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Aided by the dearth of much real news over the holidays, the nation's papers and airwaves filled themselves with pleas from mourning fans for Seinfeld to reconsider and speculation from any media buyers still in their offices about how NBC would survive the loss of the most profitable show on television. SAY IT AIN'T SO! reads the cover of this week's PEOPLE, which goes on to add, with only half-mock portentousness: "A stunned nation prepares for life without Seinfeld." In New York City, where the show is set and where numerous cottage industries--indeed, a whole Seinfeld-based economy--have sprung up around real-life counterparts to the show's fictional characters and locations, grief was especially poignant.
NBC knew it would eventually lose the show (see following story), but executives had hoped to persuade Seinfeld to stick with it for one more year. Though the comedian had already told his co-stars of his intentions, Seinfeld and his managers, Howard West and George Shapiro, gathered in New York City the Sunday before Christmas for a final hearing with Robert Wright, president and CEO of NBC, and Jack Welch, chairman and CEO of General Electric, NBC's parent company. The discussion lasted two hours at Wright's Central Park West apartment. "What made me want to come back," Seinfeld says, "was how much they believed in me. That was the sum and substance of our meetings. Because they know that's all I care about, the quality of the show."
In an effort to prove Seinfeld still had creative life in it, Wright and Welch gave Seinfeld a formal presentation titled "Seinfeld: A Broadcast Phenomenon," full of neat and colorful charts--SEINFELD MORE DOMINANT THAN EVER--demonstrating that, unlike most shows that reach a ninth season, Seinfeld's audience was still growing, at least in the only demographic category that matters, adults ages 18 to 49. In a particularly sneaky appeal to Seinfeld's ego, the presentation included a graph showing his show's gains over the past five seasons, in contrast to the losses for fellow stand-up Tim Allen's Home Improvement on ABC.
There were carefully calibrated emotional appeals too. "Jack Welch told me this was one of the products GE is most proud of," Seinfeld says. Rather than be concerned that his show was being lumped in with light bulbs and missile parts, the comedian was moved. "That affects me," he says. "I like that the people who own the show take pride in it." The meeting ended warmly but inconclusively. Seinfeld and his managers continued to talk, walking around the city's Upper West Side, discussing pros and cons. They returned to Los Angeles that night without having made a final decision.