The end of "Seinfeld" means more than just the loss of a great sitcom for NBC.
It marks the end of a brilliant programming strategy -- forged in the early 1980s by NBC's programming director Brandon Tartikoff and his boss, NBC chairman Grant Tinker -- that made NBC billions of dollars as America's favorite prime-time network.
NBC has been riding that train for more than a decade, with "Seinfeld" as its engine since 1993. But, with Jerry Seinfeld's decision this week to end the series come May, it looks as if that era of golden comedy programming and ratings dominance could be coming to end.
"Last year, when newspapers were [doing stories] asking if Jerry was worth a million dollars an episode, we had to laugh. He was worth twice as much and then some in terms of our overall programming strategy. The question is where do we go from here," an NBC executive said yesterday, asking that his name not be used.
NBC's official statement says, "To keep a show of this caliber at its peak has been a great undertaking. We respect Jerry's decision that, at the end of this season, it's time to move on."
To understand why NBC offered Seinfeld more than $5 million an episode to keep his sitcom in production for one more season of 22 episodes, you have to go back to the start of the 1980s when NBC was in last place and losing money in prime time.
Tartikoff saw Bill Cosby on the "Tonight" show one night and decided to try to get Cosby to do a sitcom for NBC. "The Cosby Show" hit the airwaves in September 1984, and within a year was the highest rated series on television.
Tartikoff and Tinker used "Cosby" as an anchor to build $l audiences for other shows on Thursday: "Family Ties," "A Different World," "Night Court," "Dear John," "Wings" and "L.A. Law."
The strength of "The Cosby Show" probably even meant an extra season or two for "Cheers," so strong was its pull on viewers.
"The Cosby Show" left the airwaves at the end of 1991, and NBC foundered on Thursdays in the fall of 1992.
But the ship was quickly set afloat the next year by moving "Mad About You" and "Seinfeld" to Thursdays. "Mad About You" took Cosby's old spot at 8, and "Seinfeld" took over at 9.
"Mad About You" failed to make the Nielsen top 20 that year, but "Seinfeld" finished third among all series. Within a year, it became the No. 1 series in prime time. It is still the highest-rated comedy, finishing second to the medical drama "ER" the last two years in overall ranking.
