Julia Louis-Dreyfus breaks ‘Seinfeld’ curse

“I’m not somebody who really believes in curses,” Julia Louis-Dreyfus told the audience as she accepted the award for outstanding lead actress in a comedy series. “But curse this, baby!”

Many observers had wondered whether Louis-Dreyfus would finally break the “Seinfeld curse” as Christine, a divorced mom still entangled with her ex-husband, on CBS’ “The New Adventures of Old Christine.” Louis-Dreyfus was nominated seven times for playing Elaine Benes on the now-syndicated “Seinfeld,” winning once as outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series in 1996. Other alumni of “Seinfeld,” Michael Richards and Jason Alexander, failed to launch successful series, and Louis-Dreyfus’ “Watching Ellie” was also quickly canceled by NBC in 2003.

The actress got laughs when, in midspeech, she tried to recall “somebody very important who’s not on the list, and that’s going to come back to haunt me....” The camera showed husband Brad Hall. Then, after an offstage cue, she said, “My husband!”

Louis-Dreyfus is the sole nominee in her category whom viewers will be able to see in a continuing show. HBO’s “The Comeback” with Lisa Kudrow was canceled, as was CBS’ “Out of Practice” with Stockard Channing. Jane Kaczmarek and Debra Messing were nominated for Fox’s “Malcolm in the Middle” and NBC’s “Will & Grace,” both of which ended long runs. Backstage, Louis-Dreyfus said that the fates of her fellow nominees’ shows reflect how difficult the terrain has become for comedy. “The reality is, it’s hard,” she said. “The business landscape of television has utterly changed.”