Seinfeld Buzzes About Bee Movie, Sitcoms and More

TV Guide caught up with Jerry Seinfeld in the middle of all the buzz about his latest release, Bee Movie, hitting theaters today.

TV Guide: Are you psyched that your animated film, Bee Movie, is finally coming to a theater near us?
Jerry Seinfeld: This was a big life experience for me — and it's been going on for four years. I didn't plan it that way. I thought I was just going to write it and give it to DreamWorks and they would make it. But then I got involved in how it got made, and it just went on down the wormhole.
TV Guide: I don't think anyone expected that your next project would be an animated movie about bees….
Seinfeld: The fact that it was something different really attracted me. All new toys, all new clay to play with, all new tech­nology. It sort of woke me up. It's like the biggest puppet show in the world.

TV Guide: What do you watch on TV nowadays?
Seinfeld: Eh, not much. I was a big Sopranosfan. I want to see Mad Men. But I'm really down to news and baseball.
TV Guide: It's funny how so many people who work in TV say that they don't watch TV, isn't it?
Seinfeld: Well, they don't make as much TV that's narrative fiction. Besides, I think the best TV comes out of people who don't like TV. That was certainly our inspiration when we made Seinfeld.
TV Guide: Why is it that as people get older, they watch more news?
Seinfeld: [Laughs] It's probably that as you get older, you understand what they're talk­ing about. News is, in a sense, history in miniature. And fiction is always a lame attempt to be as interesting as history. But it's not as fascinating as the real world.
TV Guide: Are you nostalgic about sit­com life?
Seinfeld: I am about my own.
TV Guide: Are there any current sitcoms that you like?
Seinfeld: Knocked Up. It was a movie, of course, but it felt like a fresh new sitcom in terms of tone and the kind of reality characters should have now. It felt very on-target to me.
TV Guide: Do you think the traditional three-camera, live-audience sitcom format is gone now, or just out of vogue?
Seinfeld: I'd say it's gone. And, not to be immodest, I think you've got to do a show better than mine to really capture the audience. 'Cause every show has to leap­frog. You know, Cheershad to leapfrog The Cosby Show, we had to leapfrog Cheers….
TV Guide: Do you ever think of going back to TV?
Seinfeld: No. I don't even think I could do it half as well again. That was a miracle.
TV Guide: With all your success, do you find it difficult to muster the ambition to do new projects?
Seinfeld: Yes. Because my tolerance level is so low.
TV Guide: Tolerance for?
Seinfeld: Anything. You name it, I can't stand it. I'm very lucky that my real profession is stand-up comedy, because it's just you in front of a group of people. There's no BS.

Click here for our Cheers & Jeers blog's take on "busy bee" Jerry Seinfeld's promotional efforts.

Check out more about Bee Movie in our Online Video Guide.

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