Jerry Seinfeld on Monday thanked Rob Reiner for preventing the quick cancellation of “Seinfeld” (1989-98), the sitcom that skyrocketed the comedian to fame.
In an Instagram tribute to the iconic director and actor after he and his wife, Michele, were found dead in their home, Seinfeld shared a photo with Reiner and his father, Carl Reiner.
“Next to [“Seinfeld” co-creator] Larry David and [talent manager] George Shapiro, Rob Reiner had the biggest influence on my career,” Seinfeld wrote. “Our show would have never happened without him. He saw something no one else could. When nobody at the network liked the early episodes, he saved us from cancellation.”
“That I was working with Carl Reiner’s son, who happened to be one of the kindest people in show business, seemed unreal,” the comic continued. “I was naive at the time to how much his passion for us meant.”
In a 2016 interview with Howard Stern, Reiner, who cofounded the Castle Rock production company behind “Seinfeld,” recalled begging NBC honcho Brandon Tartikoff not to relegate the show to the dustbin of TV history.
“We knew we had a great show,” Reiner told Stern. “They wanted to take it off the air.”
“They said, ‘We can’t have this show. … What is this show? It’s just people sitting around talking,’” Reiner continued.
Reiner had built comedy cred as an actor on “All in the Family” (1971-79) and as director and star of the mockumentary “This Is Spinal Tap” (1984). “When Harry Met Sally,” the classic rom-com he helmed, would premiere just weeks after “Seinfeld” debuted as “The Seinfeld Chronicles” in July 1989.
“I had a screaming, crazy thing with Brandon Tartikoff at the time and I begged him and I said, ‘Please, I promise you there’ll be stories. You can’t take this show off the air. It’s going to be one of the great shows you’ve ever had.’” Reiner told Stern.
The sitcom made a prophet of Reiner, earning 10 Emmys among 68 nominations in becoming the zeitgeist comedy of the 1990s.
“Rob and Michele married right as our show was starting and they became an imprint for me of how it’s supposed to work, each one broadening the other,” Seinfeld concluded his homage. “Their death, together, is impossibly sad.”
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