tv Fox pulls shows after Newtown tragedy

[Rappy Veteran]

Fox has pulled the upcoming Sunday original episodes of Family Guy and American Dad following the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.

The network did not give a reason, but the holiday-themed episodes are said to feature "sensitive content".

The original episodes will be replaced by repeats of Family Guy's 'Grumpy Old Man' and American Dad's 'Wheels & The Legman and The Case of Grandpa's Key'.

On Friday (December 14), suspect Adam Lanza allegedly killed his mother Nancy Lanza and went on an shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School, reportedly killing 20 children and six adults.

Lanza then took his own life at the school, bringing the death total to 28.

The tragic school shooting also shocked Hollywood. Stars like Justin Bieber, Rihanna, Anderson Cooper and Oprah Winfrey took to Twitter to offer their condolences.

Paramount Pictures also delayed the US premiere of Tom Cruise's Jack Reacher in light of the Friday morning attack.

Source

[theyarecomingforyou]

Can you imagine if networks pulled any show that featured a gun? That's 90% of US programming out the window.

[Noir Angel]

Sounds like a bit of a knee jerk reaction to me

[theyarecomingforyou]

Sounds like a bit of a knee jerk reaction to me

It's to avoid a viewer backlash, as that would generate a lot of bad will and could cost them advertisers. But you're right, if the content is acceptable the rest of the year then why not now? They could simply put a disclaimer before the show.

[Stealthy_Singh]

Frankly we aren't in a position to judge seeing as non of us know the actual content of the shows. But knowing how far they push the boat in terms of jokes it's not too much of a stretch to say it might have rung a cord with what happened. If it does then it would be a sensible decision to pull them at this time.

With emotions raw as they are now it would be stupid to intentionally cause serious offence. To say if it's acceptable the rest of the year then why not now, well there hasn't been an incident of 20 kids being shot to death in the rest of the year. So the statement is more than a little facetious. No kind of disclaimer would help stop any kind of backlash.

I'm a big fan of the shows and messing around with what's happened today might even lead to the shows being cancelled permanently due to the backlash. Nobody wants to see that.

[xbamaris]

Well, I was about to say, pulling entire shows is one thing, pulling episodes is another, the title should say pulling episode.

But I give credit to Fox for doing this however, but I'm curious what these episodes contained.

[neufuse Veteran]

this isn't the first time fox pulled a family guy episode after something bad happened

[Growled Member]

Sounds like a bit of a knee jerk reaction to me

Me too. Advise the local TV stations what the shows are and let them decide.