When earning $1 million an episode is just not enough

It was the cunning post-modern pose of the television show Seinfeld that its central character, Jerry Seinfeld (a television comedian), did little more than hang out with his great friends, Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), George (Jason Alexander) and Kramer (Michael Richards). The half-hour series began in 1990 and ran most of the decade.

Created by Seinfeld himself and by someone named Larry David, the show took many awards and made a fortune. The last episode of Seinfeld was one of the most-watched TV events of all time, and by then the four leads were being paid $1 million each an episode.

Now, I don't mean to contest the legend that weekly TV shows are hard work. Still, Seinfeld (Prime, weekdays, 6pm) was on air for about 26 minutes a week, and it always had its foursome, plus several other running characters and guests.

So, a lot of the time, $1 million a week was gravy. Of course, it was only gravy - the meat, vegetables, dessert course, cheese, salad and wine, they were all somewhere else.

The rest of the menu arrived after a few years of primetime glory when Seinfeld went into what is called syndication. In syndication, the network that had run it, NBC, was able to license the show for reruns to the thousands of television stations around the world, which simply needed something reliable to fill air time and to earn local advertising money.

Syndication is the eldorado of television money because it comes only after all the initiation costs and production budgets have been met. It is free money, and it is several thousand dollars an episode for each station playing it.

Year after year. I Love Lucy (a show that began in 1951) is still playing in syndication. The syndication money from Seinfeld goes to NBC. It takes its cut. The rest goes to Castle Rock, the production company where Seinfeld and Larry David made their deal.

Castle Rock is partly owned by the actor and comedian Rob Reiner, which is one sign of why he is thinking of a career in Californian politics.

So Castle Rock would take their share and pass the producer's share on to Seinfeld and David. A small amount of that profit would then go on to Dreyfus, Alexander and Richards, the three actors who, week by week, seem bigger characters, and more essential to the comedy, than the blase if not serene Jerry Seinfeld.

Well, there is another way of milking this cow. Seinfeld has never been made available on DVD. Until now. But when Castle Rock and Columbia Tri-Star Home Entertainment broached the idea - all 180 episodes in a package, with a mass of out-takes and interviews - the three best friends said, why? And when they got the answer - the money - they said, whose money is that?

For months there was a hold-off. Dreyfus, Alexander and Richards declined to film any of the extra material - it was their only leverage.

We don't know the figures yet, but this is one of TV's plushest series, so there's no reason to doubt the estimate given by Alexander. Yes, he was on $1 million an episode at the end, same as Seinfeld. But Seinfeld was an owner.

"We make very little, standard Screen Actors Guild residuals for the reruns," said Alexander. "I would say in the years that we've been in syndication, Julia, Michael and I have probably individually seen about a quarter of a million dollars out of residuals. Whereas our brethren have seen hundreds of millions of dollars. Seinfeld has a profit of over a billion dollars."

That's how ownership ends up being so much more worthwhile than the camaraderie of doing the shows together. Since the close of Seinfeld, Jerry Seinfeld - stupefied by his income - has done hardly a thing. But Larry David has come into his own, as creator, writer and lead in the sardonic HBO show, Curb Your Enthusiasm, about another successful comic who might let his pals dangle in the cold wind. After all, America is for owners.

I love Curb Your Enthusiasm and the self-loathing of David. To which I'd add this story. He has a great wife on the show - she is called Larry's wife and she is vital to the humour.

But she may be written out because Larry's actual wife - we are talking reality here - is a little miffed at all the people who think Larry David must be married to the blonde on the show. And who is Larry David to argue? With Californian state law permitting divorced couples half their former spouse's earnings, ditching his on-screen, rather than his off-screen, wife would seem to be the better option.

- INDEPENDENT