Seinfeld star Julia Louis-Dreyfus understands why some in the audience were disappointed with the show’s famously divisive series finale.
Seinfeld star Julia Louis-Dreyfus understands why some were disappointed with the show’s divisive series finale. A ratings giant for most of its legendary run on NBC, the show about nothing wrapped up in 1998 with a final episode that drew a staggering 76.3 million viewers. Unfortunately, a large percentage of that viewership was downright enraged by the Seinfeld finale, which saw Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer being put on trial while a parade of popular guest characters from the show’s past testified to the foursome’s questionable behavior over the course of the series. Ultimately, the four main characters wound up sitting in prison for their lack of character, a bleak ending that continues to be debated decades later.
Unleashing such a strange and dark Seinfeld finale was not a move designed to please the widest audience, and for her part, Elaine actor Louis-Dreyfus understands why some viewers felt let down by that bummer of a wrap-up. Speaking to The Daily Beast, Louis-Dreyfus gave her thoughts on one of the most divisive last episodes ever aired. Check out what she said in the space below:
Well, I will say that just from a purely emotional point of view, it was really a delight to sit there in that courtroom and watch one guest actor after another parade through. I mean, it’s like we were watching the show, so that was really fun, that aspect of it. But I understood why people were disappointed. First of all, expectations were ridiculous. But I also understood, because we didn’t do too much in it. Once we had been arrested and in court, it was just us sitting there watching one person after another parade through.
The Seinfeld Finale Was Not Designed To Please The Audience – And Maybe That Was A Mistake
The main Seinfeld cast becoming passive observers in their own series finale was just one controversial move executed in “The Finale,” an episode famously penned by series co-creator Larry David in his return to the show after a two-season absence. Even more divisive was the decision to turn the episode into a seeming attack on the show’s audience for embracing four characters who are, over the course of 75 minutes, blatantly exposed as ethically challenged.
Calling out the audience for not “getting” something, as David seemed to be doing in “The Finale,” is always bound to ruffle more than a few feathers. But a greater crime committed by “The Finale” may simply be that it is not very funny. Jerry Seinfeld himself has indeed expressed regret over the episode, calling it “impossible” to pull off (via Vulture), and saying “There was a lot of pressure on us at that time to do one big last show, but big is always bad in comedy.”
High expectations and pressure to go big seemingly were the two things most working against Seinfeld, David and the gang as they tried to land the plane on their iconic sitcom. Over two decades after the “The Finale” aired, the consensus seems to be that rather than stick the landing, they crashed Seinfeld into the side of a mountain.
