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Seinfeldremains to date one of the most famous TV sitcoms ever made. The 90s show aired between 1989 to 1998, but its tremors are felt even now. As many have stated, the show completely changed the world of sitcoms by turning the genre on its head.
Sitcoms at the time used to be a legacy of wholesomeness with morals suitable to the time sprinkled throughout the episodes. However,Seinfeldintroduced characters difficult to like that ended up being relatable to many. Not only that, it was the first show to utilize situational comedy as one of its key elements.
Something that has become a crucial trend for current sitcoms. As a result, it came as quite a surprise when the show concluded its run after nine seasons. Admittedly, at its peak. Incidentally, turning down an unprecedented $100 million paycheck for it. However, there seems to be quite an honorable reason behind that.
Seinfeldwas almost axed before it saw the light of day
As stated above,Seinfeldtried to go out of the box since the beginning. Although that sounds supercool in hindsight, the reality at the time was quite contrary. In fact, it seemed so controversial for NBC at the time that they thought of shelving the show after watching the pilot.
As perLooper, the main reason behind that was the downpour of negative reviews the initial experimental audience piled on it due to the dislikeable characters. The lack of a wholesome preaching purpose did not help the case at all.
Thankfully, for all the negative reviewers, there were some adamant cheerleaders of the show in the network that helped weather the backlash. Especially as the then entertainment president Warren Littlefield was one of them. Nevertheless, for such an iconic show the first season only had five episodes, and most of them aired a year after the pilot.
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Interestingly,Larry David, the show’s executive producer, too, wanted nothing to do with it. According to Littlefield’s interview withFox News, David claimed that he didn’t have any more stories to tell, so it seemed the best option would be to cancel it. However, Jerry Seinfeld persevered and persuaded David to produce 13 more episodes, and then they never looked back.
Jerry Seinfeld turned down a $100 million paycheck for a 10th season ofSeinfeld
This is possibly the most puzzling aspect ofJerry Seinfeld’s decision to conclude the show after nine seasons. He worked extremely hard to makeSeinfeldstand on its own for years. As fans are aware, the show depicted anexaggerated fictional version of Seinfeld’s lifeto depict the process behind a comedian’s stand-up routine. As such, the stand-up routines themselves were a huge part of the episodes.
That is until Larry David exited the show after seven seasons. Jerry Seinfeld himself then had to take on the mantle of executive producing, writing, and acting as the lead in the show. Although it seems like he became a one-man army, the truth is that it took a huge toll on him. Creatively, physically, as well as, mentally.
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As a result, after doing all he could for the next two seasons, he decided it was time to stop. However, NBC wasn’t ready to let their golden goose go so easily. Warren Littlefield claimed in the same interview withFox Newsthat the network offered the comedian an astronomical amount of money to return for one last season. Over $100 million, to be precise.
Over $100 million. We offered him $5 million an episode. 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.
Inevitably, Jerry Seinfeld was tempted as anybody would be. Littlefield claimed that they gave it everything they had. However, the threat to the comedian’s lifestyle became greater than his livelihood.
According to the former NBC president, Seinfeld went to him and said,“I don’t have a life, I’m not married, I don’t have kids”,and walked away from one of the most iconic series for the final time. As Littlefield stated it was a“quality of life”choice, and for Jerry Seinfeld, he chose the right thing.
Seinfeldis streaming on Netflix.
Anushree Banerjee
Articles Published :595
Anushree Banerjee is an Anime Writer at FandomWire with over 550 published articles. She has a post-grad in English and years of experience working with some of the biggest companies on the pop culture, and anime scene, such as, Sportskeeda, Pinkvilla, and MovieWeb. Staying on top of everything anime consumes her days, while bingeing on everything horror, and thriller keeps her up at night. Be it superhero flicks from Marvel and DC, or Shonen, and Seinen, like Bleach, The Apothecary Diaries, and Attack on Titan, she can probably state facts about them faster than she can recite her home address.
