By TeeJay Small
| Published 30 seconds ago

If you grew up in the 1990s or early 2000s, you almost certainly spent your fair share of evenings tuned into the comedy stylings of Seinfeld. The series, which boasted some of the highest ratings of all time, drew in a staggering number of fans.

The much-anticipated finale was reportedly watched by over 76 million people live, with millions more catching it via reruns and streaming deals. Series co-creator Larry David even returned to pen the final two-part episode, after leaving the show several years earlier. Unfortunately, the Seinfeld finale failed to impress audiences, with many critics calling it the worst sitcom finale of its day.

Larry David Vows Never To Write Another Series Finale

For years, Larry David maintained that he would never write another TV finale again. In fact, he nearly ended his next hit show Curb Your Enthusiasm without telling anybody at all. After airing eight seasons without any major interruptions, news of a Curb season nine simply didn’t materialize for years, leaving many fans and critics to wonder if the show had stealthily been cancelled behind the scenes. Over three years later, David sat down with The Guardian. When asked if he would bring Curb Your Enthusiasm back for more episodes, he proclaimed “I guess, right now, the odds would be against it, probably six to one.”

Larry David continued to explain that the fan reaction to the Seinfeld finale rubbed him the wrong way, and left him unsure about giving Curb a definitive conclusion. He argued “I wouldn’t say I’m mad about it, but it taught me a lesson that if I ever did another show, I wasn’t going to wrap it up.” After suffering through six years of silence about the future of Curb, fans were shocked when season nine finally arrived, in 2017. From there, the show resumed its usual schedule, as though the six year break never happened. Then, in 2023, Larry shocked the world by formally announcing that season 12 would be the show’s last.

The Infamous Seinfeld Finale

Just in case you’re not familiar with the Seinfeld conclusion, let’s run through a few brief bullet points. The finale centers on the main characters as they are drawn into a Kafkaesque criminal trial during an out-of-state trip. Numerous one-off side characters from the series appear and take the witness stand, creating a sort of clip show of the gang’s worst moments. After fruitlessly defending themselves as pillars of moral justice, they are thrown into jail, where they continue to pour over the minutia of everyday life as the camera pans away one last time.

If any of that sounds strikingly familiar to you, it may be because that is exactly how Larry David chose to end Curb Your Enthusiasm 26 years later. Right at the beginning of Curb season 12, Larry travels out of state, and violates a Dickensian law, resulting in him facing a criminal trial. As the season progressed weekly, fans took to social media to muse about how funny it would be if the finale acted as an exact retread of the much hated Seinfeld conclusion. Week after week it became clear that that was exactly what was going on, leaving fans unsure about the artistic choice.

Larry David Repeats The Seinfeld Finale

Season 12, episode 10 “No Lessons Learned” aired on April 7, 2024, and practically served as an exact remake of Seinfeld’s “The Finale.” Obviously, there were a few key differences, like Larry getting off after a juror broke his sequester, but nearly all of the broad strokes served as a giant middle finger to critics. During a visit to PaleyFest shortly after the Curb finale aired, Larry was asked about his decision to end the show, alongside Jerry Seinfeld and executive producer Jeff Schaffer.

Per People, Schaffer stated “it was a joke 26 years in the making. It’s neat that you can stick around long enough to do that.” Larry David didn’t mince words, however, and humorously offered one simple message to his detractors. “F— you!” He shouted. “You didn’t like the first one? F— you!” So if there is a lesson to be learned from the narrative of “No Lessons Learned,” it’s that sometimes, the funniest thing you can do is double down.