NBC
After 180 episodes and nearly a decade, Seinfeld went off the air on May 14, 1998. The series finale of the beloved comedy captivated an estimated 76.3 million viewers, which was 58% of all TV viewers that night. It was the fourth most-watched series finale in U.S. history, behind M*A*S*H, Cheers and The Fugitive. However, the bar was set so astoundingly high for the Seinfeld finale that many felt that the last episode of the epic series fell flat and was disappointing. Nearly 20 years following the finale, Jerry Seinfeld has regrets and has ideas on how he would do the final Seinfeld show again.
“I sometimes think we really shouldn’t have even done it,” the legendary comedian said of the Seinfeld finale on Friday night. “There was a lot of pressure on us at that time to do one big last show, but big is always bad in comedy.” Jerry added that comedy should be “small and cheap and quick,” and “that’s why TV is always funnier than movies, because you don’t have that much time and that much money.” Seinfeld called the finale an “impossible” episode.
Larry David has stated in the past that he has no regrets about how the show ended. Even during the Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 7 finale, David said, “we didn’t screw up a finale, that was a good finale!” However, many believe that Jerry and Larry were so displeased by the Seinfeld finale that they sorta did a re-do when there was a mini Seinfeld reunion during the tenth episode titled “Seinfeld” of the seventh season of Curb Your Enthusiasm that starred Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michael Richards, Jason Alexander, and Wayne Knight.
Earlier this year, Jerry revealed the best joke he came up with for Seinfeld and how it wasn’t even supposed to happen.
[Uproxx]