Written by Robert Scucci | Published
Self-censorship in the name of self-preservation is often seen as a sign of weakness, but sometimes it’s a necessary evil, especially when it comes to network television. What might sound like a great idea in the writers’ room can quickly turn into a liability when it’s read out loud, and the cast and crew Seinfeld they knew they were flirting with trouble when they greenlit “The Bet,” a Season 2 episode that was scrapped before it even went into production because of its controversial approach to gun violence.
In this case, canceling the episode entirely during the table reading was not the result of an extreme standards and etiquette board stepping in at the last minute. it was Seinfeld pulled itself out deciding that the whole episode crossed a line and felt wrong.
Written by Larry Charles, who stayed with him Seinfeld in Season 6, “The Bet” never happened at all and was replaced by “The Phone Message,” which Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David famously did in just two days to make sure the episode was still heard. Ironically, “The Phone Message,” despite its critical acclaim, failed to gain ratings and ended up putting the show on hiatus for two months anyway.
If the “Bet” had been fully realized, any setback would have killed the game for good. Seinfeld it didn’t really find its footing until Season 3, and at that early stage, the margin for error was pretty slim.
The “Bet” is Broken
Reading the synopsis today, the premise of the scrapped episode doesn’t sound too outrageous on paper. The plot follows the usual A and B story format that many sitcoms rely on, but the A story is where things really got off the ground. Elaine’s decision to buy a gun caused everyone involved to rethink filming the episode. Larry Charles, who worked on the series for Season 6, wrote the script for the push Seinfeld in a dark place.
B’s story involves a bet between George and Jerry about whether Kramer met a flight attendant on his way to Puerto Rico, and it’s all pretty normal stuff. No controversy there, just classics Seinfeld material that feels perfectly in tune with the general rhythm of the show.
During the table read, Julia Louis-Dreyfus was humbled when she came to one place in particular. In it, Elaine holds a gun, which must be purchased with Kramer’s help, to her own head and asks Jerry, “Where do you want it, Jerry? The Kennedy? Or McKinley?” while pointing a gun at him in the head and stomach, respectively.
Louis-Dreyfus immediately expressed his concerns to Jason Alexander and Tom Cherones, who were set to co-direct the episode. After discussing it, they all agreed that the plot had pushed things far beyond this uncomfortable zone. The episode was closed for good, and the show needs to go on, Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David began work on drafting his successor.
Fair Amount of Restraint
Although I generally disagree with research for its own sake, I do agree with Seinfeld shelving camp “The Bet” before it did any real damage to the series. Today, it’s easy to forget how fragile the game was in the beginning. Now we see Seinfeld as it became a cultural juggernaut, but that success was not guaranteed at the time of the first table reading.
The series limped through its first two seasons, which would be unheard of by today’s standards. NBC saw the potential and allowed it to run longer than many new shows are now given. At such a critical moment, closing an episode that could have alienated the audience was a smart move. It saved the show from shooting itself in the foot, pun totally intended.
Seinfeld Author Larry Charles has admitted that he pushed the premise forward, and has never expressed anger about the decision. It is hard to imagine that he would have continued to work on the show if there had been resentment. He went on record saying that the idea might be better received next season, once Seinfeld became a household name and had a penchant for escaping controversial episodes such as “The Contest.”
Funny Should Surpass Argument
Following one of the old rules of comedy, Charles liked the darker aspects of “The Bet,” but admitted that if you’re going to lean heavily on the sad, the premise needs to be disproportionately funny. By his own admission, it was not. That is the measuring stick by which all comics live and die. Shock value alone almost always gets a mixed reaction unless it’s paired with something genuinely funny.
Ironically, Jerry is actually shot in an exaggerated way when he thinks about the consequences of stealing the cable in the latest episode of Season 2, “Baby Shower,” which drives home the point. It’s a self-contained series of imagined violence that exists entirely within a heightened reality game and plays more absurd than provocative. That kind of cartoonish mentality is a far cry from Elaine making light of assassinated presidents, which would have made the show more nuanced.
“Bet” is written in the wrong voice at the wrong time. It was necessary Seinfeld was a runaway success from the start, it may have gone down as a daring classic. Instead, there was a real opportunity to kill the show before it had a chance to become what we remember it as now. In the end, everyone involved came to the same conclusion naturally, without a lower authority telling them to pull the plug.
Seinfeld is streaming on Netflix.
