'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.
they better pull the road runner cartoons.
aOh and Mork and Mindy Along with Silver Spoons.and I wish they would take away Ll this wichcraft ,were wolvez and Vampire crap away.
I just wish they would bring back shows like Star trek, quantum leap, and the Greqtest American Hero.
It is about time , with all th crap being aired, it needs tighter reins. now if only we could pull thre plug on violent video games.
We just watched Seven Psychopaths and nearly walked out. I hoped it would redeem itself somehow. 90 minutes of total crap; murder for entertainment at the expense of the national mental health crisis.
Tarantino has always been a jerk of a director. Â Pulp Fiction was so crass with all the killings I will never watch it again. Â He is a hypocrite. Â He makes these types of movies that are over the top to make money. Â How dare he tell America that he the poor victim producer of the movies isn't a part of the problem.
In years past, the characters in movies appealed to the best inside us, showed us how good we could be - glorified the behaviors that describe good men and women.
Now, it's a rarity that such is the case. Â
Today the glory goes to the highest body count, to the most vicious.  The continued season work goes to serial killers who kill serial killers.  Is it any wonder we are desensitized to the concept of violence yet so unprepared for it?
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So the question could be argued "do movies mirror society, or the other way around?" and that would MISS THE BIG PICTURE so when people say such things, gently correct them!
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We HAVE lost our moral compasses, we no longer venerate the good, quiet man (he is seen as weak!)Â
We no longer aspire to be a better society (we run headlong into political correctness!)Â
We as a society no longer value our neighbors as we once did. Â
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Movies are part of this decline, and yes the actors have their role in this as well. Â No longer can an actor spout off about 'gun control' then go back on set and make a billion dollars blowing things up and indiscriminately shooting and killing in the movie.
They simply have no intellectual honesty (therefore credibility) when they make their living depicting such deplorable behavior then turn around and decry that same behavior.
 @Umhal Well, let's see.  This year alone, I've gone to an actual theater to seeÂ
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Coriolanus
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
The Five Year EngagementÂ
The Avengers
The Dark Knight Rises
Ted
Hope Springs
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Looper
Moonrise Kingdom
Prometheus
Lincoln
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That's just off the top of my head. Â Looper and The Dark Knight violent. Â So was Coriolanus, but if you have a problem with Shakespear, you have bigger problems.
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Good characters with uplifting stories abound in the other titles, including the last few months of the first president to die at the hands of an assassin. Â So maybe you're just not being selective enough in your choice of movie going to be making blanket statements about the film industry and our collective moral compass. Â
 @Festivus Now now, Festivus, you've cherry-picked from my words and twisted the entire context into an unrecognizable mess.
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Are we to understand you do not agree that movies are, in part, creating a tolerance for violence in our society?
Furthermore, do you think that actors who make their money playing rolls where their character blasts away with guns and kill all movie long, then those same actors campaign against gun ownership - are credible in their position? Â Do you not see them as duplicitous?Â
 @Umhal I'm saying that you're decrying of our lost moral compass is a theme passed down by every generation through the mists of time, and one with which I do not agree.
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There is no "tolerance for violence" in our society. Â There are pockets of violence, where the disenfranchised keep each other at bay through many means, but West Side Story was made 50 years ago and the problem was the same then. Â Just as it was in 1919 during the American anarchist bombings. Â Just like it was in the reconstruction era south and the KKK. Â
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Real violent crime in this country has been on the decline for 3 decades now. Â People are every bit as horrified when 20 school children die in a bloodbath as they were whenever senseless violence has been enacted on the innocent. Â I may be less horrified at the sight of blood than my counterpart of a century ago (and then again, maybe not), but that does not make me accepting of violence in general.
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Sports like cage fighting are on the rise while the NFL is doing everything in its power to reduce concussions. Â Violent movies are made, and while more graphic than before, are certainly no worse than the James Cagney era gangster films from almost a century prior. Â Movies with sustaining messages and uplifting plots are just as prevalent as before, and a helluva lot more realistic.
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As for actors and guns, no, I do not seem them as duplicitous. Â Movies are not reality. Â I've never met anyone who had any difficulty making that distinction. Â As often as not, the overarching theme of a violent movie is to show the abject futility of it all. Â There's a scene in Lincoln early on of a pitched battle in the Civil War. Â The carnage displayed there, if it has any effect at all, would be to disabuse anyone of the the notion that dying for a cause is a thing to be glorified. Â
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Don't like 'em, don't watch 'em. Very simple.
Do us all a favor and cancel them for good!
Maybe I'm tired, but but what does Family Guy or any other have to do with the recent violence? and by not running it makes a difference how exactly?Â
Quentin Tarantino is a P.O.S.
"In an interview, Jamie Foxx said actors cannot "turn their back" on that fact that movie violence can influence people."
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Kind of hypocritical don't ya think?
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"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."
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I like this guy. He is a realist like myself.
@RalphCramden It's just the new American ethic, Ralph. Altruism always takes a back seat to big paychecks but Actors love to "act" concerned. Most have probably never heard the phrase: "Put your money where your mouth is."
 @I812 Â
They suffer from cognitive dissonance.
"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."
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Of course Tarantino is upset as really has he ever made a movie that didn't involve a ton of violence? Maybe what someone should do is allow Tarantino the pleasure of being shot several times so he too can know what it feels like when "tragedies happen."
 @J R Why are you wishing violence upon an innocent human being?
Well, I think for the most part, they quit making really good movies several decades ago, but that's just my personal opinion... and I certainly recognize everyone's right to see movies and TV shows of their own choice.
In re the violence issue, it seems to me that people who are mentally stable and well-grounded, should be able to see such programs without feeling afterwards that they need to go out and copy-cat what they saw... Â The danger, I think, is when violent movies or TV shows are seen by those who are already mentally UNstable - who have only a hazy grasp on reality to start with, or who experience emotions over which they have no control... Â it seems logical that such programs might be enough to push them over the edge... Â Â
Am I advocating censorship? Â Absolutely NOT... the above is just voicing some of my thoughts relative to this story...
@margay1 "Back in the day" there was Zorro, The Lone Ranger, Sky King, Sea Hunt, and an endless supply of cowboy movies; all with substantial violence. Of course we also had respect for ourselves, each other and authority, discipline, and we were not solely focused on ourselves. Also, there were no endless lines of people willing to make excuses for bad behavior and misdeeds. Our feelings may have been hurt a few times but we learned to be stronger, persevere, be responsible and accountable, and move forward. Our society has become soft, self-absorbed and selfish, with little or no accountability.Â
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I don't believe limiting or removing violence from TV, the movies, video games, etc., is an answer. I do think that restoring honesty, integrity, responsibility and accountability would go a long way in turning our society around. Of course that requires parents who are willing to parent and a society that is willing to hold people responsible and accountable for their actions .
 @I812  @margay1 ~  I agree with you 100%..!  Â
Your mention of some of the old series that we used to watch& enjoy brought back another memory from way bank then... cartoons. Â I remember overhearing my mom having a conversation with another mom in our neighborhood about cartoons...the other mom didn't let her kids watch the ones with Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd and similar, because she thought they were "too violent" and would be a bad influence on her kids. Â (Her kids were pretty weird anyway, but after hearing that conversation, I started to understand why they were..!)Â
Anyway, she couldn't understand why our mom let us watch those shows (also shows like, as you said, Zorro, Lone Ranger, etc)... Â Our mom said that her kids had been raised to understand and appreciate the difference between real life and the "fantasy life" of TV and movies; that just because characters in movies or on TV did things, we were not necessarily allowed to do them . Â We kids also loved the 3 Stooges...Mom wasn't a fan, but she had no problem letting us watch them... my older brother imitated Curly ("nyuk, nyuk"), but we didn't go around hitting each other or poking each other's eyes...Â
It was quite a few years before I really understood - and appreciated - just how much time and caring effort my parents had invested in "parenting" their kids...Â
@margay1 Well said! Few understand that parenting is a 24/7 responsibility and education is as much a responsibility of a parent as it is of a school. It makes one question why people choose to have children when their child's life is one of being babysat by daycare, school, TV, Video games, etc. with little parent involvement.Â