By Robert Scucci
| Revealed
Self-censoring within the title of self-preservation is commonly seen as an indication of weak point, however typically it’s a essential evil, particularly relating to community tv. What would possibly sound like an excellent thought within the writers room can shortly flip right into a legal responsibility as soon as it’s learn out loud, and the solid and crew of Seinfeld knew they had been flirting with hassle in the event that they ever greenlit “The Wager,” a Season 2 episode that was scrapped earlier than getting into lively manufacturing due to its controversial strategy 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 solid itself deciding that the whole episode crossed a line and felt flawed.
Written by Larry Charles, who remained with Seinfeld via Season 6, “The Wager” by no means absolutely materialized and was in the end changed by “The Cellphone Message,” which Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David famously wrote in simply two days to verify an episode nonetheless made it to air. Sarcastically, “The Cellphone Message,” regardless of its crucial reward, was a scores failure and ended up placing the present on a two-month hiatus anyway.
Had “The Wager” been absolutely 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 Wager” Damaged Down
Studying the synopsis immediately, 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 sequence via Season 6, wrote the script with the intention of pushing Seinfeld into darker territory.
The B story entails a wager between George and Jerry over whether or not Kramer connected with a flight attendant whereas touring to Puerto Rico, and it’s all pretty normal stuff. There’s no controversy there, simply traditional Seinfeld materials that feels completely according to the present’s ordinary rhythm.
Through the desk learn, Julia Louis-Dreyfus recoiled when she bought to at least one 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 issues to Jason Alexander and Tom Cherones, who had been slated to co-direct the episode. After speaking it via, 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 set to work writing a alternative.
An Acceptable Quantity Of Restraint
Whereas I don’t usually agree with censorship for its personal sake, I facet with the Seinfeld camp for shelving “The Wager” earlier than it brought on actual harm to the sequence. At the moment, it’s straightforward 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 sequence limped via its first two seasons, which might be exceptional by immediately’s requirements. NBC noticed potential and allowed it to proceed far longer than most new reveals 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 capturing itself within the foot, pun absolutely supposed.
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 obtained in a later season, as soon as Seinfeld turned a family title and had the clout to get away with extra controversial episodes like “The Contest.”
The Humorous Has To Outweight The Controversy
Following one in every of comedy’s oldest guidelines, Charles cherished the darker parts of “The Wager,” however acknowledged that when you’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 virtually at all times earns blended reactions until it’s paired with one thing genuinely hilarious.
Sarcastically sufficient, Jerry really will get gunned down in exaggerated trend when he imagines the results 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 totally inside the present’s heightened actuality and performs as absurd somewhat 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 Wager” was written with the flawed voice on the flawed time. Had Seinfeld been a runaway success from the beginning, it may need gone down as a daring traditional. As a substitute, it stood an actual probability of killing the present earlier than it ever had the chance to grow to be what we now bear in mind it as. Ultimately, everybody concerned arrived on the identical conclusion organically, with no top-down mandate telling them to drag the plug.
Seinfeld is streaming on Netflix.