And people say I have problems with that fantasy/reality distinction. At least now I can say it's not just me... I've recently been joined in the asylum by the Warner Brothers Televison Network.

In the wake of the Colorado school shooting, the WB postponed an episode of their cult hit Buffy the Vampire Slayer, because the episode (entitled "Earshot") revolved around the series' protagonist, Buffy, overhearing a student plotting to carry out his own murderous intentions in the school yard. Citing sensitivity for those involved, the WB abruptly yanked the episode from its schedule and aired a rerun instead. Several weeks later, viewers were lead to "Graduation Day", the show's two-part season finale... and were left hanging after the first half of the two-parter, because the WB pulled the second part before it aired in the US.

In a statement issued by the WB, CEO Jamie Kellner writes, "At issue for us was a short part of the climatic scene of this powerful two-part season finale. During a solar eclipse that occurs during his commencement speech at Sunnydale High's graduation ceremony, the mayor morphs into a 60-foot serpent and attacks the students. In turn, Buffy and her classmates are forced to defend themselves. Given the current climate, depicting acts of violence at a high school graduation ceremony, even fantasy acts against 60-foot serpents and vampires, we believe is inappropriate to broadcast around the actual dates of these time-honored ceremonies."

If I were still in high school, I think I'd turn into a 60-foot snake at my graduation, too... just to spite them.

But the WB's inability to see the distinction between students killing each other with guns and students defending their school from giant snakes really isn't the ironic part. It just strikes me as amusing what they do find appropriate.

When the WB pulled "Earshot", they ran in its place an episode called "Bad Girls". In that episode, Buffy is brought over to the dark side of the slayage by the second Slayer, Faith, and the two run about town stealing weapons and killing vampires. The episode ends with Faith murdering a mortal human man. I see nothing wrong with the storyline; Buffy has a long tradition of preaching against violence, and "Bad Girls" is no exception. What I do see wrong is that the WB would replace an episode where Buffy thwarts a plot for major school violence (and I'm only guessing here, because, of course, I haven't actually seen it) with an episode where a teenaged girl actually kills someone.

Always ones to attempt to outdo themselves, the WB then replaced "Graduation Day, Part 2" with an episode called "Band Candy", in which the adults of Sunnydale regain their teenaged attitudes because of some magically influenced candy. That episode features the students' normally sane mentor, Giles, committing various acts of burglary and assault, while the rest of the town's adult citizens also behave very irresponsibly. Of course the message is that this is bad... but since when has the WB been concerned with the message?

Once again our society has carried on the proud tradition of placing the blame elsewhere, and unfortunately for television fans, that blame has fallen on the media's shoulders. The heads of the WB reacted as you would expect a roomful of clueless executives to react: they panicked for fear of bad publicity, and at the same time found a way to ingratiate themselves to all of those calling from their pulpits for Hollywood's head on a plate.

While one must wonder whether the entire thing isn't just a publicity stunt on crack, most Buffy fans aren't worried about the WB's motives in their move, or what they have to say to justify themselves. Most of them are more interested in just seeing the episode, which aired in Canada and on satellite before it was pulled by US affiliates. Some fans have encoded the entire episode to RealVideo and made it available for download on the web; others are forming tape trees to spread VHS copies. But through it all, the constant emotion is disappointment. Shared, as it turns out, by series star Sarah Michelle Gellar.

In a statement distributed by the WB, Gellar says, "There is probably no greater societal question we face then how to stop violence among our youth. By canceling intelligent programming like 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer,' corporate entertainment is not addressing the problem."

Thank you, Sarah. I couldn't have said it better.