Full Episode: "Seinfeld" E! True Hollywood Story

[Music] I didn't understand most of what I saw on TV it didn't make me laugh so I figured how could what I think is funny work Jerry Seinfeld knows funny but creating a hit TV show wasn't easy nothing happens in this shop this is the biggest bunch of losers we've ever seen I think elain is kind of nuts there was no chance that show is going to get picked up boy we'll do four of these and be right off the air if it bombed it would be my fault but Seinfeld was a winner huge success it's a hit we're huge nine seasons of comedic genius you said do this you were making out during Schindler's List oh un Leo no for you in the next hour we'll take you inside the phenomenon I'm on E right now watch out and look at life for the cast post Seinfeld it's difficult for audiences to accept actors in new roles free kids and glasses and kind of middle-aged and he doesn't look it he lost it he tried to lash out and hurt with whatever he had this is the story of seld The E True Hollywood Story I love this television show what do you need me for you're the nucleus the straw that stirs the drink you're the Mahana you're the man yes you're the Mah all right I am the Mah it was the show about nothing Seinfeld's a show about nothing it's in the sense that it had zero interest in a lot of the things that other shows valued a lot like warmth and moral messages and learning and relationships it was daring because the characters were not always warm and cuddly and likable I mean the the motto of the show off screen was no hugging no learning and you know sitcoms tended to end with you know the group hug and that never happened on Seinfeld so they went in a different direction and it paid off because people were hungering for something fresh and SEL gave it to them in November 2006 it was definitely something when one of the the stars of Seinfeld lost his cool at a comedy club in Los Angeles actor Michael Richards was in the middle of a stand-up routine when he got rattled by hecklers in the audience according to internet video Richard suddenly exploded with a racist tirade what happened with Michael that night was very simple he lost it for nine Seasons Michael Richards played Cosmo Kramer on the smash sitcom Seinfeld but the eccentric character was based on a real life New Yorker named Kenny Kramer I think he just had this horrible tantrum and he tried to lash out and hurt with whatever he had Richards later apologized but the horrible tantrum blew up into a national Scandal still the phenomenon that is Seinfeld remains a pop culture landmark in terms of the the big picture I don't think that this incident will have any effect on the legacy of Seinfeld the television show I got a show on NBC yeah it's a uh comedy no really and uh it's about me being a standup and me being a human and how the two relate even as a kid on Long Island Jerry Seinfeld knew what he wanted to do Jerry informed us he wanted to be a comedian the first bit he ever did was on being left-handed you know everything about right is positive the Bill of Rights right on the right of we everything about left is so negative where did everybody go they left how many people like leftovers do you ever meet a good guy named left I'll never forget it it was the first bit that he ever did we were hysterical I just wanted to continue the fooling around you say lose a job where you where you just fool around in front of people comedian they call it they pay you to do this was I just continue acting like an idiot is that the job that's the job I would like to do that job on the night he graduated from college in 1976 Jerry got the ultimate real life test performing at the New York comedy club Catch a rising star I got up and you see the people looking at you and I just lost it I totally froze and I was able to remember the subjects that I wanted to talk about the beach you know driving your parents I did about a minute and a half and I left he was pretty much bummed out I think he was expecting more of himself he was very tough on himself slowly Jerry came into his own every night you know you get up on stage and they pay you again and again and again even if you're doing the same things it's like cashing the same check over and over again didn't you come in here yesterday and cash this check yeah I like to cash it again after doing standup for 4 years Jerry moved to Los Angeles to try his hand at acting he quickly landed a role on the sitcom Benson starring Robert gon I think it was a very very broad audition and it was his first Big Break Jerry's two episodes aired in December 1980 but that was it he got fired and nobody told him actually he showed up for work one day and there was no script for him so it was not an auspicious sitcom debut for Jerry I don't think he enjoyed it uh I don't think it was his cup of tea I didn't understand most of what I saw on TV it didn't make me laugh so I figured how could what I think is funny work apparently it's some other kind of Comedy you know that works on TV then on May 6th 1981 Jerry got the break he'd been dreaming of uh he's worked a lot of small clubs both in New York and Los Angeles would you welcome him please Jerry Seinfeld weather reports are the same wherever you go in the country they always have the guy comes out he shows you the highs the lows the fronts then they show you the satellite photo this is real helpful a photograph of the Earth from 10,000 miles away can you tell if you should take a sweater or not from that shot I have no idea over the next couple of years Jerry formed to sold out audiences all over the country when he walks out on state J this will go berserk and that's earned but then you have to you know after a while you have to be funny or interesting and and Jerry has the goods it's not like he's not like trading in on his immense Fame and not and just you know lazily going through a set very few folks are ever going to have their material as clean and honed as Jerry's isn't it's a very nicely wrapped gift on the comic circuit Jerry met another young comedian Larry David it was like Lennon and McCartney they became this incredible uh this relationship Larry is a comic's comic he was a comic that the comedians all went crazy for audiences could hate him but comedians loved him Larry was sort of legendary for his temper tantrums on stage he would rage at the audience when they didn't laugh at his jokes I was temperamental I can't handle adversity I'm a big baby what's the matter with you people what are you crazy this is funny you don't deserve me and I then I Larry got a job acting and writing for a sketch comedy show called Fridays with a young actor named Michael Richards then David toiled as a staff writer on Saturday Night Live but it wasn't a good fit Larry uh quit Saturday Night Live he was frustrated the sketches weren't getting on the air and had a big temper tantrum blow out and stormed out and then realized he needed a job and came back following Monday morning and tried to pretend like nothing had ever happened Larry lasted one year on SNL before returning to standup throughout the 80s Jerry and Larry polished their acts then in 1988 Jerry got a call from NBC we really were looking for another voice another comedic voice out there and we had a meeting with Jerry and his managers we asked Jerry what is that what is it that you'd like to do in television would you like to do a situation comedy would you like to do a talk show would you like to do comedy specials he uh thanked us for the meeting said that it was every comedian's dream to have such a meeting with a network and that he had absolutely no idea what he wanted to do in television but one night Jerry and Larry stumbled on an idea the actual conception of the show took place at a a grocery store when we were discussing products and uh we're having one of those idiotic conversations that we usually have and we're talking about about things on the shelves the ingredients will say may contain one or more of the following and you go well what is that you know additive roulette or something what if you have diabetes does it have sugar maybe we're not saying you know so we were just joking around and then we were going this is what the show should be the half-hour comedy mixed scenes of the real Seinfeld performing a standup act with Jerry as a TV character hanging out with his Pals it's hard to say seate TV Jerry from real Jerry because uh Jerry really was himself I wanted to do standup you know I don't want to be on a just a TV sitcom where I'm chip the funny real estate salesman you know I want there to be myself cuz I don't really want to act really he would joke that he would come to work wearing a pair of jeans he would go into his dressing room and change into a different pair of jeans and go off on the set he didn't know why he did that but he felt like everyone else was changing their costumes so he should do that too Jerry was a lock but finding actors to play his buddies was a challenge first up the role of Kramer Tony Shalo read for the role and um this actor Larry henen also went up for it but again it was really just a matter of finding the right people and once Michael Richards came in he was perfect for the part and he really defined that role Michael studies considers works on every Nuance he works very hard at that and I mean he literally went in there stood on his head he did flip he gave it all Michael earned that role the character was based on Larry's neighbor Larry comes into my house one day CR I'm going to rate this pilot with Seinfeld and I want to base a character on you is that okay and I said certainly as long as I get to play Kramer and he you can't be Kramer you know so just forget about being Kramer and I said fine do whatever you want to do because Kenny Kramer was was a character there was so much about him that was lovable and infuriating at the same time there were some concerns about using his real name they were afraid that Kenny would exploit it if they named the character Kramer so they initially decided they were going to try to change the name of the character and they were going to name him Kesler and in the first episode actually you can hear Jerry at one point slip and refer to the character as Kessler but Jerry thought Kramer was a funnier name and they decided all right we'll just you know we'll take the hit he was a character who um never left his apartment he was afraid of the outside worlds deeply introverted and so when I came in the Jerry's apartment played him behind where everybody else was he had a ways to catch up for the role of Jerry's best friend George castanza Jerry and Larry looked far and wide they' considered Nathan Lane and Steve Bushi from The Sopranos which would have been interesting um David Allen Greer from In Living Color so they really were searching they didn't know what they wanted with George until they saw Jason Alex Ander Jason we saw on um video honest to God I watched 10 seconds of that tape and I turned to Jerry and I said there he is Jerry intelligently knew that he didn't have a lot of experience as an actor he was a standup and he wanted a strong actor to be as a part of that Ensemble I don't know why Jerry and I just sort of clicked from the day we met we sort of got it we just keyed into each other and it was very easy and it seemed like we had been busting each other's jobs for 19 years and he and I get along really well and he's perfect he is perfect but Alexander wasn't sure how to play George I was really doing a pretty blatant Woody Allen imitation up front and um one day we had a couple of moments in a in a script and I just could not figure out how to do them and I said Larry this would never happen to anybody and he went what do you mean that happened to me this this a story about me and at that moment I realized that George was the alter ego of Larry David the pilot was shot in early spring 1989 at least I knew that if it bombed it would be my fault you know the worst thing is to bomb and because that guy told you to do it his way you know that's then you don't sleep at all Jerry and I finished the pilot and I remember him saying what do you think you think we'll make it and I said we haven't got a chance and he said why I said because the audience for the show is me and I don't watch TV coming up our Rocky start these guys are complete losers and this ensemble cast that surrounds Jerry Seinfeld they stink hello welcome to upstairs Seinfeld we're here at my offices you see the name on the door get the name let me show you how easily that comes out see that that baby is lubricated this is a permanent job in 1989 NBC exec tested a pilot for a new show called The Seinfeld Chronicles disastrous they said this is the biggest bunch of losers we've ever seen in audience research these guys are terrible I said well Jerry people people recognize Jerry they recognize some of his standup material and they said well the standup stuff that's funny but all the rest of the stuff in the show that's really terrible no one can relate to that stuff the pilot tested very poorly and everyone was concerned that it was too New York it was too Jewish it was too specific that people in the Heartland wouldn't get it the network decided not to pick up the show instead they quiet ran the pilot on July 5th 1989 just aired originally once as a half hour special in the middle of summer um which usually is when things are just getting dumped and burned off that haven't worked a couple of the critics picked up on it a couple of Publications did some really nasty reviews of the pilot when I got on to Seinfeld and the numbers weren't there and the critics said what's this thing get out of here and they went so far as to say that the uh The Ensemble should be replaced oh man I was real cool with it I just said just telling everybody just keep your money in the bank you know these things come and go but the Seinfeld Chronicles found an angel NBC executive Rick lwin believed in the show Jerry Seinfeld when we started was not a comedian who had had one funny night at uh at some comedy club and and someone from a casting Department happened to see him this is a guy who had been doing that job for 10 years he knew who he was he knew what was funny and what worked for him there were a lot of people here at NBC that just thought it was very funny very different we didn't want to toss it away and and never do anything with it NBC decided to purchase an additional four shows to air in the summer of 1990 kept looking at this pilot saying it makes us laugh and so we made a bold step and we ordered four episodes um and as Jerry uh likes to tell the story uh six episodes is a slap in the face NBC ordered four really was a very slow development process um but as a result it gave them time to really work out the Kinks to get the cast right to get the tone right this show does not come out of the usual Network system this is a couple of comics from New York who are basically been given the free reign to create and execute this show based on what they think is funny the long development process gave the creators time to tweak the formula the cast needed a woman's touch only regular female character was this waitress uh player played by Lee Garlington who was a little bit older didn't really seem like she would be friends with the guys as much it was more kind of you know a stereotypical sort of tart tonged waitress that's one of the things that we said is we said you know what you've got a great little clubhouse here it's Unique it's different it's very funny but you know you need a woman you need somewhere a female in this show or I don't think you'll ever open it up to to a larger audience again Seinfeld and David look to their own lives for inspiration the character of Elaine was very much built upon Carol leafer who was a stand-up comic and fellow writer Jerry and I did go out a long time ago and we're still friends so in that respect I would say it's similar Rosie O'Donnell auditioned for Elaine Megan malali who later guest started another role on the show went up for Elaine so yeah they they cast a pretty wide net then Julia Louie dfus came in to read for the part Larry David and I worked together on Saturday Night Live he was one of the writers there during one of the years that I was there and so we knew each each other after seeing more than 300 actresses for the role producers knew Julia was perfect she wasn't so sure Julia she didn't know if it was the right career move for her or not because she had done a sitcom for NBC day by day which was on for a little while but didn't do particularly well and so she was pretty skeptical going into it yet Julia saw this material and realized how unique and how special it was and she said this is what I'm going for I love this television show I think elaa is kind of nuts I think she looks like a stable character because she's up there with Psychopathic people I mean George is crazy and Kramer needless to say I don't have to say I mean you know the two of them and I think that it makes Elaine look very stable when in fact she's cuckoo when it came time to shoot the cast jelled this group of four people is uh you know very unique the way it felt together that we just all happen to really like each other and just we make each other laugh just a crowd full of people that don't get along no professionalism and anxiety everywhere and pressure pressure pressure I'm about to crack I tell you Betsy I'm about to crack I've had it up to here the revamp series finally hit the air in the summer of 1990 the show was now simply called Seinfeld we thought uh boy we'll do four of these and be right off the air oh we almost were the first four shows the network is going hm it's different one person had zero doubts that was Jerry Seinfeld he just looked at me says they'll pick us up you'll see says we're going to be on for years we're going to be the biggest show that ever hit you'll see and he believed this there was something about Jerry there was no chance that show was going to get picked up coming up competition be behind the scenes Jason Alexander actually was very upset he really kind of had uh a temper tantrum over [Music] that hi this is Jerry Seinfeld and I'm right here on the set of my show this is where I pretend that I live in the show even though it's just a set I actually do live here in January 1991 Seinfeld aired as a mid-season replacement on NBC's Wednesday night lineup the initial ratings were not good Jake and the fat man is opposite us and they do very well because each time we start to get close he gets a little fatter and they pull away again TV viewers may not have tuned in but the sitcom scored with critics we used to get good reviews even when our ratings were low and we would Xerox them and pass them around and and it kind of keeps your spirits up which is important when you're you know sinking Seinfeld and co-creator Larry David tried to tap into the humor found in everyday life we did a show about waiting for a table in a Chinese restaurant for 30 minutes the whole show is waiting on this line and trying to get a table and you can't get a table and this the kind of thing that happens in people's lives but they don't make shows about this usually cuz it's not doesn't seem important enough the network was like you're waiting for a table at a restaurant and instead of going we don't get it so you can't do it they went do what you want to do you're not going to be on here very long anyway the writing staff shaped the Seinfeld crew into characters the audience could relate to they were able to take the parts of themselves which we don't like to see and we don't like to admit about ourselves and to exploit them into humor his name is Joe DEA his name is Joe DEA his name is Joe DEA oh my God we're all annoying and we're all nebish but very few of us are very willing to stand up and make that our character our Hall they were four of the most unlikable people initially when they were on the air and like nobody watched him slowly but surely America got just how brilliant and strange and fascinating these relationships were as season 2 came to an end the show's following was small but loyal Seinfeld fans are are almost like trekers it's not like hey I saw this show a nice show it's like hey I saw the show you know the line where you do and then you blinked twice you D watching this thing like it's life and death the devoted core audience and strong reviews convinced NBC to Greenlight Seinfeld for a third season we got picked up for 22 Episodes in the third season and we were all excited well maybe they do like us maybe we have some something here in season 3 Michael Richards stumbled upon what became Kramer's trademark he didn't make an entrance he imploded into a room gravity was his enemy I mean where do you deal with people like this actually coming through the door for Kramer really came about because I was laid on my queue then of course it start to make sense that the character comes into life that quickly you will see the man painstakingly trying to figure out 500 new ways to come through a door now what bothers me is he comes up with them but they're not spontaneous and that's the thing to remember every time Michael Richards made an entrance the audience would howl howl it started to really bother Jerry and Larry because they felt like it slowed down the pace of the show so much of that show was about timing somebody would get up at at the beginning and say look for the actor's concentration and just for the sake of having enough time to get the storyline on 22 minutes of air time um please hold your applause when he when he enters the room Seinfeld's writers also were challenged to provide FaceTime for each of the four stars Jason Alexander actually was very upset uh when the episode the pen George doesn't appear in the episode at all and he really kind of had uh a temper tantrum over that and told Larry David like if you're going to write me out for one week just write me out for good and they never wrot him out again so it worked but they were all sensitive about their screen time um Julia has said that she's she went crying to Jerry and Larry a few times because she didn't feel like she was on the show Enough Michael wasn't in the Chinese restaurant episode and it did upset him but I don't think he made any threats but those characters were not part of the story that they were telling in that particular episode and but they were never written out again I'm not in the scene but uh it's going surprisingly well despite of the fact that I'm not in it I seem to be doing a good job in 1992 the series nabbed nine Emmy nominations and won two awards for season four the creative team raised a bar maybe too high take a show like the contest you know NBC was pretty shook up about doing a show about masturbation Larry was convinced that we would say that's it you cannot do this and Larry would quit he was absolutely set up for that and when we heard what the episode was about we said oh boy it was really the most daring episode they had done up to that point you know it's it's an episode about masturbation that never uses the MW it's all these euphemisms it's you know Master of the domain it's king of the county in the initial table reading George had a line there was tugging but Larry even cut that because it was wasn't needed that's what got to be one of the greatest episodes in the history of Television you know you know when when Kramer walks in puts his money down I'm out you know that just says it all we couldn't say stop it was just too entertaining in February 1993 NBC moved Seinfeld to Thursday nights with cheers as a leadin ratings went through the roof we were very lucky we managed to stay on the air long enough to get an audience but it did in fact take four years the show's hit status triggered greater interest in Jerry's personal life the star gave the press something to talk about that year he began dating 17-year-old High School senior shashana lonstein more than 20 years his Junior the big tabloid story when when siphon was on the air was his romance with shashana Sherry is very young a kid at heart and shashana was wise Beyond her years and they fit you don't necessarily go by chronological age when you meet some someone one and uh they seemed to hit it off really well things were good for Jerry and Company at the 1993 Emmy Awards Larry David won for writing the contest he came running up to the stage and he grabbed the Emmy and uh he said uh this is all very well and good and then he looked at the audience and said but I'm still bald Michael Richards earned the first of three awards for best supporting actor in a comedy series it's an award that's given uh by so many people I respect in the academy and to have it in my hand now it's a kind of a an honor and after four years on the air Seinfeld won the Emmy for Outstanding comedy series for the first time for years we like the show we wondered if anybody else ever would and it's really a wonderful feeling when someone says I love you back coming up Jerry not for sale they were desperate they they knew they were losing a big piece of their schedule with with SEF fo going off the air so they backed up the money truck and tried to dump in on Jerry's lawn you know I have a little thing for Beth look well I have to admit I've always found David most spongeworthy I've been waiting out there marriage for 3 years yeah me too in the fall of 1993 Seinfeld began its Fifth Season as part of NBC's mustsee TV Thursday night lineup fans love the show's neurotic New Yorkers these relationships that you see on camera are real that's why people respond also there's terrific creative work behind the scenes of the writing and the concept some of the funniest scenes involved TV Jerry and his many many girlfriends it was hard to get real Jerry to Kiss the Girls he finally learned that he was acting and he did it does TV Jerry want a real relationship I don't think TV Jerry thinks Beyond his cornflakes and I wonder where George is Jerry's girlfriends were a huge part of the show and that was a great benefit to a lot of young actresses in Hollywood I mean you had a lot of actresses come through there Terry Hatcher obviously um de messing Oren Graham was sort of a write of passage for young actresses in Hollywood to play Jerry's girlfriends there were these great characters would just come in usually just for one episode they would have some minor flaw that Jerry couldn't deal with and he would have to break up with them I'm the naked girl there's there's good naked and bad naked like straining and coughing and crouching and and in that episode I was I was doing a lot of bad naked things and I I crossed the line for Jerry unlike his TV Alter Ego in real life Jerry was in a long-term relationship with girlfriend shashana lonstein but in 1997 after four years together the couple split he was pretty circumspect about that he didn't talk about it very much back on the Seinfeld set TV Jerry coped with the family of quirky characters everybody it used to be just me George and Kramer and then we added Elaine and then we added parents it was a great role because the writers gave me a chance to get in touch with my inner rage Jason encouraged me to hit him I said I can't hit you Jason he says don't be afraid I said what do you want me to do he said do this and when that happened Frank stanza was born we all have our favorites I loved Uncle Leo Uncle Leo is the kind of man and you saw him coming oh God that's how Joe reacted to me oh Uncle Leo hello oh God here he is again another fan favorite Wayne Knight as Jerry's arch nemesis Newman Newman is is kind of like U Ebola you know it starts small and then it just kind of takes off like a big virus Phil Morris nabbed the role of smooth talking lawyer Jackie Childs they call me in I start doing my thing and and Jerry's like stop stop stop and as an actor to hear stop you're not quite sure what's going on Jerry goes over to the thermostat he turns it up and he's like dude you're so funny you're making me sweat then there was The Soup Nazi when she imitates alucino I just want like very good very good you know something and then she goes what no soup for you and she she hit the ground the first take she wasn't expecting it and then I just yelled right in her face no soup for you became a national catcher phrase and it didn't stop there there was so many lines that came out of that you know not there's anything wrong with that yada y yada on and on Master his domain he lends itself to kind of a fanatical devotion Jerry you're a wonderful wonderful boy how could anybody not like you or you were making out during Schindler's List they come back in my face people who constantly say that oh say that in season 6 Elaine met putty it wasn't a perfect match I mean obviously that relationship was sex face cuz there's no other reason she would have been there cuz uh he was just lame George got engaged to a girl named Susan who died from an allergic reaction after licking their wedding invitations Susan left the show in a body bag fans the freak out when they see me alive cuz I'm alive oh my God the series was as popular as ever with viewers and critics but in 1996 after seven seasons Larry David made his exit having to come up with with 22 Episodes a year is is hard and very exhausting and so for that reason alone it wasn't shocking that somebody would want to take a break after Larry David left Jerry was in charge of casting he oversaw the financial end of it writing it and everything else and that kind of responsibility could get to be overwhelming they would yell cut and a line would form in front of him like a vacuum like one second it wasn't there and the next second there were 20 people online with cell phones and things he had to sign and okay this and sign this and do this after David's departure storylines became increasingly absurd they got a new bunch of writers in and the show wasn't the same for me they're different writers a younger group of writers I've I walked down on the set with them who are these guys they're the writers oh really we have writers and that's their job to kind of cook up these crazy ideas they felt like they had to continue to top themselves in terms of the comedy and they weren't really concerned about characterization so much as they were about getting laughs there were definitely time when we missed Larry sense of humor and having him around without David ratings stayed strong but the sitcom's future was in doubt when the contracts of Julia Jason and Michael expired at the end of the eighth season the other three cast members really had to step up and say you know that they deserved part of the profits they didn't want to just be paid cast members they wanted to really be partial owners of the show the show was so important to NBC eventually they chipped in and and everyone got their little piece of it even though Jerry got the biggest piece he did consult his castmates in deciding the show's fate in December 1997 the forsome contemplated a future without Seinfeld he made the other three actors very much a part of the big decision-making process especially in those last years when he was ultimately the last call in whether the show came back or not you can go see a good movie but if it's like 20 minutes too long you walk out and go H you don't you don't feel good you know same thing with TV show you should leave a thing when it's when it's still uh good NBC didn't want to let Jerry go in an attempt to bring the show back for a 10th season the network offered the star $5 million per episode they were desperate they they knew they were losing a big piece of their schedule with with Sefi going off the air so they backed up the money truck and tried to dump in on Jerry's lawn and he already had so much money that that really was not a motivating factor for him he was ready to move on you have to respect his Integrity to walk away from that because he could not be certain that the quality could be maintained for yet another year how many story lines can they do that don't then retread old ground the feeling was let's end it before we regret not ending it Larry David returned to write the final episode which reunited many of the series most memorable characters we arrived on a set and uh Jerry spoke to everybody kind of individually thanking everybody for being part of it World everybody's sitting with smiles on their faces and underneath the smiles were the tears NBC decided to just make the most of it and really play up the hype leading up to the finale and particularly that last episode they really turned into a big promotional blowout taping began on April 8th 1998 the media swarmed everybody was there from local news the national news all at the gate to see who was coming in to Guess Who was the guest star on Seinfeld the last episode producers took Extraordinary Measures to keep details of the finale secret and they made us like Park in a parking lot and then get driven across into Warner Brothers Studios and Van you know it's all mysterious just before filming began the cast shared an emotional goodbye in the final moments before we went on we got into the Huddle and it uh Jerry started to M up and said I want to tell you something from this day on whenever anybody thinks of one of us they will think of the other three we are inexorably bonded to each other and I cannot think of three other people I would rather be bonded to final show that were very very sad they had a real regard for each other and a real kind of you might say love for each other coming up the end of an era some people loved it a lot of people hated it [Music] after nine Seasons the final episode of Seinfeld aired on May 14th 1998 the series ended with its four main characters Behind Bars that's exactly what should have happened those suckers should have gone to jail they were some incorrigible inhumane negative callous coarse you know I mean that was the show the episode was seen by a TV audience of more than 76 million becoming the third most watched series finale in history but the show ending provoked mixed reactions from viewers and critics now a lot of people who didn't like it just didn't understand it they thought it was such a failure or such a let down and I thought it was perfect absolutely perfect they didn't learn a damn thing they ended like they started frankly I was kind of disappointed it just seemed a little far out to me some people loved it a lot of people hated it but fans could still get their Seinfeld fix at after the series ended the show which first went into syndication in 1995 could be seen several times a day on local and cable channels so since Seinfeld has left prime time for the for the another worlds of of unlimited cable runs I think the show has actually gained in popularity that summer Jerry Seinfeld also made headlines this time for his personal life Jerry met Jessica scar in a New York gym the Scandal was she was engaged to marry Eric netherlander the son of a Broadway Theater wealthy powerful influential family and did marry Mr netherlander went off on a honeymoon to Italy spent three weeks of a four-week honeymoon decided I want to come back soon as she got back Eric was calling friends and telling them you're Sit down you're never going to guess what's going on Jessica is involved with Jerry Seinfeld scar maintains her marriage was over before she Jerry began their romance she got divorced and and remarried to Jerry they seem to have a very uh low-key marriage meanwhile the rest of the Seinfeld cast sought out new professional challenges when they went on to start on their own shows they had to become the center of the show they couldn't be as crazy and wacky and over the top and as a result people might have been disappointed when they tuned in in 2000 the Michael Richard show debuted with the actor playing a bumbling detective at times I'm disheartened I'm not as outgoing and as confident I feel well maybe this just may not happen so uh we do the best we can but uh if it comes to an end I'm prepared for it critics slammed Richard sitcom the show Tanked but he wasn't alone Bob Patterson and listen up both starring Jason Alexander and watching Ellie starring Julia Louie drus also failed giving rise to the socalled Seinfeld curse it's difficult for audiences to accept actors in new roles after they've gotten used to someone in a certain role for a long period of time for Jerry life after his TV sitcom meant returning to a bare stage and a microphone Jerry is very happy to get back to stand up that's what he likes to do and uh I think he does a lot of charity events now and uh he doesn't have to earn a living at it so it must be a lot of fun I put no limits on what Jerry can do for his future because I know what he has done Jerry and Jessica became the proud parents of three little ones Sasha Julian and Shephard he's a dear guy and he's doing stand up in glasses I love that that kills me three kids and glasses and kind of middle-aged and he doesn't look it I'm very happy now that he's got a family and that he's doting on them because he waited so long to have one Larry David returned to his performing rots as the star of his own HBO sitcom we weren't used to seeing Larry David on camera on Seinfeld so we didn't have as clear an idea of him as an actor um but for your enthusiasm obviously has been very successful in 2006 Julia Louie drus broke the Seinfeld curse playing the title character in the sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine Not only was the show a ratings hit but Julia won an Emmy for her star turn I didn't get emotional about the curse I'm just emotional about this success which I'm floored by but 2006 wasn't a great year for one Seinfeld Alum on Friday November 17th as Jerry hit the circuit to promote the DVD release of Seinfeld season 7 Michael Richards took the stage at the Laugh Factory in West Hollywood to perform standup Richards turned on a group of African-Americans in the audience who were talking during his set by the following Monday video footage of the incident quickly spread to the National media Seinfeld responded with a statement saying I am sick over this I feel terrible for all the people who have been hurt that same day Jerry was scheduled to appear on late night TV he asked producers to allow Richards to join him on the air to offer an apology Michael's appearance on the let himman show I mean Jerry was trying to protect his friend I mean and and it was damage control but I think it was a little too soon I don't think it was the proper venue Richards also tried to make amends during an appearance on Jesse Jackson's radio show because his hate language and this divisive and painful to people and then he agreed to deal with his own internal stuff he has to work through the African-American Community is um I mean the leadership has has uh opened up the healing and for that I'm grateful still Reverend Jackson called for a boycott of the Season 7 DVD it's just you know very sad and disconcerting that this is what's been happening you know Michael Richards ceased being Kramer eight years ago when the show ended production and people should just get over this if you can't watch Seinfield anymore you have my sympathy because you're missing a very funny show first week sales of the new compilation topped all previous Seinfeld releases on DVD the thing that I'm particularly excited about is the documentary that we made and it's very indepth look at the making of our show and that is really cool now it's been eight years since the show's been off the air and it's I think it's just as popular today as it's ever been and it just proves the point that funny is funny I don't know if there'll ever be anything as big a signf again on TV the television series are supposed to fade away it's harder to sustain than it is to make it so the fact that we're sustaining uh I'm extremely excited about

Channel: E! Rewind Pop Culture Throwbacks

Views: 53,191

Keywords: E!, E True Hollywood, True Hollywood Story, THS, Full Episode, Documentary, Celebrity, News, Celebrity News, Celeb, Documentary news, Full Ep, Entertainment, entertainment news, Seinfeld, Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michael Richards, Jason Alexander, George Costanza, Elaine Benes, Cosmo Kramer, Larry David, comedy, comedy show

Id: p29Y1zwwIXI

Length: 43min 46sec (2626 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 03 2024