Report shows TV violence persists
NEW YORK - Violence, gore and gunplay were staples on prime-time television even in the most sensitive period directly following the Newtown school shooting.
A study of 392 prime-time scripted programs on broadcast networks shown during the month following Vice President Joe Biden's January meeting with entertainment industry executives on the topic revealed that 193 had some incident of violence, according to the Parents Television Council. Some are cartoonish - quite literally, with Homer strangling Bart for mouthing off on "The Simpsons" - but there is plenty of gunplay, stabbings and beat-downs.
Here's a sample of the incidents captured by the PTC between Jan. 11 and Feb. 11:
- A character on ABC's "Body of Proof" says he dreams of ripping a woman's brain out while she's still alive, but he's shot as he's about to stick a hook up her nose. Then he's pushed off a balcony and killed.
- A woman on Fox's "The Following" jams an ice pick into her eye.
- A prison riot episode of CBS' "Hawaii Five-O" includes one man trying to kill someone in a laundry room press, a man snapping someone's neck with his legs and a man injected with something that causes a violent convulsion.
- A gun fight on ABC's "Last Resort" is ignited by one man stabbing another in the abdomen with a screwdriver.
- A man on CBS' "Criminal Minds" is shot dead by the FBI as he tries to cut the eyelids off a gallery owner's face.
- Two characters on Fox's "Bones" wake to find a corpse hanging from the canopy above their bed, dripping blood onto them.
- An already bloody man is dragged into a warehouse on CBS' "The Mentalist," choked to death and thrown in a furnace - all witnessed by a little boy hiding in the building.
- A man writhes in pain on Fox's "Fringe" before a parasite violently bursts out of his body. He's surrounded by the bodies of others who had met the same fate.
Real life has continued to intrude on television entertainment as the months go by. NBC pulled an episode of its serial killer drama "Hannibal" after the Boston Marathon bombing, as did ABC with a "Castle" episode where a character stepped on a pressure-sensitive bomb. Some Newtown parents objected to a recent "Glee" episode that depicted a school shooting.
"I think it is only going to get worse," said Dr. Victor Strasburger, pediatrics professor at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, who has written frequently on the topic of violence in the media. He said media executives are "not willing to own up to their public health responsibilities."
TV executives are reluctant to talk about violent content, and when pressed question any link between what they air on television and aggressive behavior in real life. Schedules get shifted around when tragic events are in the news, but there's no indication they have changed the types of programs being made. Policy debates have largely overlooked the issue, focusing instead on background checks for gun owners or bans on assault weapons.
In the past, networks have disputed some of the PTC methodology. Some comedic moments are counted as violent episodes in PTC's study when they could be questioned, like a play swordfight on "The Cleveland Show." The PTC doesn't detail the one violent incident it counted on Betty White's "Off Their Rockers," but it's hard to imagine comparing it to the serial killer on "The Following."
Still, it's a sobering body count.
The parents' group said it found not only an increase in gore from other studies it has conducted over 18 years but a greater specificity and darkness to the violence.