The \u201cShow About Nothing\u201d Ended in Jail Time (Yes, Really)<\/p>\n
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In the series finale, \u201cThe Finale,\u201d which would ultimately air on May 14, 1998, Jerry (Seinfeld), George (Jason Alexander), Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), and Kramer (Michael Richards) end up arrested having violated a Good Samaritan law when, after an emergency plane landing in Massachusetts, witness a carjacking but don\u2019t do anything to help. Instead, they make jokes about the victim and Kramer even films the theft on his camcorder. The group ends up going to trial and just about everyone they\u2019ve met over the previous nine years arrive to testify about how they\u2019re bad people. The end up convicted of criminal indifference and sentenced to a year in prison. The series ends with them in jail, awaiting transport, with Elaine considering making a phone call and Jerry and George discussing a button on his shirt \u2014 a conversation they\u2019ve had before. A closing scene saw Jerry performing a prison stand-up comedy show.<\/p>\n
The episode was controversial even at the time of its broadcast. First, it was a much longer episode than normal, with a total runtime of around 56 minutes (roughly two episodes long) so that they could fit in all of the cameo appearances. The larger issue, however, is that many found the episode to not be very funny, with very limited jokes and, the few jokes that were in the episode weren\u2019t necessarily very good. There was also concern that having the characters end up punished for their bad behavior undermined the suffering and penalties they\u2019d already paid in various previous episodes.<\/p>\n
But not everyone felt the same way. While many felt the finale was bad and didn\u2019t really \u201cstick the landing\u201d as it were for the long-running show, series writer Larry David has always stood buy it as a solid ending and some fans do feel the same way. There are those that feel like \u201cThe Finale\u201d is actually a fitting way for things to go out, highlighting that the primary characters in Seinfeld are fundamentally flawed and not very good people, even if they are ultimately entertaining.<\/p>\n
The Seinfeld Finale Was So Divisive, Another Show \u201cFixed\u201d It Years Later<\/p>\n
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What\u2019s especially interesting about the Seinfeld finale is that it\u2019s divisiveness actually led to it being \u201cfixed\u201d years later \u2014 on a different series. The final episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Seinfeld co-creator Larry David\u2019s series. That finale saw David\u2019s on-screen persona tried for breaking an election law and being sent to prison, but instead of staying behind bars like the Seinfeld crew, it\u2019s Jerry Seinfeld himself that arrives and lets Larry out, telling him that there was actually a mistrial and he can go. When Jerry tells Larry that \u201cyou don\u2019t want to end up like this, nobody wants to see it. Trust me,\u201d Larry replies, \u201cThis is how we should have ended the finale.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ending makes for a tidy way to close out Curb Your Enthusiasm while offering a nod to the controversial nature of Seinfeld\u2019s finale decades earlier. It also offers up a nice bit of closure for Seinfeld fans as well and while it will never undo the disappointing end to one of television\u2019s greatest series, it works and more than that, it serves as a bit of redemption. The Curb Your Enthusiasm finale was met with great critical acclaim. It wasn\u2019t lost on viewers or critics that the finale serves as a final word on Seinfeld\u2019s ending \u2014 and this time around, many felt that they got it exactly right.<\/p>\n