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Jerry Seinfeld shares how he really feels about the Seinfeld finale
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In the history of television, few episodes have been as controversial
as the _Seinfeld_ finale. Written by series co-creator Larry David,
the two-part finale originally aired in 1998 to an audience of more
than 76 million viewers — but the beloved sitcom failed to stick the
landing.
"A lot of people didn't like it," Jerry Seinfeld tells __Q__.
_Seinfeld_ ends with friends Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer locked
up in prison for standing by and cracking jokes instead of helping a
man who was mugged in front of them. The finale features numerous
callbacks, as past characters are brought into the courtroom to
testify against the so-called "New York Four."
_ **WATCH | Jerry Seinfeld's full conversation with Tom Power:**_
VIDEO
"What we wanted at the time was to see all the great characters that
we had had over the years … and give them one last chance to speak
their peace," Seinfeld says. "We thought that would be fun and it was
fun. I think the only mistake, if there was one, was leaving them in
jail. We didn't really have to do that."
Recently, however, Seinfeld and David got another shot at ending a
show with the series finale of _Curb Your Enthusiasm_ , which
concluded last month after 12 seasons. In the final episode of _Curb_
, Larry is sentenced to one year in jail when all of a sudden Jerry
rushes in with the news that the judge has declared a mistrial and
Larry will be walking free.
"This is how we should've ended [ _Seinfeld_ ]," Larry says, with
Jerry responding that "no one wants to see" their comedy protagonist
in jail.
VIDEO
Seinfeld says the idea to end _Curb_ with a direct callback to
_Seinfeld_ occurred late on a Friday night, just about five minutes
before they shot the scene.
"They were wrapping their entire series and, obviously, they were
reflecting [on] the end of the _Seinfeld_ series," he says. "I
thought, 'Let's talk about how this would have been a great idea for
the end of the _Seinfeld_ series. Why didn't we do it?' And we
couldn't think of a reason why we didn't think of it.
"Honestly, it was one of the most exciting moments of my life that
that idea occurred just five minutes before you see it in _Curb_. And
then I realized that we set up a joke 25 years ago and just paid it
off. The only possible way that could happen is two TV series run in
succession, with each of the creators playing themselves in the
series."
The night they shot that scene, Seinfeld says he and David had been
debating the best series finale of all time.
"I'm personally a fan of the _Mad Men_ finale and I also like _The
Sopranos_ final moment," Seinfeld tells Power. "And we thought, 'Well,
we tried. We're not in that conversation of one of the greats.' And
then we became one of the greats in that moment that we connected two
TV series 25 years apart. That was an arrow that landed in the sun,
comedically speaking."
_ **The full interview with Jerry Seinfeld is available on**_ _ _
**our podcast, Q with Tom Power**__ _ **. He also talks about his new
Netflix movie Unfrosted, his "crazy connection" with Larry David and
his early days on Johnny Carson. Listen and subscribe wherever you get
your podcasts.**_
* * *
_Interview with Jerry Seinfeld produced by Kaitlyn Swan._
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