Volume 44, Number 13 · August 14, 1997
Sein of the Times
By Geoffrey O'Brien
Seinfeld: a television series
by Jerry Seinfeld, by Larry David
It is just another day in the Republic of Entertainment, and as always a major story is taking shape. DANGER SEIN, reads the headline of the Daily News for May 9, 1997, over a photograph of the stars of NBC's phenomenally popular sitcom Seinfeld: Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander, and Michael Richards. They are clearly out of character, huddling cozily together and beaming with an appearance of warm feeling entirely inappropriate to the needling and conniving personae they embody on TV. The issue in the story is money, specifically the one million dollars per episode that each of Jerry Seinfeld's co-stars is demanding for the impending ninth season of what the News reporter describes as 'television's first billion-dollar sitcom.' THREE STARS HOLD OUT IN HIGH-STAKES BATTLE OVER NBC MEGAHIT: only the language of hostage-taking and terrorist attack (the actors 'imperil' the series with their 'hard-line demands' and 'it is essential that the impasse be resolved soon') can do justice to the drama of the event. (The impasse was resolved a few days later for roughly $600,000 per episode.)
Review, 3985 words
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