But the equally good tidings for fans — the relief, really — is that the cranky, quirky, funny big sibling to Ellen, Mad About You, Friends, Caroline in the City, The Single Guy, Partners, Ned and Stacey, and every other sitcom featuring articulate, neurotic urbanites, has, in its golden years, recovered its sharpest instincts. The writing is fresh and elegant, with a recent run of sophisticated, complexly structured episodes including the already classic "The Rye," which managed to weave a horse-drawn carriage, implications of oral sex, and a loaf of marble rye bread into a richly detailed tapestry of nudnickdom. This year, following a season that, despite continued high ratings, received raised eyebrows from critics and devotees for its departure into windier, slapstickier directions, Seinfeldhas reclaimed its focused joie de misery.
"Now," says Seinfeld with satisfaction, sitting in a booth on the Seinfeld diner set the day after his announcement, "we're older inept singles." Which is ironic, really, since, in the course of seven years of togetherness, the individual players have matured far beyond the range of their characters' stunted lifestyles. Drastically exceeding the capabilities of Elaine, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, 35, and her husband, Single Guy creator Brad Hall, have a son, Henry, now 3; Jason Alexander, 36, who plays George Costanza, and his wife, Daena Title, are the parents of Gabriel, 3, and another child is due this month; Michael Richards, 46, is the father of Sophia, 20, and is currently single; and Seinfeld, 41, and Lonstein have been a fairly steady couple for three years. Even Larry David, 48, the show's dyspeptic cocreator, unofficial creative director, and inspiration for commitment-phobe George, married Laurie Lennard in 1993 and is the father of 2-year-old daughter Cazzie, with a second child on the way.
And yet, here's Jerry: "We play the oldest losers around."
Rich losers. For a show about shlubs, the Seinfeld team has made a mint, and syndication brings in an additional bundle of dough — the series reportedly earned over $2.5 million per episode in licensing fees — and by industry standards, creators Seinfeld and David and producer Castle Rock Entertainment stand to clean up. (This does not, however, hold true for fellow cast members Richards, Louis-Dreyfus, and Alexander, who are compensated as talent but own no piece of the pie. "A bone of contention," admits Alexander, "but that's how the deal was done.")
In addition, the foursome — who've remained an ensemble troupe, with no one break-out cast member unbalancing the scales — have all benefited from endorsement deals. "We're all millionaires many times over," claims Richards, pointing out that at least he and his colleagues have unanimously agreed not to do anything so crass as to endorse products in character. ("A diet soda!" the man who once hawked Pepsi fulminates, eyeing a magazine ad campaign featuring the cast of Another Sitcom. "Do those kids know what's in that stuff?")
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