Quatermass

That's 2.7 Billion since it ended in 1998.

http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainmen...ArywzQ8I5rSvAJ

$einfeld rakes in $2.7 bil
Startling details of earnings revealed

By DAVID K. LI

Last Updated: 10:45 AM, June 7, 2010
Posted: 12:21 AM, June 7, 2010

Forget law school. Send your kids to comedy camp if you want them to support you in your old age.

"Seinfeld" might be the show about nothing, but it's also made an incredible $2.7 billion -- with a "b" -- since it went off the air 12 years ago, according to Time Warner, which owns the series.

That makes "Seinfeld" the most profitable 30 minutes in TV history.

It is rare that TV studios reveal the amounts made by their most successful TV series, but at an investors' conference late last month, execs spilled the beans about just what a moneymaker the show has been over the past 12 years.

Jerry Seinfeld and co-creator Larry David have an undisclosed ownership stake in the show that has paid them in the hundreds of millions for the reruns of the show.

Details of the huge sums were buried in a report of the conference carried by the trade magazine The Hollywood Reporter. The main idea of the conference was for Time Warner to brag to potential investors how well the company is doing.

The numbers indicate that reruns on regular TV have grossed $2.3 billion since 1998.

Revenues from cable were about $380 million, execs reported.

"Seinfeld" made 180 episodes during its nine-year run -- which means that each half-hour episode has earned more than $14 million so far.

That does not include what the show -- or its stars -- made while the show was on NBC in its original run.

For years, Forbes magazine has been estimating that Jerry makes between $65-80 million a year from reruns of the show.

But the startling size of the show's total earnings was never known before.

But if any show deserved to make billions, say the experts, it was probably "Seinfeld."

"The thing about 'Seinfeld' is that it was well-written, well-acted and well-produced -- a triple threat," said Marc Berman, "Mr. Television" of Mediaweek.

"People related to the characters and it's just plain funny. This is a show that can last forever. It's like watching 'I Love Lucy,' it's still funny and you can keep laughing at it today."

But Jerry likely won't be master of this domain forever.

Pop culture professor Robert Thompson predicts "Seinfeld" will someday be toppled by "The Simpsons."

"When the end of world history comes, 'The Simpsons' will be the most-rerun show of all time and make the most money," said Thompson, founding director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University.

Apparently, other cast members from the show are not sharing in the billions.

Co-stars Jason Alexander, Michael Richards and Julia Louis-Dreyfus have a portion of the revenues from sales of "Seinfeld" DVDs -- something they held out for in contract negotiations for the series' final season. But not the show's syndication money.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainmen...#ixzz0qNC9CNGo

Deftones

that's surprising to me. i see Friends as a syndicated show that would likely garner better ratings and more ad revenue.

even crazier that the rest of the cast doesn't get any of that syndication money.

sauce07

If one thing was clear in the DVD special features, Jerry and Larry made that show, the rest of the cast were just actors.

resinrats

I'm surprised Simpsons hasn't beaten this. Haven't Simpsons been syndicated since 1998? Maybe they just haven't cost as much to air as Seinfeld. At least in my area, Simpsons has many more rerun time blocks than Seinfield ever did.

FatTony

Wait, so the other three don't get anything from the reruns? Isn't that against union rules or something? A guy I know gets a few hundred dollars every year because he was in a few episodes of Northern Exposure.

whoopdido

I don't think Friends ever had the ratings Seinfeld did.

I don't know anybody that watches Friends reruns, but seems like everybody catches Seinfeld from time to time.

Fanboy

Same here in terms of rerun blocks. However, the article itself says "It is rare that TV studios reveal the amounts made by their most successful TV series", so maybe that's an announcement that either hasn't been made or hasn't been made yet.

I can't imagine The Simpsons wouldn't be number one. Seinfeld was hugely popular but only had 9 seasons to syndicate to the 21+ of The Simpsons.

majorjoe23

They get residuals as performers, but I know those also go down over time. My guess is it's the creator/producer credits that have Seinfeld raking in the dough.

But this article made me realize I should drop out of law school and go to comedy camp! That's what the best comedians do, right?

God, I want to punch whoever wrote that lede.

Draven

I'm the opposite. No interest in Seinfeld reruns but I'll always watch an episode of Friends.

notkevinbacon

I think The Simpsons are not factored in because the article seems to be only talking about the 12 years since Seinfeld went off the air.

JasonF

Is there any doubt that the genius mind that gave us "The Marriage Ref" is worth every penny of that $2.7 billion?

MrSmearkase

Longer than that, even. I think 1993 was when I noticed it starting to pop up.

foofighters7

Friends had its day, but it simply does not have the staying power that Seinfeld or The Simpsons has.

Although Friends has its fans, its quite a ways off from being anywhere near Seinfeld.

shaun3000

Friends was a chronological show, in that each episode built off the last. You have to watch the episodes in sequence to get all the jokes, follow the story, etc.

Seinfeld is a show about nothing, each episode is a stand-alone work. You can watch an episode from season 1, then an episode from season 8, and other than the changes in fashion, actors' ages, etc., it works just fine.

Hokeyboy

You won't catch Ben Stern watching and obsessing over reruns of "Friends". He does things in a proper manner.

bunkaroo

I agree with this, but seeing Seinfeld in order also had its payoffs. They would frequently call back to things in other episodes or seasons, which I loved. Like when George says "I once won a contest."

sauce07

Proper Modulation

wd40cloud

Seinfeld would make more money than The Simpsons because they are syndicated on local networks, where as Seinfeld is currently on TBS, a national cable channel so the ratings (and ad revue) would obviously be bigger.

bluetoast

Except that the article indicated that Seinfeld made way more on network TV than on cable.

Deftones

Quite the opposite. Friends routinely was over 22 million per season average, where as Seinfeld's last season was just barely under that.

TheBang

So, the $2.7B figure doesn't even include home video sales? That must be several hundred million more, at least, right?

That was rather prescient of (and fortunate for) them. Those negotiations would have been taking place in early 1997. DVD was just getting ready to launch, and the TV on DVD explosion was still another 4 or so years off.

Fist of Doom

Jason Alexander doesn't get any of the syndication money?

So that's why he's doing those Jenny Craig ads.

whoopdido

Is that actually true?

I was never a Friends fan (honestly can't stand the show). I realize it was a very popular show back in the day but I had no idea it was more popular than Seinfeld. I always thought Seinfeld beat Friends every week.

Fist of Doom

A quick look at wiki shows the average was less than that, but Friends still beat Seinfeld overall. Especially since Seinfeld's first 3 seasons didn't get good ratings at all.

Deftones

yeah, i was looking at a different site. friends still avg. over 22 million it looks like, but seinfeld was significantly lower because it wasn't highly rated at first.