will Jerry come back?

Does anyone think they left it the way they did so he can come back after their sentence is up?

Diane wrote:

Come back to a regular weekly series, doubtful. Come back to a TV movie or special, I think quite possibly.

I'm satisfied with the American Express commercials.

The 70's rock group the Eagles said they would get back together when hell freezes over. Thus the name of their reunion tour of the 90's. Seinfeld could do one of those reunion shows when the cast eventually blows the whole gazillion dollars they all earned. Yeah right and Clinton will admit all his faults then too.

Yes, either that or he'll show up on Frasier.

Not if you believe Jerry. If they were serious about timing a reunion show to the day, and having it ready to air May 14 of this year, they'd already have to be filming it in Los Angeles. Right now only Jason Alexander and Julia Louis-Dreyfus are even on the west coast. Michael Richards is shooting a cable movie of a Charles Dickens novel in London...and Jerry and his current girlfriend were seen in NYC this week sitting with Regis Philbin at a restaurant. They ain't filming together now, that's for sure.

Why did they make those ambiguous references? There are those who think the stars of the show wanted to leave the door open just a crack to an eventual return of some sort, to tie up a lot of loose ends. There are also those who think it was nothing more than a way of saying, "we're gone, but if you really care about these characters and want to live in their world, they'll be OK...have fun with the reruns."

Jerry makes it clear he is NOT interested in reviving the series for a full year's run or more. He hasn't totally closed the door on a one-shot theatrical or TV movie featuring the cast and characters, but that's it. And he has no plans for a new sitcom with a different concept or for doing any other kind of theatrical film. He has no plans at all beyond enjoying life in NY and preparing a substantially new standup routine to take on the road in the summer and fall of 1999....which might or might not evolve into a one-man show on Broadway. And he says one day, he might be interested in doing some form of talk/comedy/variety TV. We will have to see...

Incidentally, there also will never be a spinoff series involving any of the other characters. Jerry and Larry are adamant about that...they own the rights to the characters they created (although they've sold syndication rights to the shows themselves, for a total of about a billion dollars over two syndication "cycles"). They don't plan to allow any of them to be spun off to another series or film...and the other actors, except for Michael Richards, didn't want to carry on their characters outside the original series anyway. (Even Richards was a little ambivalent about it, though he was willing to listen to an offer and NBC was interested in making him one.)

So don't hold your breath. There are over 180 episodes of quality TV involving these folks already on the air, and that's enough. If Jerry figures he can't top it and can't reprise it without ripping off the audience (an audience he respects and doesn't want to short-change), let's leave it at that.

Bob Smith, afternoons WXXI-AM 1370, Rochester NY