Seinfeld on Nick at Nite: Would YOU Watch?

[stevearino]

Hello,

As many of you know, in Fall 2021, ViacomCBS cable networks will become the exclusive cable home to the '90s sitcom classic "Seinfeld," with TV Land, Comedy Central and The Paramount Network all confirmed to air the show, as first announced in 2019; one network that hasn't been confirmed yet: Nick at Nite.

My own personal prediction is that when ViacomCBS begins airing "Seinfeld" next year by way of the above confirmed networks, Nick at Nite likewise will add "Seinfeld" to its repertoire of shows e.g. "Young Sheldon," "Mom" and "Friends."

I'm all for Nick at Nite airing reruns of "Seinfeld," and to answer the above title question, I WOULD watch depending on when Nick at Nite airs "Seinfeld."

In the meantime, here's the Inside Info on the show, unless otherwise noted all courtesy of E! Entertainment's "Seinfeld: The E! True Hollywood Story."

Created by Larry David, "Seinfeld" originally aired on the NBC Television Network for 8 seasons from May 31, 1990 - May 14, 1998, conceived as a sitcom vehicle for successful stand-up comedian Jerry Seinfeld under the working title of "Stand Up" and pitched to executives at the then-infant FOX Television Network in 1988; after FOX passed over, NBC picked up "Stand Up" and changed its title to "The Seinfeld Chronicles," with its Pilot Episode filmed in Spring 1989 at Desilu Studios (now Ren-Mar Studios) in Los Angeles, California and later telecast on July 5, 1989 at 9 P.M. ET after a "Night Court" rerun on NBC. Despite marginal ratings, NBC picked up "The Seinfeld Chronicles" to series as a Summer 1990 replacement, with the title shortened to "Seinfeld" and the series beginning its regular run on May 31, 1990.

The series (telecast that Summer for a 4-episode short order from May 31, 1990 - June 21, 1990 at 9 P.M. ET after "Cheers") still had marginal ratings, but NBC gave it an additional 13-week commitment to finish out the first season, with 13 additional episodes telecast from January 23, 1991 - June 20, 1991 on NBC, for a total of 18 episodes in the debut season of "Seinfeld."

Despite continued marginal success, an additional 22-episode 2nd season was ordered by NBC, with Larry David deciding at the start of the season to add scat-singing to the series' theme song written by Jonathan Wolff; however, the scat-singing was ordered removed both by NBC and the series' original studio, Castle Rock Entertainment (now owned by WarnerMedia).

The next week, after its Season 2 debut, the scat-singing was removed and the series' theme went back to normal starting with the episode "The Truth," Directed by David Steinberg; mid-season, NBC (during which time "Seinfeld" aired Wednesday nights at 9 P.M. ET after "Night Court") switched timeslots with "Night Court," with "Night Court" finishing its own successful run in May 1992. "Seinfeld," meanwhile, was picked up for Season 3, this time telecast opposite the hit Disney sitcom "Home Improvement" Wednesday nights at 9.

While "Home Improvement" (then in its 2nd season on ABC) proved to beat "Seinfeld" ratings-wise, "Seinfeld" ratings were so low that NBC decided to move "Seinfeld" to Thursday nights at 9 P.M. ET just to give it a chance to improve--a move making "Seinfeld" the classic it is now and forevermore.

"Seinfeld" ratings continued to be successful through the roof, even being sold to Syndication in September 1995 by Sony Pictures Television Studios.

After Larry David quit "Seinfeld" in 1996, Seinfeld himself became series' showrunner for the rest of its run until December 1997, when, after 8 seasons, Jerry Seinfeld decided to retire "Seinfeld" upon turning down a $100 million offer to do a 9th season and beyond; NBC celebrated the "Seinfeld" success story with a 2-Hour Series Finale telecast on May 14, 1998 from 8 P.M. to 10 P.M. ET, starting with a Retrospective followed by The Finale.

"The Finale," as the series finale was appropriately enough called, featured a number of events happen, starting with George & Jerry (Jason Alexander and Jerry Seinfeld, respectively) discovering that NBC had picked up their show-within-a-show Pilot, "Jerry," for a 13-week Series Commitment; before the duo moved to California, George, Jerry, Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and Kramer (Michael Richards) went on a free-of-charge flight en route to Paris, France.

En route to Paris, however, the Plane made an Emergency Landing in rural Latham, Massachusetts, where the 4 principal characters witnessed a car-jacking and in true "Seinfeld" fashion did nothing to stop it, resulting in their arrest by local Officer Matt Vogel (Scott Jaeck); the 2nd half of "The Finale" was the subsequent trial covered by Geraldo Rivera and Jane Wells (both appearing as themselves) for "Rivera Live" on CNBC, during which MANY memorable "Seinfeld" guest stars appeared, reprising their guest roles--among them Jane Leeves as "The Virgin," Frances Bay as "The Marble Rye" lady, and Jon Hayman as "The Bubble Boy" (Jon Hayman also, I should clarify, appeared as the Corrections Cop escorting Seinfeld back to his jail cell at finale's end).

At Finale's end, George, Jerry, Elaine and Kramer were all found Guilty of "Criminal Indifference" and subsequently sentenced to a year in Prison.

The Hour-Long Finale was written by Larry David, returning to write the Hour-Long Series Finale of "Seinfeld," with an opening stand-up bit not seen since Larry David quit "Seinfeld" in 1996; at first, the stand-up bits were featured in the beginning, middle and end of each show, with each one featuring Paid Extras pretending to be the stand-up audience; the middle was cut out in 1992 after the 2nd season, with the end cut out in 1994 and the stand-up bits as noted earlier were eliminated altogether when Larry quit.

While ViacomCBS will own the cable rights effective next year, Netflix will supplant Hulu as the official worldwide Streaming Home of "Seinfeld."

Assuming Nick at Nite indeed does air "Seinfeld" next year, I can say reruns of "Seinfeld" previously appeared on Nickelodeon UK as part of its Paramount Comedy Channel Programming Block between 1998 and 2001, after which Paramount Comedy (now Comedy Central UK) became its own 24/7 channel.