"J. Peterman" Returns!

With two shows already on the air and more on the way, John O'Hurley would be the last person to acknowledge a curse on the alumni of Seinfeld. However, the actor — who forever will be remembered for his sitcom parody of kooky real-life catalog mogul J. Peterman — does believe that, where his former cohorts are concerned, some funny business is going on.

"Studios tend to grab players that have a lot of visibility and write a series about them," the host of To Tell the Truth and Get Golf with the PGA Tour! tells TV Guide Online. "That's never been a formula for success, yet [execs] consider themselves experts and continue to do this. I find it absolutely mind-numbing."

Nonetheless, O'Hurley holds out hope that ex-Peterman prot&#233g&#233 Julia Louis-Dreyfus will beat the odds with her comeback vehicle, Watching Ellie. "Out of all the [Seinfeld regulars], she'd be my pick as the one that you could build a series around," he theorizes, "because she's pretty malleable. Look at Caroline in the City and Suddenly Susan — television seems to love women like her who can be all things."

Although Dreyfus has yet to invite her old pal to guest star on her new program — "Nobody ever comes beating at my door," O'Hurley laughs — the onetime ad man continues to reap the rewards of his association with Seinfeld and, in particular, with Peterman. "I am now part owner of the company," he reveals. "[My counterpart and I] resurrected it, and it's doing extremely well."

So, of course, he can't help but scoff at the idea of a Seinfeld jinx — in part, it's Jerry's high jinks that are keeping his catalog biz in the black. "In the four years that I was there, NBC [estimated that Peterman received] $850 million of free publicity. And now we are benefited by the fact that Seinfeld is seen in 85 countries. So," he concludes, "television is very much a friend."