When you really think about all of the decisions that have to go right for a show to become a hit, it almost is shocking that any show manages to come out well. For example, anyone who thinks that the show Seinfeld was always going to be an all-time classic has another thing coming since the show enjoyed success against all of the odds.
To this day, there are some facts about the show Seinfeld that fans don’t know. For example, virtually all of the show's fans have no idea that before Seinfeld went into production the casting process was shockingly difficult. Worse yet, even after the powers that be behind Seinfeld found the right actors to star in the series, there would go on to be further casting struggles. For example, as it turns out, the main Seinfeld cast found it exceedingly difficult to work with one of the show’s most memorable guest stars.
Jason Speaks Out
Since Seinfeld is widely considered to be among the best sitcoms of all time, it makes sense that the show’s stars continue to talk about the series years after its controversial finale. For example, when former NBC executive Warren Littlefield released the book “Top of the Rock: Inside the Rise and Fall of Must See TV”, he talked to Jason Alexander about Seinfeld. Amazingly enough, in that book, Alexander revealed that he didn't like working with Heidi Swedberg, the actor who brought Susan Ross to life.
“I love Heidi Swedberg, but I could never figure out how to play off her. Her instincts and my instincts were diametrically opposed. If I thought something had to move, she’d go slow – if I went slow, she’d go fast. If I paused, she’d jump in too early. Loved her. Hated Susan.” After going on to explain that Larry David originally thought Susan was an amazing foil for George, Jason Alexander went on to elaborate on why he struggled while sharing scenes with Heidi Swedberg. “But every week, it was the same thing. I didn’t know how to play off of her.”
In 2015, Jason Alexander was interviewed by Howard Stern and he again spoke about why sharing scenes with Heidi Swedberg was a struggle for him. “I couldn’t figure out how to play off of her. Her instincts for doing a scene, where the comedy was, and mine were always misfiring. And she would do something, and I would go, ‘OK, I see what she’s going to do — I’m going to adjust to her.’ And I’d adjust, and then it would change.”
On top of talking about his own struggles during the aforementioned Howard Stern interview, Jason Alexander revealed that Jerry Seinfeld and Julia Louis-Dreyfus eventually agreed that Heidi Swedberg was hard to work with. According to Alexander, once Seinfeld and Louis-Dreyfus shared several scenes with Heidi Swedberg during an episode, the three stars got together to vent their frustrations. “They go, ‘You know what? It’s f—ing impossible. It’s impossible.'”
Amazingly enough, Jason Alexander says that during the aforementioned conversation, Julia Louis-Dreyfus suggested having Heidi Swedberg’s character pass away so they wouldn’t have to work with her. “And Julia actually said, ‘Don’t you want to just kill her?’” Furthermore, Alexander says that Larry David who was there for the conversation seized on the idea which is why the character Susan Ross was written out of the show via licking too many toxic envelopes.
The Aftermath
During Seinfeld’s nine-season run on television, the show featured a lot of storylines that were pretty shocking as the series’ controversial finale pointed out. Despite that, most Seinfeld fans were shocked when Susan Ross passed away since that kind of thing rarely happens in sitcoms. More than that, as Jason Alexander pointed out during a documentary segment about that episode that appears on a Seinfeld DVD, some fans were angry at his character as a result of Susan’s storyline passing. “The only time I’ve had the fan base turn on me was over the death of Susan.”
During the aforementioned documentary segment, Heidi Swedberg talked about fans being upset that her character passed away before revealing her own take on that storyline moment. “In the rare circumstance that people recognize me, they would tell me they were angry Susan was killed off and I loved it. I think it made a lot of sense.”
Even though it seems Heidi Swedberg took Susan Ross’ storyline passing in stride, it seems that Jason Alexander’s comments during the aforementioned Howard Stern interview were rough on her. After all, following his Stern appearance, Alexander posted a message on Twitter in which he asked fans to “leave Heidi alone”. Furthermore, Alexander went on to apologize in a Twitlonger in which he sang Swedberg’s praises.
“Heidi would always ask if there was anything in the scenes she could do or if I had any thoughts. She was generous and gracious and I am so mad at myself for retelling this story in any way that would diminish her. If I had had more maturity or more security in my own work, I surely would have taken her query and possibly tried to adjust the scenes with her.”