This Is Us

The Kevin Spacey sexual assault saga has now altered the past, or at least a filmed depiction of it. There have been all sorts of developments in the wake of actor Anthony Rapp’s allegations that Kevin Spacey made sexual advances towards him in 1986 when Rapp was 14 and Spacey’s subsequent statement, from Netflix announcing the upcoming sixth season of the Spacey-starring House of Cards would be its last (they said that decision was made before this, but it wasn’t announced) to suspension of production on that sixth season to the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences reversing plans to honor Spacey with the 2017 International Emmy Founders Award at this year’s Emmys.

Now, NBC’s This Is Us, a show that covers its characters across multiple timelines, is cutting a line about Spacey that was originally in Tuesday’s episode in a flashback to 2008, as TVLine’s Kimberly Roots reports:

In light of the recent sexual assault allegations against Kevin SpaceyThis Is Us has chosen to edit tonight’s episode to remove a line referring to the embattled actor, TVLine has learned.

The hour, titled “The 20s,” features a flashback to the year 2008. Struggling actor Kevin is having a hard time trying to find work, which makes the news that his roommate has nailed down a gig all the more bitter.

In a version of the episode made available to press ahead of airtime, the roommate specifically mentions that he’s booked a job on a movie starring Spacey. That line, written and shot weeks ago, will be altered when the episode airs at 9/8c.

“In light of recent events, the producers have decided to remove the brief reference to Kevin Spacey,” read a statement from 20th Century Fox Television.

While it may seem weird at first to have something that was supposed to take place in 2008 altered by events in 2017, this is a completely logical decision for NBC. Spacey is not in the show, and it doesn’t appear that there are significant details about the movie, so this could presumably be changed to any other actor and provoke far less reaction as a result. And this would seem not just about avoiding backlash, too; it’s probably at least partly done with the thought of keeping the audience immersed. Even an offhand mention of Spacey is going to play very differently than intended now, and would certainly seem to bring people out of the moment.

This is far from the first time TV has been altered thanks to real-world events that happened after an episode was shot. That’s happened countless times over the years in a variety of ways, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer postponing two episodes (including a season finale, which fans eventually distributed online before the network finally showed it) for several months in 1999 following the Columbine High School massacre to a 2001 Friends episode changed to remove airport terrorism references following 9/11, to the Mr. Robot season 1 finale in August 2015 being delayed for a week over similarities to shootings on live television in Virginia and The Guest Book airing an episode involving the Ku Klux Klan several weeks behind schedule following far-right rallies this year. Specific references like this one are sometimes removed post-production too.

It would seem to generally makes sense to do this. Given the lead time involved in writing and producing TV episodes, they’re usually not referencing the actual event in question, but a reference that reads poorly in hindsight can draw criticism and break audience immersion. If possible to get around it, why not make the change? This undoubtedly makes some extra work for those involved, but This Is Us would seem smart to stay away from a Kevin Spacey reference at this point. Even if it is supposed to happen in the past.

[TVLine]

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.