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Jerry Seinfeld paid tribute to Rob Reiner after the acclaimed director's shocking death in an Instagram post shared on Monday, Dec. 15
Seinfeld revealed that Reiner "saved" Seinfeld from cancellation in the late 1980s, and also paid tribute to Reiner's wife Michele Singer Reiner
Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner were found dead in their home in Brentwood, Calif. in an apparent homicide on Dec. 14
Jerry Seinfeldis paying tribute toRob Reiner after his deathby recalling how the prolific filmmaker saved the comedian's sitcom from the brink of cancellation.
Seinfeld, 71, shared a photo of himself alongside Rob and Rob's father, the lateCarl Reiner, onInstagramon Monday, Dec. 15. He began the accompanying caption by noting that Reiner had the "biggest influence on my career," aside fromLarry David, who co-createdSeinfeld, and the lateGeorge Shapiro, who was Seinfeld's manager and a producer onSeinfeld.
"Our show would have never happened without him," Seinfeld wrote. "He saw something no one else could. When nobody at the network liked the early episodes, he saved us from cancellation."
Seinfeld, which starred Seinfeld himself alongsideJulia Louis-Dreyfus,Jason Alexander,Jerry Stiller, Wayne Knight and more, ran from 1989 to 1998. Rob's Castle Rock Entertainment produced the series.
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"That I was working with Carl Reiner's son, who happened to be one of the kindest people in show business, seemed unreal," Seinfeld wrote. "I was naive at the time to how much his passion for us meant. Rob and Michele married right as our show was starting and they became an imprint for me of how it's supposed to work, each one broadening the other. Their death, together, is impossibly sad."
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During a 2016 stop onThe Howard Stern Show, Rob recalled how Castle Rock knew they had a "great show," despiteSeinfeld's slow start in the ratings. NBC was about to cancel the show at one point, but Rob went to bat forSeinfeld.
"They said, 'We can't have this show. What is this show? It's just people sitting around talking,' " Reiner recalled. He said he had a "screaming, crazy thing" with NBC executive Brandon Tartikoff, "begging" him to keepSeinfeldon.
"I said, 'Please, I promise you there'll be stories. You can't take this show off the air. It's going to be one of the great shows you've ever had,' " Rob recalled.
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Rob, 78, and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, 68. were found deadby apparent homicide inside their Brentwood, Calif., home on Dec. 14. According to multiple sources who spoke with the family members,the couple were killed by their son Nick Reiner, andtheir bodies were discovered by their daughter, Romy.
Nick, 32, has been arrested on murder charges in connection with his parents' death. He isbeing held on no bail.
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