How did you react to "Earshot" being delayed?

[Joshua]

In April 1999, when Columbine high school shooting had happened The WB and Buffy executives had delayed the episode "Earshot" until the fall of 1999 (the month, "The Freshman" was originally going to air), but because of it they had delayed the episode and aired the season out of order (I believe, not sure)

I also think Graduation Day Part 2 was also delayed until May (right?)

anyways how did you react to it?

 

[Blaze]

I never watched Buffy while it aired, so I can't exactly tell you what my reaction would have been, but I agree with delaying the episode. The subject matter of the episode was quite sensitive and I can see how it would be hard to watch for the family and friends of the Columbine victims as well as the community. And for those people that weren't directly affected by the shooting (although I feel like everyone is somewhat emotional effected by such events), well waiting an extra few weeks for an episode is not going to change their lives. All in all I understand and agree with the decision, life goes on sure, but being sensitive to the pain of others is important. At the same time, I'm glad that BtVS touched the issue.

 

[Ethan Reigns]

Check out this part of the dialog:

XANDER
I'm still having trouble with the idea
that one of us is just gonna gun
everybody down for no reason.

CORDELIA
(sarcastically)
Yeah, 'cause that never happens in
American high schools.

OZ
It's bordering on trendy at this point.

They would have gotten a smackdown from the network, the public and a lot of other people if they had said that right after Columbine. It would have looked like opportunism if it had followed Columbine immediately. They made the only decision they could have at that point.

 

[ILLYRIAN]

Odd that.
It wasn't a case of lets put a new script for those scenes, no it was just a give a few weeks for the media people to forget.

 

[Blaze]

Odd that.
It wasn't a case of lets put a new script for those scenes, no it was just a give a few weeks for the media people to forget.

Absolutely agree, time does heal but in the media, time heals especially fast. It really is a matter of days or weeks before things are "forgotten" in the media aspect. This is very sad, but at the same time almost necessary or else our world wouldn't function. There is so much atrocities out there that media and people somewhat have to turn a blind eye after things are covered and move on.

On a side note, as much as that quote is pretty crude, I don't think it should have been removed, mainly because sadly it's true.

 

[SMG14Fan]

I watched the show when it originally aired, but I don't remember Earshot being delayed. I know it was because I've read it was delayed due to Columbine, but at the time I likely didn't know it since I didn't have internet back then.

 

[Yosso]

Never watched Buffy while it aired in the US as I live in the UK (plus I watched most of them first time properly with VHS) but I'm glad they waited. "Earshot" was a filler ep, so showing it after S3 wouldn't make much difference and I'm glad they kept the quote mentioned above.

 

[BuffyElevated]

I totally understood why the episode was delayed. At the time, it felt a little insensitive to air the episode so soon after the Columbine shootings. It sucked to have to wait to see it but I understood and accepted it.

 

[ILLYRIAN]

As far as I remember there was a call by the cast and the station to postpone that episodes showing. Though the reasonings at the time were for taking the high powered gun to school, not for the script.
As I've said in other threads before, the question I had concerned his choice of rifle, alright he took just the one bullet to kill himself with. But given the length of the rifle how was he going to pull/push the trigger.
Also there was no mention of why a person would try to kill himself / herself.
Was there any mention of school suicides in the US media when that episode aired?

 

[Kean]

I think it was absolutely the right decision. It would have been in incredibly poor taste to air that episode while children were still being treated for their wounds in the hospital.

I'm a little perplexed about how the decision came about though. I just checked the air dates and the ep before Earshot aired on 16 March. Columbine happened on the 20 April. Would it have been normal for there to have been such a big space of time between eps? American TV airs very differently to how TV airs here. I know big gaps appear in shows' schedules now but was that the norm 14 years ago?

 

[Mischlings]

Didn't watch it as it aired, but given that it wasn't essential to the storyline (and I don't like the episode all that much), I'm not really against it. I mean, on principle I think that delaying anything because of current events is a bad idea, I understand some of them when it's especially similar or relevant. I mean, this is going on right now - Hannibal has an episode that is apparently just not airing, while they're delaying an episode of Castle. The Castle one makes sense, since the episode was about a bombing, so while I don't agree with it, I understand and won't oppose it much. The Hannibal one is a whole other thing that I don't really understand, but I think the contrast illustrates what I'm talking about.