by Michael Richards, was called Kessler in the first episode. Kramer was based on a real person with that name, but the name was not used until the show's producers could locate him and get permission to use his name.
The next summer, the show aired six more times, and was scheduled to begin as a regular series in January of 1991. But it was bumped off the air by the start of the Persian Gulf War.
It finally got a regular time slot on Wednesday nights in the 1991-92 season and for the first half of the 1992-93 season. In that period, it was beaten in the ratings every week by the ABC comedy "Home Improvement," also starring a stand-up comedian, Tim Allen.
Nonetheless, it became a cult favorite during this time. In February 1993, when NBC was facing the loss of its then-hit comedy "Cheers," it moved "Seinfeld" to 9:30 p.m., the time period after "Cheers." There, it became a runaway hit. The next season, it moved to 9 p.m., and it has dominated that slot ever since. |
