Seinfeld alum Wayne Knight gives his take on why the show's finale didn't work. Watched by an audience of 76 million viewers at the time, with series creator Larry David returning to script the finale, the ending of Seinfeld garnered a negative response. Viewers, both critics and audiences alike, were dismayed with an episode that saw Jerry, Elaine, George, and Kramer get put on trial for essentially their misanthropic behavior over the course of the series. The closing minutes see the central foursome behind bars, serving time as a form of karmic justice.
The response to the Seinfeld finale argued that the storyline was too moralistic and not in keeping with the overall tone of the irreverent sitcom. It was also argued that while the idea of bringing back many notable guest characters for one last appearance was a good concept, it did not make for the funniest goodbye. These points were hilariously resurfaced, years later, when Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm staged a Seinfeld reunion.
Related: Why Curb Your Enthusiasm's Seinfeld Reunion Isn't Canon
Knight, who played the regularly recurring character of Newman, gave his take on the Seinfeld finale during an appearance at Pennsylvania's Steel City Convention. The actor explained that the last episode wound up feeling like a clip show, in which a popular series just puts on a highlight reel of its best moments. He also said that the episode's main thrust, of the characters having a bad time, didn't work in execution. Knight's quote, via ComicBook, is included below.
I think I'm like the rest of the public as far as the finale goes. I don't think you can end that show in a way that would work. The idea of doing a retrospective winds up feeling like a clip show, so I think that they tried to pay tribute to all of the people who had walked through that set, all the great performances, all the great people. And it didn't quite land in the way that they wanted. He wanted them to have the worst time possible. And as a concept, that works, but I don't know if it works as a finale.
Over the years, the cast and crew of Seinfeld have shared their views on the sitcom's ending. Jason Alexander, who played George Costanza, for example, offered the Game of Thrones actors advice on how to handle finale criticism. Addressing the finale directly, Jerry Seinfeld said in recent years that he has no regrets about how the story unfolded and that the episode was more an attempt to honor everyone that helped contribute to the show's success over the course of its run. David, for his part, has been more ambivalent. One thing he did single out was that he wouldn't have been so secretive about how the final episode would unfold, as that inevitably heightened expectations.
In an interesting way, the derided Seinfeld finale has only added to the sitcom's legacy. Viewers can still enjoy the largely standalone series, which is currently streaming on Netflix, while devoted fans and TV obsessives can debate what it was about that farewell that so completely missed the mark. It's still talked about well over two decades later, which wouldn't have happened if the finale was generally satisfying but forgettable.
Source: ComicBook