‘Seinfeld’ Signs On for Another Season

“Seinfeld,” television’s most popular comedy, will return to NBC next fall, contrary to reports that star Jerry Seinfeld and the rest of the cast would be ready to move on after finishing the seventh season this spring.

“We’re laughing so much and enjoying each other’s company so much,” Seinfeld told a gathering of national television critics in Pasadena Monday, referring to himself and his three principal co-stars. “That core experience of four cast members enjoying the show is rare. We just thought, ‘Let’s stay together; we’re having a good time.’ ”

The comedy, which is often described as a show about nothing, features Seinfeld as a stand-up comedian and his adventures with his offbeat friends played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander and Michael Richards.

Locking in “Seinfeld” for another year is a relief for NBC, which would have been hurt by the loss of the 9 p.m. anchor to its high-flying Thursday night schedule. The comedy trails only “ER” in the ratings for total households and the key young-adult demographics, and commands advertising rates of nearly $1 million per minute.

NBC Entertainment President Warren Littlefield said Seinfeld and his crew “can do as many episodes as they want.”

Still unsigned, however, is Larry David, who created the series with Seinfeld and has been its executive producer from the outset.

With regard to another veteran comedy, Littlefield expressed confidence in the revamped “Saturday Night Live” despite mixed critical reaction and struggling ratings. He said the late-night show “still shows sparks of life,” noting that the series has an entirely new writing staff and a mostly new cast this season.

He also said he was extremely happy with the showing of “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” and “Late Night With Conan O’Brien,” saying that both programs, which had their creative and ratings difficulties a few years ago, are now hitting their stride and are dominant in the late-night arena in households.

In other news, Littlefield announced that two first-year series will move to new time slots in March.

The family comedy “Brotherly Love,” which previously aired Sundays opposite “60 Minutes,” will get a seven-week tryout Mondays at 8:30 p.m., beginning March 4. The show currently in that slot, “In the House,” will return at the end of that run, he said.

And “JAG,” the Saturday night action-adventure series about a U.S. Navy lawyer, will move permanently to Wednesdays at 8 p.m. starting March 13, Littlefield said, replacing the canceled “seaQuest 2032.”

A decision has not yet been reached on what will replace “JAG” on Saturdays. One possibility is an ensemble drama from producer Aaron Spelling called “Malibu Shores,” about two rival high schools with students from opposite sides of the tracks.