Seinfeld "The Gun/The Bet" (found screenplay of unproduced episode of NBC sitcom; 1990s): Difference between revisions

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{{InfoboxLost
{{InfoboxFound
|title=<center>Seinfeld: “The Bet” (unproduced episode)</center>
|title=<center>"The Bet" (cancelled episode)</center>
|image=1200px-Seinfeld logo.svg.png
|image=Seinfeld-The-Gun-Script-Cover.png
|imagecaption=Seinfeld logo.
|imagecaption=The script's cover.
|status=<span style="color:red;">'''Lost'''</span>
|status=<span style="color:green;">'''Found'''
|datefound=2 Apr 2024
|foundby=Epson WorkForce ES-500W
}}
}}
'''Seinfeld''', known as “the show about nothing”, is an American sitcom that ran for 9 seasons from July 5, 1989 to May 14, 1998. Created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, It is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential sitcoms of all time. Despite this, the show has been met with some with controversy over the years. One of the most infamous examples was from the season 9 episode “The Puerto Rican Day” where Kramer accidentally burns and stomps the Puerto Rican flag. NBC apologized and never aired the episode during summer reruns. However, it did air on syndication but cut the flag burning scene until 2002.  
'''Seinfeld''', known as '''"the show about nothing"''', was an American sitcom that ran for 9 seasons from July 5th, 1989 to May 14th, 1998. Created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, it is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential sitcoms of all time.


But a lot of you might not know that there was an episode from season 2 that was written but never produced. It is called “The Bet”, which is also known as “The Gun” (This is not to be confused with the season 4 episode “The Contest”) It would have aired on February 13, 1991 but was replaced by “The Phone Message”.
'''"The Bet"''', which is also known as "The Gun" was an unproduced season 2 episode written by Larry Charles (This is not to be confused with the season 4 episode "The Contest") It would have aired on February 13th, 1991, but was replaced by "The Phone Message". The episode would have revealed Kramer’s first name as Conrad, but would later be revealed as Cosmo in the season 6 episode "The Switch".


==Plot==
==Plot==
What is known about the plot is that Elaine bets against Jerry on the ease of buying a handgun to protect herself. The episode also has a subplot in which Kramer return from a vacation in Puerto Rico and tells Jerry and George that he had sex with the flight attendant during the flight back. George makes a bet with Kramer and goes to the airport with Jerry and Elaine to ask the flight attendant if this is true. The episode would have revealed Kramer’s first name as Conrad, but would late be revealed as Cosmo in the season 6 episode “The Switch”.
What is known about the plot is that there were two bets placed in the episode. The main plot featured Jerry and Elaine betting each other over whether Elaine would buy a gun to protect herself. The subplot included Kramer returning from a vacation from Puerto Rico and claiming he had sex with the flight attendant. While Jerry believes him, George doesn't, leading Jerry and George to bet against each other and go to the airport to see if Kramer was telling the truth. It was later revealed by the writer Larry Charles that Kramer did, in fact, have sex with the flight attendant.


[[File:Larry Charles.jpeg|thumb|Larry Charles, the writer of the episode, said he wanted a “funny dark-themed episode”.|190px]]
==Guest Stars==
==Production==
*Bobbi Jo Lathan as Flight Attendant
The episode was written by Larry Charles who wanted to make a more darker themed episode. (Larry was responsible for many of the darker and controversial moments for the show such as the Nazi’s in the season 3 episode “The Limo”,  the psychotic stalker in the season 4 episode “The Opera”,  and the hospital patient committing suicide in the season 5 episode “The Bris”) Sets were build for the episode and even had cast members. Bobbi Jo Lathan was cast the flight attendant and Ernie Sabella was cast as the gun salesman Mo Korn. Ernie would later appear as the naked man in the season 3 episode “The Subway”. It is known that Elaine made a joke about the JFK assassination. Dreyfus stated “I read the script and remember thinking ‘we’re not going to do this’”. 
*Ernie Sabella as Mo Korn the Gun Salesman


The cast rehearsed for 20 minutes, but they felt very uncomfortable doing the episode. So the director of the episode, Tom Cherones, went up to talk to Larry Charles. While on his way, Cherones spoke to NBC executive Glenn Padnick to inform that the cast was not comfortable with the episode. Padnick was relieved and said that he had discussed the problems with Charles about the script. They then cancelled the episode.
Both guest stars later appeared in different episodes in season 3. Bobbi appeared as Patti in "The Stranded" (although it was produced in season 2) and Ernie appeared as the naked man in "The Subway".
 
[[File:Larry Charles.jpeg|thumb|Larry Charles, writer of "The Bet", who wanted a "funny dark-themed episode".|190px]]
 
==Controversy==
The whole cast at the table reading allegedly felt uncomfortable with the plot. Julia Louis-Dreyfus' character Elaine made a joke about shooting herself in the head and also referenced the JFK assassination. Jerry Seinfeld stated that trying to make the episode funny was no fun.<ref>[https://reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1ujvrg/jerry_seinfeld_here_i_will_give_you_an_answer/ceitbuk/ Jerry Seinfeld discussing the episode on Reddit.] Retrieved on 31 Oct '17</ref> The director of the episode, Tom Cherones, was also offended, saying there was no way to make guns funny. Cherones then went up to Charles office to confront him. While on his way he met an NBC executive, who had also talked to Charles about the script. The executive felt the same way so the episode was then cancelled.


==Availability==
==Availability==
It is unknown how much of the episode was filmed (if there was filmed it all) and if a script of the episode still remains. It would be interesting to see what was so controversial about the episode that it didn’t even get made, as just about 2 years later, an episode from season 4 called “The Contest” plot was George’s mother catching him masturbating to a Glamour magazine and the group bets to see who can go the longest without masturbating. (The word “masturbate” is never actually said in the episode) However, “The Bet” would have been only the 9th episode of the entire series, and the show wasn't a huge hit yet, so it might have been too early to use these controversial episodes.
After it's cancellation, the script would be lost for several years, many copies of it were sold, but weren't posted online after they were bought, that was until the 2nd of April, 2024, when Reddit user ''hbo_got'' was able to buy one of these copies<ref> [https://www.reddit.com/r/lostmedia/comments/1bu282q/found_script_of_the_unproduced_seinfeld_episode/ Reddit post by ''hbo_got'' explaining how he obtained the script.] Retrieved 03 Apr '24</ref>and posted it to the Internet Archive<ref>[https://archive.org/details/seinfeld-the-gun-script/mode/2up The script.] Retrieved 03 Apr '24</ref>. 2 years after the table reading, an episode from season 4 called "The Contest" involved George’s mother catching him masturbating to a Glamour magazine. After the group mocks George for saying he would quit, they all bet to see who can go the longest without masturbating. (The word masturbate is never actually said in the episode) However, "The Bet" would have been only the 9th episode of the entire series, and the show wasn't a huge hit yet, so it might have been too early to make darker episodes since they were still trying to attract new viewers to the show. Charles believes that had the episode been in a later season, it would have aired.<ref>[http://screencrush.com/seinfeld-the-bet/ A Screencrush article on "The Bet".] Retrieved on 20 Oct '17</ref>
 
==Gallery==
{{Video|perrow  =1
  |service1    =youtube
  |id1          =4uM5zZltBZc
  |description1 =ObscureMediaTV's video on the subject.
}}
==External Links==
*[http://seinfeld.wikia.com/wiki/The_Bet The ''Seinfeld'' Wikia page on "The Bet".]
 
==References==
{{reflist}}


[[Category:Lost TV]]
[[Category:Found literature]]
[[Category:Found media]]

Latest revision as of 22:46, 3 April 2024

Seinfeld-The-Gun-Script-Cover.png

The script's cover.

Status: Found

Date found: 2 Apr 2024

Found by: Epson WorkForce ES-500W

Seinfeld, known as "the show about nothing", was an American sitcom that ran for 9 seasons from July 5th, 1989 to May 14th, 1998. Created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, it is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential sitcoms of all time.

"The Bet", which is also known as "The Gun" was an unproduced season 2 episode written by Larry Charles (This is not to be confused with the season 4 episode "The Contest") It would have aired on February 13th, 1991, but was replaced by "The Phone Message". The episode would have revealed Kramer’s first name as Conrad, but would later be revealed as Cosmo in the season 6 episode "The Switch".

Plot

What is known about the plot is that there were two bets placed in the episode. The main plot featured Jerry and Elaine betting each other over whether Elaine would buy a gun to protect herself. The subplot included Kramer returning from a vacation from Puerto Rico and claiming he had sex with the flight attendant. While Jerry believes him, George doesn't, leading Jerry and George to bet against each other and go to the airport to see if Kramer was telling the truth. It was later revealed by the writer Larry Charles that Kramer did, in fact, have sex with the flight attendant.

Guest Stars

  • Bobbi Jo Lathan as Flight Attendant
  • Ernie Sabella as Mo Korn the Gun Salesman

Both guest stars later appeared in different episodes in season 3. Bobbi appeared as Patti in "The Stranded" (although it was produced in season 2) and Ernie appeared as the naked man in "The Subway".

Larry Charles, writer of "The Bet", who wanted a "funny dark-themed episode".

Controversy

The whole cast at the table reading allegedly felt uncomfortable with the plot. Julia Louis-Dreyfus' character Elaine made a joke about shooting herself in the head and also referenced the JFK assassination. Jerry Seinfeld stated that trying to make the episode funny was no fun.[1] The director of the episode, Tom Cherones, was also offended, saying there was no way to make guns funny. Cherones then went up to Charles office to confront him. While on his way he met an NBC executive, who had also talked to Charles about the script. The executive felt the same way so the episode was then cancelled.

Availability

After it's cancellation, the script would be lost for several years, many copies of it were sold, but weren't posted online after they were bought, that was until the 2nd of April, 2024, when Reddit user hbo_got was able to buy one of these copies[2]and posted it to the Internet Archive[3]. 2 years after the table reading, an episode from season 4 called "The Contest" involved George’s mother catching him masturbating to a Glamour magazine. After the group mocks George for saying he would quit, they all bet to see who can go the longest without masturbating. (The word masturbate is never actually said in the episode) However, "The Bet" would have been only the 9th episode of the entire series, and the show wasn't a huge hit yet, so it might have been too early to make darker episodes since they were still trying to attract new viewers to the show. Charles believes that had the episode been in a later season, it would have aired.[4]

Gallery

ObscureMediaTV's video on the subject.

External Links

References

  1. ↑ Jerry Seinfeld discussing the episode on Reddit. Retrieved on 31 Oct '17
  2. ↑ Reddit post by hbo_got explaining how he obtained the script. Retrieved 03 Apr '24
  3. ↑ The script. Retrieved 03 Apr '24
  4. ↑ A Screencrush article on "The Bet". Retrieved on 20 Oct '17
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