10 Banned Episodes Of Famous TV Shows
6. Earshot (1999) - Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a major turning point for 1990s television. Packed with wit, action, scares and emotion in roughly equal measure, Joss Whedon's creation raised the bar for genre TV and high school drama in one fell swoop.
In so doing, Buffy also addressed a variety of sensitive young adult issues across its 7 season run. Unfortunately, when it came time to broadcast season 3's Earshot, things were just a little too on the nose.
The episode sees Sarah Michelle Gellar's teen heroine inadvertently endowed with the ability to hear the thoughts of others. This enables Buffy to hear an unknown party plotting to kill her fellow students.
A confrontation ensues with Danny Strong's Jonathan, a hitherto incidental comic relief character, who Buffy finds in a clock tower armed with a rifle. Naturally Buffy assumes he's planning to shoot up the school, but after she talks him down Jonathan reveals he intended only to shoot himself.
Earshot had been set to premiere in April 1999, but only a week earlier the infamous Columbine massacre occurred. Out of respect, the episode was shelved, although it was ultimately broadcast that September and has been kept in the re-run loop in the years since.