It's not often that real events affect scripted ones, but it happened at the end of the last TV season. An episode of CBS' "FBI" about a school shooting was pulled at the last minute because of the real thing that same week at a public school in Uvalde, Texas. 

The network has decided enough time has passed to safely unveil the missing script, and the Dick Wolf show will finally air Tuesday night, more than six months after the deadly and tragic real-life event.

Postponed FBI Season Finale Set to Air in October  

It's not the only time a Wolf-made show has been pulled for a current event - and at least one very popular show that's been on for decades has one episode no one has ever seen. And we may never see it. It's an episode of "Law & Order: SVU" titled "Upstoppable." 

Why was it shelved? It was a typical "ripped from the headlines" story about a candidate for president accused of rape during a campaign for the Oval Office. And NBC feared it would show a bias against Donald Trump, who was running for the top job at the time, and could affect the outcome of the coming election, then just a few days away. (As it turned out, the fictional candidate was cleared when it was learned a member of his staff was guilty.) It was rescheduled after the vote in which Trump won, but was pulled again. 

That was back in 2017. Trump is now out of office, the election that followed is long over and another one looms. But still, that episode has never run. And Gary Cole, the actor who played the Trump-like candidate, told TV Guide five years ago he thinks it never will. 

Considering how expensive it is to make any show, NBC and the production company is eating millions of dollars for this episode to sit on a shelf somewhere, potentially unseen forever. 

It's rare, but it happens. I know of at least one entire series that had completed filming all of its episodes - and you never saw a single frame of it or have probably even heard of it. It was called "Snips" and starred comedian David Brenner as a hair dresser. It was supposed to air in 1976, not that long ago but still a very different time. What sunk Snips? One of the characters was openly gay and the network feared the backlash that might cause. So despite having the show shot and ready to debut, it never saw the light of day. And it hasn't all these years later. 



Perhaps the greatest irony is that in 1981, just five years later, the same network debuted a show called "Love, Sidney". It featured former Odd Couple star Tony Randall as a closeted gay man coping with his family, his job and his hidden love life, which was never openly acknowledged. It lasted two short years and disappeared, never to be seen again. But at least it was shown.