Why Jerry Seinfeld dropped $ 110 million for another "Seinfeld" season

The actor said one day that he "could have had even more".


Revolving around four self-absorbed New Yorkers, the comedy NBC Seinfeld Has become the biggest Hit Sitcom from the 90s . Along the way, its co-creator and his star, Jerry breastfeld , Define a new standard for wages of prime time. But when NBC was impatient to conclude an agreement for a tenth season of Seinfeld , he moved away from everything, refusing a salary of $ 110 million. Read the rest for more details on the decision and why he later said that he thought it would make him "a legend".

In relation: David Letterman admitted business with staff members after being Chan Long .

The initial salary of Seinfeld was commonplace.

When the show called at the origin The breastfeld tells First first in 1989, Seinfeld was already a standing actor respected with a faithful audience. However, at its beginnings, the program's budget was modest, and the main members of the distribution, including its homonymous star, won a relatively humble salary of about $ 20,000 per episode , according Parade .

Seinfeld was the first star to pocket $ 1 million per episode.

Jerry Seinfeld in 2001
Mario Tama / Getty Images

It was only when it was to follow Acclamations In 1993, the show became the phenomenon of pop culture that it is still. While the number of audiences increased, the success of the issue enabled a substantial salary increase for its main actors. As the show entered its sixth season, its main members of the distribution - Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus ,, Jason Alexander , And Michael Richards - Negotiated revolutionary contracts. Seinfeld, in particular, made the history of television by becoming the first actor to win $ 1 million per episode , a corresponding sum by the other tracks of the show (although at the price of massive fees of the show) by its last season, according to The globe and the mail .

In relation: Jason Alexander said Seinfeld The guest star was "impossible" with which to work .

He moved away from "more money than ever."

Michael Richards, Jason Alexander, and Jerry Seinfeld in 2015
Michael Buckner / Getty Images for Baby Buggy

Seinfeld It certainly did not end after season 9 because the network wanted it. When the talks for a tenth season began, Seinfeld was offered what an anonymous leader described to The New York Times at the time like " More money than ever has ever been offered Before a television star. "" AE0FCC31AE342FD3A1346EBB1F342FCB

In 2012, the former president of the NBC Warren Littlefield told Fox News exactly how much money it was: $ 5 million per episode, or $ 110 million for the season .

"We haven't played," he said. "What we put on the table was unknown. We went there with an astounding sum and there was great confidence that no one could move away from it., I am not married, I did not of children. We gave him everything we had, he was tempted, but in the end, it was a quality of life decision. "

Getting away from the proposed agreement, Seinfeld announced that the ninth season of the series would be its last on December 26, 1997.

He said he could have negotiated even more.

In an interview of 2013, Howard Stern asked Seinfeld to Confirm the claims of Littlefield About the offer of $ 110 million.

"I could have had more than that," replied the standing star. But by comparing the show to an actor that stops before the public tires, he continued saying that the choice was a question of good timing. "The love story between the people who made the show and the public was so intense, it was so white, I had to respect this. And I couldn't go to this point where he started for old explained.

Release on a high note, the final of May 14, 1998 of the program Almost corresponded to the notes Super Bowl, by The New York Times . "I wanted it to end in a burst of fireworks of" it was never bad "," said Seinfeld to Stern. However, despite its notes, the final was and continues to be divisive, and the star admitted that he Finish the show differently Today.

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He still rakes it.

Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld in 2022
Dimitrios Kambouris / Getty Images for WSJ. Magazine innovators ties

However, the Seinfeld record continued even after the show's final. In 1998, Turner Broadcasting paid a record $ 1 million per episode ventilate the show in syndication, according to Time And 12 years later, Viacom was still willing to pay more than $ 200,000 per episode to play reruns. Hulu then Netflix would later pay 130 to 180 million respective dollars and $ 500 million for streaming duties at different times.

Seinfeld himself also continued to lock lucrative offers, including a 2017 agreement with Netflix for two specials Standup and the series Actors in cars having coffee , who would have collected the actor around $ 100 million , by Business Insider. In all, Its estimated net value is now about $ 950 million, according to Inc., proving that refusing this tenth season did not injure him at all.


Categories: Entertainment
By: talker
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