why jerry seinfeld didn’t do a 10th season (despite being offered $110M+)

Jerry Seinfeld co-created the most successful show in the history of television, and after nine seasons they offered him $110 million to do one more season—and he said no. Years later, Howard Stern asked him why he didn’t accept the offer, and his answer was beautiful:

The love affair between the people that were making the show and the audience was so intense it was so white hot, I had to respect that and I could not go to that point where it starts to age and wither. It doesn’t take long for example you go see a comedian at an hour and 10 minutes you love the guy at an hour and 30 it’s like ‘right I thought he was never going to finish it’ and all of it you walk out with a whole different feeling. It’s a small amount of too much, too much cake, too much anything, but it changes the whole feeling. We had this wonderful intense love affair, the people are making the show and the audience, and I wanted it to end with a fireworks burst of it never was bad.

Jerry Seinfeld

And this applies to so many things in life: there’s a point when our action is in full bloom. When we’re really engaged with and present for it. Be with that action as long as you can, but then when you can’t no longer, be aware of that, and ask yourself: Well, what’s next?

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