'Family Guy,' 'American Dad' pulled after deadly rampage
NEW YORK (AP) - Hollywood has responded to the rampage at a Connecticut elementary school by pulling back on its offerings, and one star says the entertainment industry should take some responsibility for such violence.
Fox pulled new episodes of "Family Guy" and "American Dad" that were to air Sunday to avoid potentially sensitive content. The originally scheduled episode of "Family Guy" had Peter telling his own version of the nativity story. The "American Dad" episode told the story of a demon who punished naughty children at Christmas. Both series plan to substitute reruns.
In addition, Fox confirmed that a schedule repeat of "The Cleveland Show" for Sunday was swapped for another rerun of that series out of the same concern, and premieres for Tom Cruise's "Jack Reacher" and the family comedy "Parental Guidance" were postponed after Friday's shooting rampage in Newtown, Conn., that ended with 28 people dead, including 20 children as well as the gunman.
Hollywood should take some responsibility for such violence, Jamie Foxx, one of the industry's biggest stars, said Saturday as he promoted Quentin Tarantino's upcoming, ultra-violent, spaghetti Western-style film about slavery, "Django Unchained."
In an interview, Jamie Foxx said actors cannot "turn their back" on that fact that movie violence can influence people.
The film's press junket was continuing in New York as scheduled. Tarantino said he was tired of defending his films each time the nation is shocked by gun violence, saying "tragedies happen" and blame should fall on those guilty of the crimes.
Fox pulled new episodes of "Family Guy" and "American Dad" that were to air Sunday to avoid potentially sensitive content. The originally scheduled episode of "Family Guy" had Peter telling his own version of the nativity story. The "American Dad" episode told the story of a demon who punished naughty children at Christmas. Both series plan to substitute reruns.
In addition, Fox confirmed that a schedule repeat of "The Cleveland Show" for Sunday was swapped for another rerun of that series out of the same concern, and premieres for Tom Cruise's "Jack Reacher" and the family comedy "Parental Guidance" were postponed after Friday's shooting rampage in Newtown, Conn., that ended with 28 people dead, including 20 children as well as the gunman.
Hollywood should take some responsibility for such violence, Jamie Foxx, one of the industry's biggest stars, said Saturday as he promoted Quentin Tarantino's upcoming, ultra-violent, spaghetti Western-style film about slavery, "Django Unchained."
In an interview, Jamie Foxx said actors cannot "turn their back" on that fact that movie violence can influence people.
The film's press junket was continuing in New York as scheduled. Tarantino said he was tired of defending his films each time the nation is shocked by gun violence, saying "tragedies happen" and blame should fall on those guilty of the crimes.
Oh for crying out loud... if you don't like a show DO NOT WATCH IT.... Seriously you cannot sensor the public away as those of us who want to watch something will get it... seriously we don't need a nanny!
Let's just censor everything and smoke dope for our utopian environment.
You know who is responsible? Each individual for his or her own actions! Quit making it about something else.
In an interview, Jamie Foxx said actors cannot "turn their back" on that fact that movie violence can influence people.
So is Jamie Fox saying "Don't watch my movie, it's immoral"? Or is he saying "Watch my movie, I am evil and I want you to be evil".
Then there's the kid on Two and a Half Men...Maybe it really IS the end of the world.
These guys making $$$ telling me not to watch their stuff, doesn't seem normal.
I always knew Peter Griffin was trouble...whenever I feel like he has too much influence over my brain, I change the channel. I recommend you do the same.
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This is beyond ridiculous, TV is a privilege that you CHOOSE to own. don't like something? DON'T WATCH IT!
This is just dumb...
More importantly, Friday's episode of Haven was pulled.
I just watched a TV show, now I'm going to go out and kill 1000s of people..... Yea right. Give me a break. How stupid do the producers think we are?
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 @JeepRex I think you are mixing things up.  Those TV show episodes were pulled not because of a fear that violence will cause violence, but because it's insensitive to show a cartoon with kids being killed right after a tragedy such as this.
This is absurd.Â
What about the episode of American Dad from last night (Saturday) where the son murdered Santa? This is NOTHING more that a very thinly veiled attempt at some free advertising. They need to cancel the ENTIRE series for both Family Guy and American Dad as well as the rest of the dysfunctional people shows the turn these lost cause people into stars! Enough is enough. I have cut the cable and refuse to support anyone who sponsors any of these shows. I would far rather burn my money in a Asian Garbage dump!
They'll take some responsibility, but no one is willing to do anything about it long term. Â Too much money involved for themselves to really do something about the epidemic. Â It says a lot about a nation who craves and demands these violent movies anyway, it's pretty sad we have come down to this. Â Our own citizens are killing 20, 6 and 7 year old children and no one is willing to do anything about it ,or accept any part in the madness. Â Keep making those violent video games and movies, you'll see where we end up.
 @keri555 there is no link between violence on TV/video games and violence in real life. In reality, those who play video games the most are the least likely to go out and kill a bunch of people....they are inherently LAZY.
This is ridiculous. First of all it is a cartoon that displays a TV-Mature warning. Second, not airing these episodes unfortunately will make no difference in influencing future sickos to commit heinous crimes. Right now on A&E with no TV-Mature warning and during family hours is 'A Time to Kill'. I mean, come on.
Discovery Channel's AMISH MAFIA is a show to keep your eye on due to the rural violence portrayed. Them Amish folks make the previously feared street gangs bloods and the craps look like woosies
Maybe it is not the violence, but the 24 hour news coverage that makes killers into household names.Â
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 @deadcandance www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CDgQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2F2_Live_Crew&ei=oXHOUOKIC4TTigLzk4DQDg&usg=AFQjCNGZLrzKi90WyXDaoN9NsXTGN2vjXg&bvm=bv.1355325884,d.cGE lol i have heard this album... my brother had it back in the 90's
 @KFS  @deadcandance heard of tinyurl.com? since you have copy/paste down, put it in there and we wont get a link a mile long.
I see, So now all we get is cartoon movies such as Toy Story and the like? This response is absolutely ludicrous. Better start burning all the great literature before they make a movie. Why don't you do something that actually helps the situation you are trying to address. Like more complete background checks? Like buttoning up loopholes such as gun show purchases. Like banning military weapons to the general public. There are more than enough kinds of guns to which hunters, target shooters, and others can avail themselves. By the way, arming teachers in schools is NOT a viable option. God please give the families strength.
@Alikelystorey the response is ridiculous? Do you really think an ultraviolet cartoon episode about Santa trying to kill kids is something they should show days after this event? I'm just guessing about that, but the last time Santa was on American Dad, it was an ultraviolet war between the American Dad family and Santa and his elves.
@CommutingGuy By ultraviolet do you mean the episode was dsiplayed in a different spectrum?
Hollywood should take some responsibility for such violence, Jamie Foxx, one of the industry's biggest stars, said Saturday as he promoted Quentin Tarantino's upcoming, ultra-violent, spaghetti Western-style film about slavery, "Django Unchained."
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That's funny coming from him after what he said on SNL last week about his new film... If I recall right it went something like "I KILL all the white people" ... "HOW GREAT IS THAT!".... Jamie words are very powerful things.
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I'm all for jokes but joking about killing people (ANY) people does not seem funning to me.
 @no1camaro Keep in mind that was BEFORE the shootings...it was bravado driven publicity for a commercial product.
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As a side note, I got home Friday night to discover that the next episode of Haven on SciFy had been replaced by the Christmas episode of Eureka...all I can get from that is that in the Haven show there was a similar setting and event - extremely bad timing...and I have to wonder why such a scene would have meaning to that show. Stephen King is the author, so perhaps that level of act is probably expected. But should it be? Yes, he writes Horror tales...but does "Horror" always equate with violence? And does that violence HAVE to grow with each tome he writes?
He wrote "The Shining", a film with a lot of violent action - and yet he also wrote "Shawshank Redemption", a story with minimal violence (although it did involve prison rape, which is violent, but by his standards hardly "Horror" on the scale of even "The Stand").
I have no doubt that, as a species, we humans NEED a bit of adrenaline pumping excitement, just to get the blood moving and keep us alert and aware to potential dangers. To NATURAL dangers. The problem may be that we are simply far too good at inventing horror. We imagine it, especially as children, because of the unknown world a child sees outside the fall of the light. We expand these in our minds and make monsters in the closet and under the bed. As we grow, we make these monsters into movie idols...they focus our fears to some degree, but for most they also become more obvious inventions of the mind - for most people. But for some, they have a life of their own, and some even take over the human's mind.
And I am starting to ramble...so I'll just add that we sometimes feed our mental fears too much. Sometimes we use them to hide from the real dangers in our lives, the ones that take work and effort and time And sometimes they finally move in and live there...
Adults are perfectly capable of separating fiction from reality, however youngsters exposed to violent flicks not so much. If you watch enough movies with violent crimes, gun use, etc. it will desensitize the viewer and create an image of "normalcy". So yes, the movie industry has a responsibility in what they are producing.   Â
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 @deadcandance in my days action movies were different, the most shootings I saw were in Westerns. And I am not saying all kids are susceptible - the majority is not, if they have enough other "real" things and social interaction going on in their lives. It's the loners I am worried about.
 @Komo Dragon  @deadcandance I was a loner, I'm an extremely introverted. I played violent video games and watched violent video games when I grew up. I was part of the "goth" crowd in high school. I like guns, swords, and all manor of weaponry. I have trained to use some of those weapons. I would never EVER think of going into a school and shooting a bunch of innocent kids. I have only ever been in 1 fight, and that was only after the high school star linebacker decided that I was a target since I was part of the swim team....I tossed the linebacker down the hall....after enduring his bullying for months.Watching violent moves or games does NOT correlate to a more violent person overall.
This is oversensitive and completely excessive.Â
Humans have been slaughtering one another for thousands and thousands of years. But lets blame the movie/television industry, it's all because of them.Â
 @RedRiverBand Yes, we have been doing this for the entire existence of the human race.
But it's only in the past 3 or 4 generations that we have been able to have actual recorded images of such deeds. And only the last generation has had the ability to actual show animations of such violence in a photo-realistic image that is hard for some to tell the difference between reality and imagination. And the result has been an even greater amount of the degree of violence in our methods - which can have a massive impact on minds not equipped to separate the two.
Our previously imagined extreme violence has easily become our ordinary run of the mill real violence.
And what does it say about our society when the most violent films are the most profitable ones?
 @OrcasThunder  @RedRiverBand as opposed to having gladiators fight to the death? I don't know about you, but I can tell a photograph from real life easily.
 @OrcasThunder 2,000 years ago the most popular events were gladiators killing one another, 1,000 years ago it was public executions in England with children watching and cheering, and so on, and so on. It's are human nature, nothing will ever change. People blame the movie/tv industry but the fact is nothing has changed, and nothing will change. SOME people are just not right, place the blame wherever you feel is right, but it's just a scapegoat. Life can be a b.Â
 @OrcasThunder  @RedRiverBand What controls would you put in place to do that? It sill happens...we just call it cheating instead of the spoils of war.
@OrcasThunder @RedRiverBand No, I'm saying this kind of stuff is in our nature and blaming television for it is absurd.
 @RedRiverBand People have been stealing wives from other tribes for the entire history of the species.
Are you suggesting that we take no efforts to control that activity?
 @OrcasThunder  @RedRiverBand "And what does it say about our society when the most violent films are the most profitable ones?"Â
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It says the other one's were chick-flicks and we weren't going to pay to see that crap.
 @OrcasThunder  @rb1209333  @RedRiverBandÂ
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I read good books all the time
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I can't draw worth a damn
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I e-mail people all day at work, why would I want to e-mail someone else?
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I'm poor and sometimes get food from the food bank.
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I also play violent bloody video games(call of duty, battlefield), and creative ones too (minecraft, simcity)Â
 @rb1209333  @RedRiverBand Is your life really that limited in scope?
Read a GOOD book.
Draw a picture.
Write a letter to someone who hasn't talked to you lately.
Help out at your local food bank.
The hardest prison cells to escape are the ones we build ourselves.
Those of you posting about "parenting" are clueless when it comes to the autistic or mentally ill. You don't seem to understand that in many of these cases, it simply does not matter what parents do with these particular children. If it was about bad parenting, the siblings of autistic children would -all- have trouble. They don't, even if in some cases there are more than one autistic child in a family, there are often 'normal' ones (recognizing that 'normal' is rather subjective'). Further, no amount of excellent parenting will counteract schizophrenia or any other of several psychological problems. The brains in these cases are just different and this has been proven by brain scans.
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2009/09/08-01.html
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Also google "scans of schizophrenic brain".
 @Chico @Commenter87643 Then put the children in mental instituions where they belong are safe and others are safe from them!!!! Quit forcing them into a society that scares them and quit forcing society to deal with thier carnage!
 @trulyloved  @Chico "Then put the children in mental instituions where they belong are safe and others are safe from them!!!!"
Oh, yes...put them in a cell and lock them away...
But "who" pays for this?The structures, the grounds, the staff?
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There are many other - better - solutions for many of these children...special care, in the family and with professional therapy, can resolve much of these problems with relating to the "real world", the individual can be guided to reach their potential, to interact with others, to become the person the can be.
But, again, "who" pays for this?
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Who pays for the long term therapy, or even the minimal screening to detect those who "may" be tending in this direction?
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It's interesting to hear some of the rantings of the most ardent small government conservatives on how to deal with this...
 @trulyloved  @Chico That would be easy if it were easy to tell WHICH brains are malfunctioning. However if you actually read any of that link, you'd know that some of this doesn't develop until late teens and it's not like we have the resources to scan ALL the brains of even autistic children, let alone known asperger's kids, and add to that that asperger's can be easily misdiagnosed.
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 @Commenter87643  @trulyloved  @ChicoÂ
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There is ALWAYS an easy answer that falls on someone else's shoulders. Senseless violence is the easiest to stamp out because it has so many warning flags and it always makes perfect sense...Â
It's not about TV, movies, music or video games. Let's take responsibility people. I've watched horror movies from the age of 6,  watched violent TV shows and listened to hard core music all my life. I've never killed anyone nor had the thoughts to do so. My mother taught me right from wrong.... period. Absent parenting, lack of responsibility and personal choices is what the issue is. Not a TV show or entertainment choice. Let's stop coddling kids and teach them right from wrong from the get go. Stop blaming others and look in the mirror.Â
Although not as graphic I can remember the Roy Rodgers show, the Cisco Kid, all of the western movies and so on that the hero shot and killed the bad guy as being the norm. We had cap pistols, cowboy hats and toy knives and I never wanted to kill everyone in my school.
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How about blaming the people in charge of bringing these punks up properly? Where's Dad or at least a father figure that knows how to instill goodness and guidance with proper punishments for limits broken. The American family unit has no emphasis anymore. The American family is being eroded and taken away from teaching values to being replaced by political correctness and parents that don't care, don't supervise and plain do not do their job as parents.
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When I was a kid I was taught respect for adults and especially elders. I got my butt beat and worked off punishments for even thinking about rebelling against authority. I still have respect, and am old enough to demand it.
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Parents are to blame, and that's all.
 @komoispropaganda Often true, but sometimes, even good parents get a "bad seed" or a child whose problems they cannot reasonably be expected to surmount.  I'm not at all sure that all the great parenting in the world would have turned Ted Bundy (or Adam Lanza) into a model citizen.  LIke it or not, criminal tendencies, mental aberrations, and psychiatric illnesses are often hard-wired.
 @belsnickles Yes, I agree.
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In today's community most problems in youth society could be prevented at the roots if parents did their job. Teen pregnancies , gangs, teen drug use and a host of other bad things are in the highest majority preventable. Family, parents, guidance, values, acceptance, love, and direction are amongst the top things that children lack today.
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Putting parents back in the seat of responsibility would stop most of these problems. Make parents responsible for their kids actions and watch the changes in society.
 @andrewsfam  @komoispropaganda  @belsnickles I don't think he is blaming the parents of children that have mental disabilities, but those who have children that would be good, law-abiding citizens, if they had the proper parenting and environment.
 @komoispropaganda  @belsnickles As a family member of one of these children, please DO NOT blame parenting skills.
When is the State Department going to issue an International Travel Advisory for the United States?
 @Walter Pidgin Maybe when it affects travelers? Or maybe not, because this is a stupid rhetorical question.
 @DudeIncognito Apparently you are clueless as to how the rest of the world sees us.
 @cyclops  @DudeIncognito apparently you are clueless to how the rest of the world sees us.With the exception of a few countries and extremists, Americans are the only ones who think everybody hates us.
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Most countries just don't care.