Former Seinfeld star Jason Alexander has explained why the acclaimed sitcom ended after its ninth season. Throughout the 1990’s no other TV program could match the Jerry Seinfeld led hit series, as it focused on the lives of a group of four eccentric New Yorkers.

The brainchild of Seinfeld and comedian Larry David, Seinfeld wasn’t originally expected to make much of an impact. In fact, in its first season, the show came dangerously close to being canceled by NBC. However, eventually, things began to click for the series, and by its second season, audiences were paying attention in a big way. Though Seinfeld was never awarded a single Emmy throughout its nine-year run, it has gone on to rank as one of the single most popular American sitcoms of all time. And despite the growing popularity that the series experienced with each subsequent year that it was on the air, the decision was made in 1998 that the show’s ninth season would the last. Co-creator Larry David had left the show, and Seinfeld himself reportedly turned down a $110 million offer to do a tenth season. The end was confirmed, much to the dismay of fans.

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Thanks to ET Canada, some new insight into the decision to end Seinfeld after its ninth season has come to light. While discussing his career on the At Home With The Creative Coalition podcast, series star Jason Alexander explained just why things came to an end after season nine. Alexander, who played the neurotic George Costanza (reportedly modeled after David’s real-life persona), reiterated the established truth that it was the cast who decided to end things. He further elaborated on how audience familiarity with the characters kept things from being able to evolve:

“We took ourselves off the air. We called it quits. The reason I think we did it — Jerry [Seinfeld] may have had other reasons like burnout and wanting to have a life — but the reason we discussed at the time was we all thought that the show could continue to be funny because the writers were always really good and they would find these amazing guest people to come in all the time. So there was a constant flow of a new sense of humour. And we thought funny is not the obstacle here.

The obstacle was that after nine seasons, the audience could more or less anticipate how any of these characters would react in any given situation. There was nothing new we could do to these characters and still have it be ‘Seinfeld’… Since the show had career-wise done everything it was going to do for us and it had taken care of us financially extremely well, the mutual thought was why don’t we tuck it in before the audience says this kid’s been up too long.”

Such strong audience familiarity with the characters points to not only how great the show’s writing was, but also to how well the characters were portrayed on screen. It’s hard to argue Alexander’s point. Any fan of Seinfeld would indeed have a tough time not being able to anticipate how a crowd favorite like Kramer would consistently behave. Perhaps this is why the concepts for the episodes became increasingly far-fetched in the show’s last couple of seasons. It also could explain why the series ended how it did – with the writers and cast trying to do something that no other popular series had ever done, as well as keeping things surprising, given how well-accustomed audiences were to the characters.

As much as many fans would have loved to see Seinfeld continue for many more years, the decision to end it after the ninth season was the right one. After David’s departure, the series remained good, but it always felt as though it lacked his touch. It also became clear the actions of a character as popular as Kramer began to feel a little too over the top. The series remains highly rewatchable today, and although fans didn’t care for the series finale, Seinfeld created the sort of legacy that few sitcoms can ever match.

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Source: ET Canada

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Mike Jones
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Mike Jones is an author, screenwriter, world traveller and cinephile. His work has been featured in print and online in a variety of publications, and he’s also a Berlinale Talents alumnus. Cinema has always moved him in a big way and aside from having seen The Talented Mr Ripley more times than any other living person, he maintains a pretty darn healthy physical media collection. His favourite filmmakers include: Jordan Peele, David Lean, Alfred Hitchcock, Mike Leigh, Steven Spielberg, the Dardenne Brothers, Noah Baumbach, Michael Haneke, Barry Jenkins and Andrea Arnold. Often jet-lagged, Mike once turned down a certain A-list celebrity’s offer to join them for a night of partying after a strange encounter in an airport.

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