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Things We Saw Today: Bojack Horseman Creator Shares Cut Scene to Send Netflix a Message & Fundraise for Trans Lifeline

By Dec 8th, 2021, 5:34 pm
Mr. Peanutbutter smiles and points his fingers at Princess Carolyn, frowning, in a scene from Bojack Horseman

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After raising more than $2000 for Trans Lifeline, Bojack Horseman creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg released the script for a scene involving David Fincher that was cut from the show.

It all started when Bob-Waksberg tweeted criticism of Netflix’s handling of Dave Chapelle’s recent standup special.

“Still mystified that apparently Dave Chapelle’s deal is that he says whatever he wants and Netflix just has to air it, unedited,” he wrote. “Is that normal, for comedians? Because Netflix once asked me to change a joke because they were worried it might upset David Fincher.”

The reactions were twofold: One, that Bob-Waksberg is absolutely right that it’s absurd for Netflix to claim they have no say whatsoever in the material they produce, and two, we all want to see that David Fincher joke.

“Just looked up the cut Fincher joke because I actually couldn’t remember it. Turns out it was a whole scene!” Bob-Waksberg replied to his own tweet. “Netflix was right to note, it’s a dumb scene. My point was it’s silly for a network to pretend their hands are tied when it comes to the content they put on their network.”

He then said that he would share the scene if 100 people donated to Trans Lifeline, a fitting goal since Chappelle’s jokes at the expense of trans people (and Netflix’s refusal to take any responsibility whatsoever for any of it) were at the center of the entire controversy around the special.

In the end, he raised more than $2000 and shared the scene, which involves Princess Carolyn and director David Fincher discussing a mutual friend’s upcoming baby shower. The whole thing seems to be entirely a set-up for a joke about the 1995 movie Seven.

As Bob-Waksberg himself notes, it’s “a real dumb scene!” that was written early on, when the writers “were still getting out some kinks as far as tone and process.” It also centers around conflict with characters that didn’t even end up in the show at all. There were lots of reasons to cut it, and the note to do so inevitably ended up making the episode and the show stronger. Netflix’s criticism of the scene wasn’t censorship; it was feedback, and it was necessary to making the whole thing better and funnier.

“Good pushback and feedback (if it’s good!) makes art better and if you as a network don’t know how to give it, you might as well be throwing your money down the toilet,” Bob-Waksberg wrote.

What else did we see out there today?

  • Doja Cat teamed up with Girls Who Code to make the first-ever codable music video. (via AfroTech)
  • Thandiwe Newton is reportedly in talks to join the cast of the next Magic Mike movie. (via THR)
  • Kristen Bell is starring in what appears to be a parody of The Woman in the Window and the entire gaslit-single-woman-mystery/thriller genre.
  • Chile has legalized same-sex marriage. (via NBC News)
  • It’s a T-Rex in a sweater! (via NYT)

What did you all see out there today?

(image: Netflix)

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Author
Vivian Kane
Vivian Kane (she/her) is the Senior News Editor at The Mary Sue, where she's been writing about politics and entertainment (and all the ways in which the two overlap) since the dark days of late 2016. Born in San Francisco and radicalized in Los Angeles, she now lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where she gets to put her MFA to use covering the local theatre scene. She is the co-owner of The Pitch, Kansas City’s alt news and culture magazine, alongside her husband, Brock Wilbur, with whom she also shares many cats.
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