After nine years, is 'Seinfeld' still fun or just a lot of yada, yada, yada?

Much of this could soon take on important contractual overtones. Although costars Michael Richards, Jason Alexander, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus are all signed for another year — at a whopping $600,000 per episode — Seinfeld's contract expires after this season, and the star has said he'll decide in December whether to come back for year 10. Analysts are already predicting the star's payday will top the $1.25 million per episode Tim Allen is expected to get for Home Improvement. Not that NBC will hesitate to shell out: The network has no clear successors for Seinfeld's Thursday-night slot. In other words, as far as NBC is concerned, it may be time to make much ado about ... nothing.

(With additional reporting by Kristen Baldwin)

* From a survey of 675 adults taken for ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY Oct. 24-26 by ICR. Margin of error: plus or minus 3.8 points.

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A Five-Point Plan to Save 'Seinfeld'

1 As Coolio says, keep it real. For a show that once reveled in the minutiae of everyday life, Seinfeld has become shockingly cartoonish. Newman envisioning Kramer as a huge turkey? Has Carrot Top joined the writing staff?

2 Straighten Jerry out. The thin-neat-single guy is funniest when he's the straight man, reacting to his friends' insanity — not being wacky himself.

3 Call in a ringer. The foursome should give a chunk of their outrageous salaries toward bribing brilliant cocreator Larry David to return.

4 Don't recycle. This year's "pudding-skin singles" subplot was merely a rehash of last year's "muffin tops." Likewise, wasn't Emotional Jerry just a semi-new gloss on season four's Serious Jerry?

5 Get rid of the competition. We know this will never happen — economics and all — but stop the syndicated reruns! Seinfeld is its own worst enemy. Watching a half-hour masterpiece from seasons past like "The Contest" is a cruel reminder of what's missing now.