How Rob Reiner saved Seinfeld from cancellation on NBC

“Seinfeld” wasn’t always a sensation. During its first few seasons (starting in 1989), the sitcom about nothing seemed like too much to do about nothing in the eyes of NBC executives. Did people really want to watch entire episodes of obnoxious people either fighting around the dinner table or getting into extremely embarrassing trouble while, say, fighting during… Showing Steven Spielberg’s masterpiece “Schindler’s List?”

They did, but didn’t know it at first, which once again caused series creators Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David some problems with leadership at the network.

It’s a bit strange that there was any panic at all. The series was not very successful, but it routinely ranked somewhere in the 40s in the Nielsen ratings and received rave reviews from critics. The ensemble finally clicked once Eileen Julia Louis-Dreyfus became a regular cast member, and the writing was consistently strong if not inspired (as evidenced by the early-on classic “The Stake Out”). However, “Seinfeld” continued to find itself on the brink, so much so that one of the sitcom’s veteran showrunners and directors finally had to step in to ensure the series’ future on NBC.

During an interview on The Howard Stern Show, Rob Reiner revealed that he personally had to go to Seinfeld’s arena to prevent it from being canceled after its second season. What’s the problem? Per Reiner, “They said we can’t do this show. What is this show? It’s just people sitting around and talking.”

This was specifically in reference to the “Chinese restaurant”, Great episode of Seinfeld. As the gang impatiently kills time while waiting for a seat at the titular eating establishment. Brandon Tartikoff, the network’s bigwig who was credited with saving NBC, has exited the show entirely. “So I went over there, and I had a crazy scream with Brandon Tartikoff. I begged him. I said, ‘Please, I promise there will be stories. You can’t take this offer,'” Reiner said. Off the air, it will be one of the greatest shows I have ever seen.”

How did Reiner have enough power to save a network sitcom in 1991? Not only was he a member of the Bunker family like Meathead in All in the Family, he was also the most bankable director in Hollywood. That year, he had great success in a series of six films that included “This Is Spinal Tap,” “The Sure Thing,” “Stand by Me,” “The Princess Bride,” “When Harry Met Sally… and “Misery” and was about to score the blockbuster courtroom drama With A Few Good Men Reiner was an 800-pound gorilla, so when he threw his weight around everyone in Hollywood felt it.

The rest is television history. Tartikoff twisted, “Seinfeld” became “Seinfeld,” and… yada yada yada.