“We Didn’t Really Have to Do That.” Jerry Seinfeld Regrets Succumbing to Pressure and Not Changing Seinfeld's Ending
Seinfeld's finale was not to everyone's liking. Also, the sitcom's creator doubts that they did the right thing by ending the TV series this way.
Endings of TV series are always very difficult, because it is impossible to satisfy everyone with them. There will always be a group that will not be satisfied, although mostly those who defend productions to the very end are their creators. In the case of Seinfeld it's different, as one creator of this sitcom can't shake the feeling that the controversial ending, in which the characters had to face the consequences of their actions, misses the premise of the TV show, which was supposed to be about nothing.
Jerry Seinfeld on the Q with Tom Power program confessed that he would prefer to end the TV series by letting the characters out of prison.
I think the only mistake, if there was one, was leaving them in jail. We didn’t really have to do that.
This was not the only time Seinfeld mentioned that he regretted ending the 1989 hit, as similar words were said during the New Yorker festival (via Vulture).
I sometimes think we really shouldn’t have even done it. There was a lot of pressure on us at that time to do one big last show, but big is always bad in comedy.
A completely different approach to Seinfeld's finale has been taken by the sitcom's other creator, Larry David, who, when asked about the reception of the finale, said he didn't care. Unlike Jerry Seinfeld, he expressed no interest in making any changes to how they closed the story they created together.
Regardless of what viewers think of the finale, many still agree that Seinfeld as a whole is a successful sitcom that enjoys considerable fan support.
