Seinfeld

02:11:45 · David Rosenthal, Ben GilbertPlay from here

[02:11:45] S1: be. Yep. [02:11:46] S0: So it's this, like, real ballet and art. So they all rehearse as a unit, the cameramen and the actors, because the next day, they're in front of a live audience. [02:11:54] S1: Yep. [02:11:55] S0: On day four also, especially as the show got bigger and they were doing more on location filming where they'd shoot outside the permanent sets, the the coffee shop in Jerry's apartment, they do things like go to the fake New York street on a different lot to do the sort of outdoor street shots or actual filming locations like the cemetery where George visits Susan. [02:12:18] S1: Oh, boy.

02:12:18 · David Rosenthal, Ben GilbertPlay from here

[02:12:18] S1: Oh, boy. [02:12:19] S0: Yeah. Then day five is rehearsal in the morning, then you bring in the live audience to film in the afternoon. They'd run the entire show in chronological order. And if there's any scenes that were not on those permanent sets, because the audience is just sitting there in front of the coffee shop in Jerry's apartment in in big bleachers, they would bring down a screen so the audience could watch a rough cut of what was shot outside. And that way, they could record those laughs just like we talked about earlier. If they didn't get a laugh... Do you know about what they would do, David, if they... If it wasn't going as expected? Even with the live audience there, they would pause production. They would huddle all the writers and the actors and the director on stage. They would bring out a live band who... That was just, like, waiting on set to entertain the audience. And they also had, like, comics and stuff warm up the audience. And they would huddle and try and figure out, like, a better joke [02:13:11] S1: Yeah. [02:13:11] S0: Why is this fucking joke? Live. The best example of this is in the marine biologist. Yeah. So the episode is supposed to end with George walking into the ocean. And if you've seen this episode, that is not the end. [02:13:24] S1: This is the best story.

02:13:24 · David Rosenthal, Ben GilbertPlay from here

[02:13:24] S1: This is the best story. [02:13:25] S0: It's so good. They bring down the screen to show the on location shot. George walks into the ocean. Audience is kinda confused. There's been, like, a lot of buildup, but there... There's no joke here. So they all huddle. They come up with this idea for George to have the additional scene in the booth where he does a monologue. And then he finally produces the golf ball out of his pocket, which is, of course, tying in a plot from earlier in the episode where Kramer's hitting golf balls into the ocean, and that golf ball turns out to be lodged in a whale's blowhole in George's storyline, which is why the whale needed a marine biologist in the first place that George was pretending to be. So [02:13:57] S1: It's so good. [02:13:58] S0: Larry goes off after their huddle, and he writes a full page monologue on the spot, which Jason Alexander tells Larry, yeah. I can do that. I'm a Tony award winning actor. [02:14:09] S1: Yeah. [02:14:09] S0: Like, I'm a theater actor. Yeah. This is... Put me in, coach. Like, this is what I do. Give me a moment. [02:14:15] S1: It's already late at night here at this point [02:14:16] S0: in time. [02:14:17] S1: So, yeah, he memorizes it, performs it on the spot. It's incredible. [02:14:21] S0: It's the first time it's ever been read. There was no rehearsal when George goes, the sea was angry that day, my friends. [02:14:27] S1: Oh, so good.

02:14:27 · David Rosenthal, Ben GilbertPlay from here

[02:14:27] S1: Oh, so good. [02:14:28] S0: It gets this giant laugh. And then, of course, when the laugh finally dies down after he produces the golf ball, Kramer looks at him and goes, that a titleist? Yep. Hole in one. So this happens, and then the next day, they come in for a table read. [02:14:48] S1: Yep. Is that insane? Nonstop. [02:14:52] S0: In parallel to this entire process is the preproduction where all the writers are, you know, some paired up in groups of two, but often just alone in their own offices, writing the next week's episode, the week after that, the week after that. And then [02:15:07] S1: And Larry and Jerry are working with them and getting it ready for table read. [02:15:10] S0: But, like, how are they working with them? Because they're also full time That's [02:15:13] S1: the point. Yeah. [02:15:14] S0: In a in a seven day work block to produce the current episode. It's crazy that... No wonder they're just kinda, like, looking over outlines of the next week and the week after and why it requires so much rewriting week of is because it really hasn't gotten, especially Jerry's attention yet. [02:15:31] S1: Yeah. The Seinfeld star is burning brighter and brighter and brighter and consuming everybody within it in the fusion reactor at its core. Yes. Which is a good time to flip back over to the business side of Seinfeld. Because also, right at this time, after the move to Thursday night, after the huge success, after the Internet starts to come online, Seinfeld hits syndication.

02:15:31 · David Rosenthal, Ben GilbertPlay from here

[02:15:31] S1: Yeah. The Seinfeld star is burning brighter and brighter and brighter and consuming everybody within it in the fusion reactor at its core. Yes. Which is a good time to flip back over to the business side of Seinfeld. Because also, right at this time, after the move to Thursday night, after the huge success, after the Internet starts to come online, Seinfeld hits syndication. [02:16:05] S0: So Jerry's quote to the LA Times here is, we'll be in syndication next year, and that will probably help us further the same way it helped Cheers. Most people are still just now discovering our show. Most of the audience watching the show on Thursdays have not seen us before. They're new to us. There's 60 some odd episodes they haven't seen. [02:16:24] S1: Yep. Oh, boy. And were those 60 episodes gonna be worth a lot of money Yep. To the, ownership group that we discussed earlier in the episode. Because Seinfeld is basically the most perfect syndication show ever created. Because of the no hugging, no learning element, no character development, no relationship development, you can tune in anytime to any episode in any order. Doesn't matter. You're gonna get a full entertaining experience. [02:17:00] S0: And because these characters are just kind of vessels that you don't really need to invest in their storyline, they're just like mirrors of the worst part of ourselves. The situations provide the comedy. And so it's a very internationally relatable show too in a way that not all comedy has.

02:17:00 · Ben Gilbert, David RosenthalPlay from here

[02:17:00] S0: And because these characters are just kind of vessels that you don't really need to invest in their storyline, they're just like mirrors of the worst part of ourselves. The situations provide the comedy. And so it's a very internationally relatable show too in a way that not all comedy has. [02:17:19] S1: Yep. Yep. Totally. So why now? And what exactly is this business of of syndication? There's sort of a magic unofficial number for TV shows back in this time of a 100 episodes. That was when you entered into syndication. [02:17:34] S0: And the 100 episode thing kinda stems from you have a large enough number of episodes to demonstrate that people liked the show, and there was familiarity with it or you wouldn't have continued, and that there's a big body you can license Yep. To someone to show it. Because they don't wanna buy your 10 episodes. That's not interesting. They wanna buy a big block of them. And so syndication, for those not familiar, is basically anytime a show gets licensed to another distribution option besides the primary first run TV network. And essentially, those options are international, off network Yep. Which this is the biggest one for the longest time. I did not understand how this worked. When NBC buys a show, they're buying it directly from Castle Rock. But once that enters syndication and the reruns are going constantly, that has nothing to do with NBC. Yes. That is just the local affiliates. And the local affiliates, you know, it starts with a k or a w. It's a four letter station that's broadcast over the air in your city.