In 2013, Seinfeld was named it one of the Best-Written TV Series of All Time by the Writers Guild of America, only second to HBO’s The Sopranos. It’s no surprise. After all, Seinfeld remains one of the most popular and beloved sitcoms to this day. Today, Seinfeld has become a cult show and its reruns are still watched extensively by both old and new fans.
The success of Seinfeld greatly helped grow Jerry Seinfeld’s career and net worth. After all, he was the creative mind behind the show and also played the series’ main character on the screen. But fans were shocked to learn that Jerry struggles to rewatch Seinfeld reruns. The reason for this is really heartbreaking.
The Beatles Inspired Jerry Seinfeld To End Seinfeld After Nine Seasons
Fans weren’t happy when Seinfeld came to an end after nine great seasons and neither were the producers. This legendary sitcom was one of NBC’s most popular shows. So, when Jerry Seinfeld announced he had no plans to continue the show, NBC offered him $50 million to make at least one last season. But he refused. Why? Well, The Beatles could be to blame for Seinfeld's cancelation.
"I remember when I was in the ninth season and I was thinking maybe it's time to wrap this up, and I remember inviting Michael [Richards] and Julia [Louis-Dreyfus] and Jason [Alexander] to my dressing room and we all just sat there and we stared at each other," Seinfeld revealed during a 2021 press conference.
"I never even went into negotiation," Seinfeld told Oprah Winfrey for O Magazine. "We just ended the show. I did the show for the people watching it, and I didn't want them to say, 'That show was great in the beginning, but...' The Beatles created something that never trailed off. What a gift that was to their fans. If you're into the Beatles, you loved them from beginning to end."
On another interview for SiriusXM’s show Come To Papa, Seinfeld talked more about how his decision to end Seinfeld was greatly inspired by The Beatles. "The Beatles ended too soon for me," the comedian explained. "That hunger for The Beatles has lasted my whole life. Whenever a Beatles song comes on the radio I reach for the volume and turn it up, because I still haven't gotten enough of them. That was really how I made the decision."
It seems that he made the right choice. Seinfeld came to an end with a great last season. Maybe this is why the show is still a fan favorite even 25 years after its last episode aired!
Jerry Seinfeld Finds Watching Seinfeld Reruns Painful
Sometimes actors don’t watch their work because they can’t stand to watch themselves on the screen. As it turns out, Jerry Seinfeld is one of those actors. The comedian has admitted he can’t watch Seinfeld reruns because it brings back painful memories.
“As much as I enjoy the humor of it, it kind of reminds me of how hard it was to do,” he explained in a 2011 interview with Popeater. “I can’t seem to get that part out of my head and just enjoy the show but I’m working on it because I would like to watch them more. When I watch them I see my face and I see how I was struggling.”
In fact, the fact that it was extremely hard to create Seinfeld in the first place is why Jerry hasn’t tried to create a new sitcom since this popular series ended.
“We killed ourselves to make those shows as good as they were. We weren’t just hanging around. People always say, ‘Why don’t you do another sitcom?’ I think, ‘If I could do another sitcom that good, yeah, sure I’d do it.’ You can’t. I can’t,” the actor and comedian told Pioneers of Television.
Jerry Seinfeld Made A Fortune Thanks to Seinfeld Reruns
Jerry Seinfeld has the biggest net worth between all the Seinfeld cast members with over $950 million. But he’s never really worried about making money. He was more preoccupied with doing something he loved. “Even if I could just make enough to buy a loaf of bread and not starve to death, [being a comedian] would be the greatest adventure that I could ever go on,” Seinfeld told Parade in a 2007 interview.
It’s no surprise that most of Jerry’s current net worth came from Seinfeld. As an actor, he made around $20,000 per episode during the show’s first season. This amoun doubled by season three and by the fourth season, he was making $100,000 an episode. For season 7 his salary rose to half a million per episode and by Seinfeld’s last season, he became the first actor to get a $1 million-an-episode deal!
Moreover, Jerry has made millions thanks to Seinfeld reruns and residuals. When the show first started, Jerry and co-creator Larry David each retained 7.5% of the show’s backend points, which later grew to 15% points apiece. Today, it’s estimated that Seinfeld’s co-creators made at least $400 million each off syndications.
