Across U.S. and Beyond, Fans Bid ‘Seinfeld’ Farewell

“Seinfeld’s” four central characters wound up in prison together, still obsessed with life’s minutiae, as people all over the country assembled Thursday night to watch and celebrate the television show “about nothing.”

The media-fueled going-away party for the top-rated NBC comedy series, which aired its final original episode, spilled out of living rooms into restaurants, bars and public squares.

There were parties, protests and even legal skirmishes--the last especially appropriate, since the episode involved the characters of Jerry, George, Kramer and Elaine being put on trial for their “criminal indifference” when witnessing a carjacking.

Reaction to the program was mixed. The crowd that gathered to watch the finale on several wide-screen TVs at the Entourage Sports Cafe in New York City was excited about the broadcast beforehand--and disappointed afterward.

“I didn’t like it; I was very disappointed,” said Sam Bilker, a Manhattanite and fan of the show who came to the Upper East Side bar with friends to watch because, she said, “I would feel out of the loop if I didn’t see it.”

“ ‘Seinfeld’ officially sucks!” said Sandy Lipkins, a young Wall Street worker who said he watches the show every week. “They tried to throw everything into one episode, and it didn’t work.”

In the packed West End bar on the Upper West Side of New York, however, fans cheered and laughed during the show, applauding at the end.

“It was brilliant. It sums up the entire series,” said Darla Fjeld, 39, a research associate at the Union Theological Seminary in New York City. “It ended with a moral statement, and made up for the amorality of the show in general.”

“It was the best show ever. It combined all the shows into one grand finale,” said Ron Blanco, 52, a deejay and musician, who wondered what he’ll do now with his Thursday nights.

The communal viewing began at happy hour in Orange County, where “Sein”-off parties stretched down the freeway from a chichi Costa Mesa bakery to a beer-stocked Mission Viejo dance spot and various sports bars in between.

Several of those venues featured “Seinfeld” trivia, impersonation and dance contests. At Costa Mesa’s hip Shark Club, contestants attempted to dance like Elaine or dress like Kramer to win Pez, Junior Mints and O’Henry candy--some of the baby boomer snacks featured on the show.

“It’s very New Yorkish,” said Bernie Reinisch, a Bronx-born high school teacher, who joined his girlfriend to watch “Seinfeld” at Geckos in Huntington Beach. “I’m surprised anyone from California likes it that much.”

In Los Angeles, the Department of Water and Power reported that a spot check during the broadcast indicated that water usage was increasing about 10% during commercials--apparently as the huge viewing audience went to the bathroom simultaneously.

Other events were held throughout the country. The episode was beamed onto the side of a seven-story building in St. Louis, and shown on a 35-foot-high screen in New York’s Times Square.

Even at the world’s most famous film festival in Cannes, France, more than 500 people came out at 3 a.m. in the pouring rain to watch television. They huddled around several monitors cranked up to top volume to view a U.S. feed of “Seinfeld” in the American Pavilion, as rain pounded on the huge tent above them.

NBC and the producers rained on another “Sein”-off party at Planet Hollywood in Beverly Hills, hosted by KBIG-FM (104.3), by pulling the plug on a planned satellite feed from the East Coast.

The station sponsored the party for about 60 die-hard fans who had answered trivia questions about the comedy during the last several weeks. At the moment that the highlight show was scheduled to begin, station manager Steve Streit informed the crowd that the station had just been served with a cease-and-desist order from NBC, barring it from airing the early feed.

“They felt that the secrecy of the plot would be compromised if we showed it to you,” said Streit, holding up court papers. He added that station attorneys had battled all day with the network and producers, “but the bottom line is, we lose.”

Not every radio station got in the spirit. KABC-AM (790) host Stephanie Miller counter-programmed the TV event by devoting her 7-9 p.m. show to those who didn’t like “Seinfeld.” Miller said she was sick of the hype surrounding the episode, and callers agreed.

“It’s absolutely ludicrous,” said one man. “I’m so bored--every channel you turn to. My god, you’d think he was god.”

In an appearance on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno,” star and series co-creator Jerry Seinfeld acknowledged that even he had been overwhelmed by the media coverage associated with the show’s finale, which joins such historic programs as “I Love Lucy” and “The Andy Griffith Show” by signing off while still atop the ratings.

“I am amazed by what has been going on the past week. Can you imagine what it’s been like for me? I’m sick of myself,” he said, adding that it is “only now that I’m realizing how many people the show touched, and that they liked it.”

Leno greeted Seinfeld by asking, “What the hell were you thinking?”--the same question the late-night host posed to actor Hugh Grant in his 1996 appearance on the show after being arrested with a prostitute. Seinfeld reiterated that he felt he needed “some kind of break from being funny. I have been funny every day for nine years, and it is exhausting.”

Not everything associated with the finale went according to NBC’s well-orchestrated plans. Hours before the final episode aired, about 75 protesters gathered outside NBC’s Rockefeller Center headquarters in Manhattan, spurred by the burning of a Puerto Rican flag in the May 7 episode.

The group carried signs with a picture of Jerry Seinfeld and the word “Racist.” One man burned an American flag. NBC issued a written apology last week in response to the complaints.

An unintended “Seinfeld” blackout also occurred in Baltimore, where a power outage affecting between 17,000 to 20,000 homes occurred at about 8:40 p.m., just before the final episode began.

At Jerry’s Deli in Studio City, where Seinfeld and his writers were known to congregate, the restaurant was mostly empty.

Hratch Andonian, 46, the owner of a Discount Tire Center store in Commerce, was among a group of friends sitting at the “Seinfeld” table, ignoring the television above them. “What’s the big deal?” he said.

At least one person made famous by the program also insisted he was indifferent to its conclusion. In New York, security guards milled outside Al’s Soup Kitchen International--whose owner, Al Yeganeh, inspired the show’s “Soup Nazi”--preparing for an anticipated flood of customers lining up for soup.

Although Al’s stayed open late Thursday to sell soup during the last episode, with the Home Shopping Network providing TV monitors so customers could watch, the proprietor said he wouldn’t join them.

“The show has offered me a headache. It has destroyed my emotional and personal life,” Yeganeh said. “I am distracted. I can’t do my work. I can’t improve the quality of my soup. . . . My motivation is to make soup. My love, my heart, all my love is soup. Not money. Quality, quality, quality. The rest, I don’t care.”

Contributing to this article were Times staff writers Greg Braxton, Paul Brownfield and Judith Michaelson in Los Angeles, Zan Dubin in Orange County, Amy Wallace in Cannes, Jane Hall and special correspondent Lisa Meyer in New York, and Times wire services.

* HOWARD ROSENBERG: The “Seinfeld” finale had its moments, but it delivered many fewer yucks than yadas. A26