For years, Seinfeld fans clamored for the classic sitcom to find its way to Netflix's streaming lineup, and those pleas were dashed when the show went to Hulu. However, Netflix has now snagged the next best thing, Jerry Seinfeld himself, for a huge comedy-filled deal that includes not just new stand-up performances and potential new scripted series, but also the entertainer's second biggest small screen effort, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. It's not relevant to call this the Summer of George, but it still feels appropriate.
This exclusive new deal between Jerry Seinfeld and Netflix is basically everything that fans of the iconic comedian have been waiting for. Let's start breaking it down with the most solidified element, Seinfeld's popular unscripted chat series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, which just debuted its ninth season on its original streaming home of Crackle. Following Season 9, Netflix will go into production on 24 new episodes of the show, in which Seinfeld generally pairs off with another comedian or actor (or the sitting POTUS) for a car ride and some caffeine-fueled laughs, and the episodes will be released in installments throughout late 2017 and 2018. Additionally, all 59 episodes that currently exist will shift over to Netflix's library when the first episodes are released.
Next up are the on-stage goodies. Netflix will produce and film two brand new stand-up comedy specials from Jerry Seinfeld, which doubles his current number of specials. His last wide release of his live comedy was I'm Telling You For the Last Time, which was performed back in 1998, the same year that Seinfeld went off the air. Not that he hasn't performed in front of audiences in the interim, but this could be a return to form for the observationalist, and for a company that has been extremely helpful to stand-up comedy in recent years, getting some of the biggest names in the business.
The third arm of this deal's announcement, which unsurprisingly did not get into dollar sign figures, is that Jerry Seinfeld will now be a part of the Netflix Original machine, helping to develop scripted series for the streaming giant. Doesn't that sound crazy? I literally never thought he would get behind another fictional series beyond appearing on shows like Inside Amy Schumer and Curb Your Enthusiasm. It won't just be scripted shows, either, so we could get something akin to Comedians in Cars or perhaps something like his 2002 documentary Comedian. However it all plays out, we're sure it's going to be good, because that's the Netflix standard.
Not all of the details have been worked out in this mega-deal between Netflix and Jerry Seinfeld, and you can bet that we'll be passing on that information when it becomes available. While we're waiting to see what kind of entertainment that deal provides, head to our Netflix 2017 schedule and our midseason premiere schedule to see what the small screen has to offer in the coming weeks.
