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Netflix Taking A Chance On Seinfeld, Show About Nothing, Starting October 1st
By
Ben Yakas
Published Sep 1, 2021
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Sep 1, 2021
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Netflix has over 15,000 titles in its library, over 200 million subscribers, and the company's annual revenue in 2020 amounted to almost $25 billion dollars. The company is clearly feeling financially secure enough to start taking some risks in terms of their content and who they work with. And to that end, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday that they are rolling the dice on a nine-season pickup for a situational NYC-based comedy called Seinfeld, created by Larry David and "rising" New York comedian Jerry Seinfeld.
All 180 episodes of the series will land on Netflix on October 1st, 2021; Netflix landed the rights to the show in 2019, but it was still under a streaming deal with Hulu through June of this year.
“This is the first time we’ve taken a risk of this nature, going all in on nine seasons at the jump,” said Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos in a press release. “But Jerry has created something special with this sitcom that nobody has ever done. I truly think he and Mr. David have enormous futures ahead of them and I’m thrilled Netflix could be the home for them to grow their fanbases.”
Although the show, which explores the minutiae of Seinfeld's everyday life amidst his interactions with a close-knit group of neighbors, friends, and current and former lovers, was filmed almost exclusively in Los Angeles, it takes place in New York and utilizes tons of recognizable local spots for its settings, including Seinfeld's apartment at West 81st Street, Tom's Restaurant (renamed Monk's Cafe), H&H Bagels, Mendy's Kosher Delicatessen, Rockaway Beach, Pete's Tavern, Papaya King, The Nexus Of The Universe (1st and 1st) and more.
Seinfeld himself added, “Larry and I are enormously grateful to Netflix for taking this chance on us. It takes a lot of guts to trust two schmucks who literally had zero experience in television when we made this thing,” said Seinfeld. "We really got carried away, I guess. I didn’t realize we made so many of them. Hope to recoup god knows how many millions it must have taken to do. But worth all the work if people like it. Crazy project.”
If you're curious to learn more about this upcoming series, check out our 30th anniversary piece on the show's pilot, which looks at the show's bumpy start and how the series ended up reflecting "life in NYC in such a way that its plots and its euphemisms have become a part of our daily life. It's adherence to a slightly cynical, lovably surreal, etiquette-obsessed, and distinctly Jewish sense of humor was a remarkably unique blend at the time."
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netflix
jerry seinfeld
seinfeld
larry david
streaming
television
tv
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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