Though Tim Allen and Jerry Seinfeld star in different series on competing networks, their career paths keep crossing, in the process helping make them the most extravagantly compensated performers in television history.
The Tim and Jerry show, in fact, has become an enormous money-making enterprise for all involved. The most recent example of this symbiosis came when Allen's representatives secured a major salary increase for the "Home Improvement" star--$750,000 for each of 25 episodes this season, which is expected to escalate to $1.25 million next year--based in part on the seven-figure sum paid Seinfeld for his eponymous sitcom.
Yet Seinfeld may never have been positioned to garner such riches in the first place were it not for Allen, who played an inadvertent role in putting his show on its current perch.
Contemporaries from the comedy-club circuit, the destinies of Allen, 44, and Seinfeld, 43, really became entwined in 1992, when ABC and NBC scheduled "Home Improvement" and "Seinfeld" opposite each other at 9 p.m. on Wednesdays.
An instant hit, "Home Improvement" was beginning its second season, relocating after a high-rated year sandwiched between "Full House" and "Roseanne" on Tuesdays; by contrast, "Seinfeld" had drawn marginal ratings and had bounced from time period to time period since premiering as an NBC special in 1989.
"Seinfeld" came armed with critical acclaim, but the actual battle proved little contest: "Home Improvement" handily won the first head-to-head encounter by attracting 17.3 million homes, versus 11.6 million viewing "Seinfeld."
As luck would have it, the disparity proved the best thing that ever happened to "Seinfeld."
"In retrospect, every break that seemed like a crushing blow to us . . . turned out to be positive," said George Shapiro, Seinfeld's manager and an executive producer on the series.
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Ted Danson announced that "Cheers" would end its 11-year run that May, leaving NBC officials scrambling to find a potential replacement. After six bruising months opposite "Home Improvement," the network shifted "Seinfeld" in March 1993 to 9:30 p.m. Thursdays after "Cheers." Ratings promptly took off, soaring 57% in the first four weeks.
"I don't think we were so much chased [by "Home Improvement"] as the impending departure of 'Cheers' created a vacuum" that NBC had to fill, said Glenn Padnick, president of Castle Rock Television, which produces "Seinfeld."
