Jason Alexander’s 'Seinfeld' salary per episode was so high, it almost damaged the economics of TV
In the history of television, only a handful of shows have gained the level of popularity equaling that of sitcoms such as "Seinfeld" and "F.R.I.E.N.D.S." "Seinfeld" was created by Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, and considering its success and relevance, it is obvious that the stars of the show made big bucks for their work. In fact cast member Jason Alexander thinks they broke the economics of television at one point.
The show which mostly depicts four New York City friends sitting around, complaining and undermining each other, initially struggled to win over audiences. At first, Seinfeld and David could only convince the executives of NBC to pick the show up for only four episodes in 1989. However, it was soon renewed for another season and went on to become one of the most popular sitcoms in America. The show soon broke into the Top 50 in Nielsen ratings, and by the time it came to a close, "Seinfeld" was a multimillionaire.
It was so popular that the producers wanted to keep it on air, but co-creator Jerry Seinfeld refused. Appearing on the Howard Stern Show, he revealed that he even turned down $110 million without thinking twice.
While Seinfeld has continued to enjoy massive success, his three on-screen best friends deserve equal credit as well. Jason Alexander who played "George Costanza", Julia Louis-Dreyfus who played "Elaine Benes", and Michael Richards who played "Cosmo Kramer", were equally important to the show's success.
Outrageous Salaries
Given the show's success, its stars became some of the highest-paid TV personalities, ever. In the final year of the show, 1998, the co-creator and comedian made a whopping $267. While Seinfeld was making bank, the co-actors felt that the show wasn't being as vital to their career.
In an old interview with Charlie Rose, Alexander revealed that they once tried to negotiate a better deal for themselves looking at how much Seinfeld was making. He said that he and his two co-stars did their own research, and estimated that each episode of the show generated "$14 million" in profit for the network.
"We had argued that after five years of being in Seinfeld, there was no upside, in the long run for the three of us to continue doing the show… So we argued that we needed to be cut in on syndication," the actor said. However, the three of them were denied any syndication points which led to them making outrageous salary demands.
"In order for us to feel good about doing this show, I wanna leave the most successful half hour in the history of television knowing that I never have to work again. That is what I require or you can’t have my services," Alexander recalled him saying while at the bargaining table. While the stars each demanded more than a million dollars per episode, they finally settled for $600,000 per episode. While it may seem like they got a lot less than what they asked for, it was still an outrageous salary at the time.
Even though the stars did their research and meticulously calculated the number, the actor said he still felt that they "damaged the economics of television". "And I also knew that it was detrimental to television if they made the deal with us… It is outrageous up-front money, outrageous. It is bad for television," he said.
