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Article: Jerry built: the success of 'Seinfeld' was an implicit rebuke to PC pieties - and a confirmation of America's unpredictable spirit. (political correctness and the success of Jerry Seinfeld's television program)
- Article from:
- National Review
- Article date:
- February 9, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 National Review, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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HOLLYWOOD
YEARS ago, at lunch with an NBC executive, I happened to mention a promising new series on his network. The Seinfeld Chronicles, it was called. It had aired three times in a terrible time slot in the middle of summer -- the boneyard, the death trap, the place, in other words, where networks dump their least promising shows.
"Oh, that," he said, with a dismissive swat of his hand. "That show is dead. We shoulda just flushed the money down the john. Woulda been faster."
Nine years and billions of dollars later, Seinfeld, as it was renamed, has not only made its eponymous star a centimillionaire, but it has noticeably buoyed the balance sheet of ...