Acquired
01:52:48 · Ben Gilbert, David Rosenthal
[01:52:48] S0: We're gonna talk about the full schedule, the weekly schedule of making a Seinfeld episode in a few minutes. But know this. When you're at the table read, you are six days from shooting the episode for real in front of a live audience in studio. [01:53:02] S1: Yep. You're pretty close to the point of no return or as close as Larry and Jerry could engineer getting Yes. Before revealing what they were doing. So the broadcast standards department at NBC, which is the in house sensor that is responsible for keeping all of NBC's programming up to broadcast standards, rules. They, of course, hear about this right away. They're just losing their minds. And the woman who runs this department, her name is doctor Roz Weinman in New York. She calls up Warren and is just apoplectic. And Warren's like, well, it is Seinfeld. It's the guys. They don't say the word. It's funny. And somehow, I don't know if she was a fan of the show, and she got it. She said, well, alright. We're gonna keep a close eye on this. Like, we could pull the plug at any time, But in this case, with this show, it might be enough that this show has a pact with its audience that we can get away with this. This is unbelievable.
01:53:02 · David Rosenthal, Ben Gilbert
[01:53:02] S1: Yep. You're pretty close to the point of no return or as close as Larry and Jerry could engineer getting Yes. Before revealing what they were doing. So the broadcast standards department at NBC, which is the in house sensor that is responsible for keeping all of NBC's programming up to broadcast standards, rules. They, of course, hear about this right away. They're just losing their minds. And the woman who runs this department, her name is doctor Roz Weinman in New York. She calls up Warren and is just apoplectic. And Warren's like, well, it is Seinfeld. It's the guys. They don't say the word. It's funny. And somehow, I don't know if she was a fan of the show, and she got it. She said, well, alright. We're gonna keep a close eye on this. Like, we could pull the plug at any time, But in this case, with this show, it might be enough that this show has a pact with its audience that we can get away with this. This is unbelievable. [01:54:05] S0: Because broadcast standards really has two jobs. One is, are we literally going to fall afoul of any FCC regulations where we will get in trouble as a network? Two is, is there gonna be any blowback on our network where it hurts our brand? Yep. People don't like us anymore. Advertisers run, things like that. And if you're not running afoul of one because no words are coming out of your mouth, then it's really just about [01:54:32] S1: The question is only number two. Yeah. [01:54:33] S0: Right. Do we think the audience will love or hate this? [01:54:36] S1: Yep.
01:54:36 · David Rosenthal, Ben Gilbert
[01:54:36] S1: Yep. [01:54:37] S0: And I think it's a big risk, but a very perceptive one to be like, Seinfeld actually has cultivated an audience where this is entirely okay, especially done this artfully.
01:54:46 · David Rosenthal
[01:54:46] S1: Yep. Yep. So broadcast standards lets it through, and then sales calls up. And they're like, are you out of your mind? You know, we have to we have to tell the advertisers what their spots are gonna run against. And Warren says, alright. Well, let's let them keep going. We'll get a rough cut of the edit before we have to put it on air. So the rough cut comes in. They give it to sales. Sales shares it with the advertisers. They come back and they say, hey. We've got a bunch of advertisers that are gonna pull out. They're not okay with this. We're gonna have to cut the rates for this episode to backfill to get enough people in last minute, enough new sponsors to fill the episode. Warren says, okay. How about this? There are these cable networks out there, MTVs out there. They've got this same kind of audience. They're killing it with a bunch of alcohol companies as sponsors and, you know, Nike sponsoring them. What if you guys go to all the advertisers on MTV and say, hey, we've got an opportunity to get you into Seinfeld this week? Which they do, and they fill the episode. And that's how sales allows it to go through. For all the advertisers that didn't pull out the regular sponsors that stuck with the episode, they end up having leather bound copies of the script printed, autographed by the cast, sent out as a thank you for sticking with us. And then the episode airs. There's no protest. It's great. It becomes the first catchphrase moment for the show. Master of my domain. Are you master of your domain? Yep. It completely changed the rules for Seinfeld.
01:56:33 · Ben Gilbert, David Rosenthal
[01:56:33] S0: And it cemented Seinfeld as a water cooler conversation show. Yes. This was something you were gonna share with your friends. [01:56:39] S1: You sure as hell were gonna talk about this the next day. [01:56:42] S0: Yeah. [01:56:43] S1: So many years later in 2009, TV Guide did a ranking of the greatest television episodes of all time. This episode was ranked number one. [01:56:57] S0: Yeah. Of course. So had they moved to Thursdays yet at this point? [01:57:00] S1: No. No. No. They're struggling. They're getting the pants beaten off of them by home improvement here on Wednesday nights. This is, like, the crucible moment for the show. So right after this is when NBC makes the decision. They say, alright. This is magic. We were right about this show that it's just special. We're gonna have to bet on this. We're gonna make this our future. We're gonna move it to Thursday right now. We're gonna air it after Cheers. And then when Cheers goes off the air after this season, Seinfeld is taking our top slot. [01:57:37] S0: If it performs. This is Yep. The Which, of course, Larry David, he's furious about this. [01:57:43] S1: Yes. Yes. [01:57:45] S0: His quote is, if they didn't watch us on Wednesdays, I don't want them watching us on Thursdays. We've earned this weird niche audience that is our people. And you're just about to, like, blast us out to the mass public. Yeah. Just gonna go right from Cheers into Seinfeld. They're gonna get hit by a mental bus.
01:57:45 · Ben Gilbert, David Rosenthal
[01:57:45] S0: His quote is, if they didn't watch us on Wednesdays, I don't want them watching us on Thursdays. We've earned this weird niche audience that is our people. And you're just about to, like, blast us out to the mass public. Yeah. Just gonna go right from Cheers into Seinfeld. They're gonna get hit by a mental bus. [01:58:03] S1: Yes. Famously, that was Larry's reaction. And equally famously, this is why they were such a great partnership. Jerry's response to NBC about the move to Thursday night was, thank you very much. We will take the new time slot. [01:58:19] S0: Yeah. Good business decision. [01:58:21] S1: Yes. Yes. [01:58:22] S0: It is interesting thinking about Larry's reaction here. So part of it is, like, just this purist because he's a purist in so many ways. And he's got the element of George Costanza. He's not as pathetic as George is. No. I think that's a fair... George, they've amped up the pathetic dial to eleven. But he does have the sort of duality in him that George has, which is thinking he's the greatest thing to ever walk planet Earth. And George is not, but Larry kind of is, but coupled with extreme self consciousness, self loathing, and self doubt. Yes. And so to tell Larry David, like, we're gonna promote you to this giant spot, it's like, no. No. If people truly loved us, they would have sought us out and found us. I don't need these people who aren't gonna do work to watch my excellent perfect television show. [01:59:12] S1: Right.