Formerly "Banned" episode is on the air

[tvje]

If you live in New York, Channel 5 WNYW will air a Seinfeld episode entitled "The Inventations". This episode was taken out of syndication last year. It is back.

[Will Dockery]

Originally Posted by tvje

If you live in New York, Channel 5 WNYW will air a Seinfeld episode entitled "The Inventations". This episode was taken out of syndication last year. It is back.

The episode was "banned"?

I'm not familiar with the episode from that title... what's the story, why was it banned?

[Will Dockery]

Originally Posted by tvje

If you live in New York, Channel 5 WNYW will air a Seinfeld episode entitled "The Inventations".

Oh, okay... "The Invitations", the poisoned envelope glue episode, I think you mean.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Invitations

The episode's ending received a very mixed public reaction, and generated many letters to publications such as TV Guide regarding the tastelessness of Susan's demise, and the characters' indifference. Seinfeld mocked the backlash in the first scenes of "The Foundation", the following season's opener, in which Jerry and George visit Susan's grave. The two show emotion only when they start remembering the death of Spock in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

Heidi Swedberg, who played Susan, has stated she enjoyed the fact her character was killed off and had no problem with it, adding in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that fans of the show liked that the main characters were not nice people who "express the things the rest of us think but don't want to admit." For months after the episode's broadcast, fans recognizing her on the street expressed frustration and resentment regarding her character's fate. Similarly, Jason Alexander claims that fans of the George's character turned on him only twice: once because of Susan's death, and again due to George eating an éclair out of a trash can in the episode "The Gymnast".

Larry David later said, with a winky smile, "I saw this show recently, and I can't believe that I killed this girl."

Commenting on the public's anger surrounding Susan's death, Alexander later said, "I think the coldest moment ever played on a television show was the reaction of George and his friends to the death of his fiancée. If it was funny, it was the ruler, and it was unquestionably funny. Wrong and rude and dangerous—but funny."

And so it went.

[mets82]

Now, I see why it was banned. I will say I found the episode funny. It wasnt like George knew the glue was toxic or George pulled out a gun and killed her. I dont understand the criticism.

[Vahan]

Originally Posted by mets82

Now, I see why it was banned. I will say I found the episode funny. It wasnt like George knew the glue was toxic or George pulled out a gun and killed her. I dont understand the criticism.

Banning an episode over something controversial NEVER makes anything better, because they are a part of history. Time and time again, studios do this in response to controversy, and they refuse to take the hint and stick to their guns.

[Will Dockery]

Originally Posted by mets82

Now, I see why it was banned. I will say I found the episode funny. It wasnt like George knew the glue was toxic or George pulled out a gun and killed her. I dont understand the criticism.

I read somewhere that it was after 9-11 and that anthrax in the mail scare that it was taken out of rotation in reruns.