Seinfeld TV show. Image courtesy of TBS.

It was nothing, if not bittersweet. Seinfeld ran for nine celebrated seasons on NBC before the May 14, 1998 TV series finale. According to Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Elaine Benes), the lack of onscreen sentiment in the controversial capper to the beloved sitcom, belies the mood on set. In an interview with People‘s Jess Cagle, the actress categorizes the atmosphere as “bittersweet,” “sentimental,” and “wrenching.” Watch it, below.

The two-part Seinfeld TV series finale, entitled, “The Finale,” brought the series to a total of 180 episodes. In addition to the Seinfeld main cast of Jerry Seinfeld, Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander, and Michael Richards, the final two episodes featured recurring cast members including Wayne Knight, Jerry Stiller, Estelle Harris, Liz Sheridan, Barney Martin, Ian Abercrombie, and more, for a total of 60 guest stars.

Image courtesy of TBS.

In the video, Cagle asks Louis-Dreyfus how she felt when Jerry decided to end the show. At the time, she was eager to take a break. She had a baby and a five year old child and she was ready to “hunker down at home.” Here is more:

Jerry was wiped out, which I totally understand. It was definitely bittersweet, though. I mean, that night of our last show was a night I will not soon forget. That won’t get wiped from my hard drive, because it was very emotional. We used to say the motto of our show was ‘no hugging, no learning’, which is true. And we were never trying to teach anything or have a sentimental anything. But, in fact, we were very sentimental. And that night when we all sort of bid goodbye was unbelievably wrenching.

Watch Julia Louis-Dreyfus discuss the end of Seinfeld.

TBS airs Seinfeld reruns, weeknights at 6:00pm ET/5:00pm C. The station also has episodes available online, here. All nine seasons are available on Hulu for Hulu+ subscribers.

What do you think? How did you feel about the Seinfeld TV series finale? If you didn’t like it, how do you wish the show had ended?