Why Did Seinfeld Turn Down Fox?

Ben Gilbert says Jerry Seinfeld and Castle Rock took NBC's four-episode deal after Fox guaranteed 24 episodes. Jerry Seinfeld wanted the NBC imprimatur of a real network. Ben Gilbert says Jerry has phrased the choice as it wasn't the major leagues and he wanted to be in the majors.

Ben Gilbert says Jerry Seinfeld later said in other interviews that he and Castle Rock were looking around for other buyers because they assumed NBC was out. The assumption was fair. Fox made an offer and guaranteed 24 episodes. David Rosenthal says Fox was a startup network, not the Fox of later years and not one of the major broadcast networks in the US.

Ben Gilbert says they went with NBC's four episode deal instead. David Rosenthal says they had the order, NBC said the network trusted them, and NBC said there were problems with the show.