Now that Jerry Seinfeld has finally, officially confirmed that his hit sitcom will return for another season in the fall, a whole new round of speculation has been set off.
Will the 1996-97 season be the last for "Seinfeld?""I don't know. It might be," Seinfeld told television critics. "It could be. Probably. Maybe. I don't know."
How's that for a definitive answer?
Seinfeld himself insists that he didn't know if this would be the final season for his sitcom.
"At the beginning, we all kind of had thoughts that it feels like we've maybe done this enough," he said. But things changed over the course of the season.
"This year we have suddenly been having a lot more fun than I think we thought we were going to have," Seinfeld said.
That "we" includes the four main members of the cast - Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, Michael Richards and Jason Alexander. They met last month to discuss whether to continue or not.
"There was no debate. We were sitting there and it was amazing that we've all kind of had the same experience," Seinfeld said. "I think really the key to the show is that the four of us somehow blend.
"We all said that we thought that this was probably going to be the last year at the beginning (of this season). But as the season went on, we were laughing so much and having so much fun and enjoying each other's company so much - like we did in the beginning, when we were a bomb.
"But we were always having fun and never really cared that the ratings weren't that good. Because we enjoyed being with each other and telling jokes. And it's amazing that that has sustained us through quite a ride."
Actually, at this point Seinfeld still sounds like he doesn't know when he's going to draw the curtain on his show.
"When I'm onstage, I know when it's time to go . . . That's just a feeling that you have, that you learn over the years as an entertainer," he said. "How do you know when a TV series is over? Because it's kind of an endless story, in some ways, but not in others. It does kind of have an overall arc of years, when you say that his story has been told."
Seinfeld said he subscribes to the theory that entertainers should always leave their audience wanting more.
"Definitely. Absolutely. And I think they want more. So I'm not leaving them."
SEINFELD VS. THE SOUP NAZI: Fans of "Seinfeld" are aware that one of this year's most talked-about episodes involved the Soup Nazi - a tyrant of a soup vendor who had his own special rules that customers must follow.
The character, of course, is based on a real soup-seller in New York City - and that man has expressed great displeasure with the episode. But on a recent trip to the East Coast, Seinfeld decided to go meet the guy and buy some soup.
"I was really nervous. Really," he said. "So I pulled up in the cab. And I thought, `What if this guy is really crazy? What if he takes his hot soup and dumps it on my head.' "
But what happened was definitely anticlimactic.
"It was closed. So that story is still waiting to happen."
SPEILBERG'S TV SHOW: How involved is Steven Speilberg in the upcoming ABC drama "High Incident?"
Very.
Unlike other TV shows his company has produced - shows like "ER" and "seaQuest" - the Oscar-winning director has taken a hands-on approach with this show, which will show up on ABC - probably on Monday nights at 8 p.m. - sometime in March.
"He's acted as camera operator for the first two days," said ABC Entertainment President Ted Harbert. "He is breaking stories, he is rewriting scripts, and he is all over this thing - just because he loves it."
Harbert described "High Incident" as "an action-police drama that follows the exploits of four squad cars in suburban Los Angeles. It deals with their police cases and their personal lives."
But, still, Speilberg acting as a camera operator on a weekly TV show? Even one of his DreamWorks SKG partners had a hard time believing it.
"Jeffrey Katzenberg has said it's a little surprising," Harbert said. "Here's probably the most famous and prolific entertainment figure currently working and he's working as a camera operator on an episodic television show. But that's how much he cares about this show."
NO SURPRISE HERE: According to ABC Entertainment President Ted Harbert, the chances of some sort of Disney franchise airing on the network in the fall are "excellent." Which is hardly surprising, because Disney is close to competing its $19 billion buyout of ABC.
But don't look for an hourlong "Wonderful World of Disney." It's probably going to be a two-hour "Disney Family Movie" on Saturdays at 7 p.m. - where ABC already airs a family movie most weeks.
"The Disney company is putting huge resources behind the kind of projects they want to put on `The Disney Family Movie,' " Harbert said.