By Robert Scucci
| Revealed 26 seconds in the past
Self-censoring within the identify of self-preservation is commonly seen as an indication of weak point, however typically it’s a obligatory evil, particularly on the subject of community tv. What would possibly sound like an ideal thought within the writers room can shortly flip right into a legal responsibility as soon as it’s learn out loud, and the forged and crew of Seinfeld knew they had been flirting with hassle in the event that they ever greenlit “The Guess,” a Season 2 episode that was scrapped earlier than getting into energetic manufacturing due to its controversial method to gun violence.
On this case, utterly nixing the episode throughout a desk learn wasn’t the results of an overbearing requirements and practices board stepping in on the final minute. It was the Seinfeld forged itself deciding that your entire episode crossed a line and felt improper.
Written by Larry Charles, who remained with Seinfeld by way of Season 6, “The Guess” by no means totally materialized and was finally changed by “The Telephone Message,” which Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David famously wrote in simply two days to verify an episode nonetheless made it to air. Mockingly, “The Telephone Message,” regardless of its crucial reward, was a scores failure and ended up placing the present on a two-month hiatus anyway.
Had “The Guess” been totally realized, any backlash might have very nicely killed the present outright. Seinfeld didn’t actually discover its footing till Season 3, and at that early stage, the margin for error was razor skinny.
“The Guess” Damaged Down
Studying the synopsis right this moment, the scrapped episode’s premise doesn’t sound particularly outrageous on paper. The construction follows the acquainted A and B story format most sitcoms depend on, however the A narrative is the place issues went off the rails. Elaine deciding she desires to purchase a gun is what made everybody concerned rethink filming the episode. Larry Charles, who labored on the collection by way of Season 6, wrote the script with the intention of pushing Seinfeld into darker territory.
The B story includes a wager between George and Jerry over whether or not Kramer attached with a flight attendant whereas touring to Puerto Rico, and it’s all pretty commonplace stuff. There’s no controversy there, simply traditional Seinfeld materials that feels completely consistent with the present’s typical rhythm.
Through the desk learn, Julia Louis-Dreyfus recoiled when she acquired to 1 scene particularly. In it, Elaine holds a gun, to be bought with Kramer’s assist, to her personal head and asks Jerry, “The place would you like it, Jerry? The Kennedy? Or The McKinley?” whereas pointing the gun at her head and abdomen, respectively.
Louis-Dreyfus instantly voiced her considerations to Jason Alexander and Tom Cherones, who had been slated to co-direct the episode. After speaking it by way of, all of them agreed the plot line pushed issues far previous the purpose of discomfort. The episode was shelved indefinitely, and with the present needing to go on, Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David started working writing a alternative.
An Acceptable Quantity Of Restraint
Whereas I don’t typically agree with censorship for its personal sake, I aspect with the Seinfeld camp for shelving “The Guess” earlier than it prompted actual injury to the collection. In the present day, it’s simple to neglect simply how fragile the present was early on. We now acknowledge Seinfeld because the cultural juggernaut it turned, however that success was something however assured on the time of the preliminary desk learn.
The collection limped by way of its first two seasons, which might be unparalleled by right this moment’s requirements. NBC noticed potential and allowed it to proceed far longer than most new exhibits would ever be given now. At such a crucial second in its run, shelving an episode that would have alienated audiences was a sensible transfer. It saved the present from taking pictures itself within the foot, pun totally meant.
Seinfeld author Larry Charles has since admitted that he pushed the premise too far, and he’s by no means expressed any bitterness over the choice. It’s onerous to think about he would have continued engaged on the present if there had been lingering resentment. He has gone on report saying the concept probably would have been higher acquired in a later season, as soon as Seinfeld turned a family identify and had the clout to get away with extra controversial episodes like “The Contest.”
The Humorous Has To Outweight The Controversy
Following one in all comedy’s oldest guidelines, Charles cherished the darker parts of “The Guess,” however acknowledged that for those who’re going to lean that onerous into discomfort, the fabric must be disproportionately humorous. By his personal admission, it merely wasn’t. That’s the measuring stick all comedy lives and dies by. Shock worth by itself nearly at all times earns combined reactions except it’s paired with one thing genuinely hilarious.
Mockingly sufficient, Jerry truly will get gunned down in exaggerated trend when he imagines the implications of stealing cable in a later Season 2 episode, “The Child Bathe,” which solely reinforces the purpose. It’s a self-contained sequence of imagined violence that exists completely inside the present’s heightened actuality and performs as absurd moderately than provocative. That sort of cartoon logic is a far cry from Elaine making gentle of assassinated presidents, which might have put the present underneath far harsher scrutiny.
“The Guess” was written with the improper voice on the improper time. Had Seinfeld been a runaway success from the beginning, it might need gone down as a daring traditional. As an alternative, it stood an actual probability of killing the present earlier than it ever had the chance to turn out to be what we now bear in mind it as. Ultimately, everybody concerned arrived on the similar conclusion organically, with no top-down mandate telling them to drag the plug.
Seinfeld is streaming on Netflix.
