„We Didn’t Look Like Anything Else”. What Jason Alexander of the Seinfeld Thought Was the Sitcom’s Biggest Problem Turned Out to Be Its Greatest Asset
Sometimes what appears to be a flaw can turn out to be the key to success. Such was the case with Seinfeld, which conquered audiences and proved to be a hit.
Although Seinfeld turned out to be a huge hit, not everyone believed in the success of the production. Concerns were had by Jason Alexander, who starred in the TV series, who worried that the sitcom would only get a pilot episode and be deleted after that.
His negative attitude was based on what an original idea Seinfeld was at the time and what a difficult audience it was aimed at. And he wasn't wrong, as NBC initially actually let go of the production and only later, when the pilot episode aired to fill a time slot, gave it a chance. The pilot was met with such a positive reception that the TV station, despite initial doubts, decided to order further episodes.
Alexander spoke about his concerns during an interview with Howie Mandel.
I thought it would be a pilot and probably that would be the end of it. When we did the pilot… I think we made a show here that the primary audience is for male 18 to about 35, that probably lives in a city, and they don’t watch sitcoms… We didn’t look like anything else that was on the air.
The actor felt that dissimilarity and the audience Seinfeld was aimed at would be the production's biggest problem and would determine its failure. After all, how is the TV show supposed to succeed if the audience that should be watching it doesn't seem to be interested in sitcoms? It turned out that Alexander was wrong in his assessment, and the TV series filled a certain gap in the television, drawing crowds of viewers in front of the screens.
But because of that audience, because it did attract men 18 to 35, that was an audience that Prime Time advertisers couldn’t get very easily. And the fact that they were the only ones watching our show meant that there was always somebody to sponsor the show.
The hard-to-get audience, which lived to see the TV series specifically catered to, helped Seinfeld make money for itself and stay on the NBC. So the TV series' biggest flaw, turned out to be its strongest point.
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