LOS ANGELES (AP) — NBC said Friday that it’s pulling an episode of its serial killer drama “Hannibal” out of sensitivity to recent violence, including the Boston bombings.The episode that was to air next week features a character, played by guest star Molly Shannon, who brainwashes children to kill other children.”Hannibal” executive producer Bryan Fuller asked NBC to pull the episode, citing the Newtown, Conn., school shooting in December and this week’s Boston Marathon attack, NBC spokesman Stuart Levine said.The episode, the fourth for the freshman series, will be replaced by another “Hannibal” hour. Viewers will not see a plot continuity issue, Levine said.But a “clip package” with scenes from the unaired episode will be available at NBC.com next week, without the scenes of child violence and with commentary by Fuller.”Hannibal” stars Mads Mikkelsen as the title character, the brilliant cannibalistic killer seen on the big screen in “The Silence of the Lambs” and its sequel and introduced in the Thomas Harris novel “Red Dragon.” Hugh Dancy and Laurence Fishburne also star in the drama.There have been other instances of networks responding quickly to the potentially difficult overlap between fact and fiction.Continue Reading… … Read More
Manchin-Toomey measure still doesn’t have the votes
Joe Manchin and Pat Toomey’s bipartisan deal on background checks is slowly accuring the votes it’ll need to pass the Senate, but it’s proving divisive among both parties.The New York Times reports:Senator Mark Begich, Democrat of Alaska, says he will vote against the measure, and at least three other Democrats are expected to join him in trying to defeat it, including Heidi Heitkamp, a freshman senator from North Dakota. Some left-leaning Democrats may also balk because of the gun-rights provisions that have been added to the bill to entice Republicans. Among the 16 Republicans who joined 50 Democrats and two independents in voting last week to proceed to consideration of gun legislation, roughly seven have already decided not to support the measure. Another half-dozen Republicans who voted to proceed on the bill remain ambivalent.Continue Reading… … Read More
MTV cancels “Buckwild” after star’s death
MTV is canceling freshman reality TV show “Buckwild” in the wake of the death of the show’s star, Shain Gandee.Although the network has made no official announcement yet, a source told TMZ that “MTV didn’t give the cast and crew any specific reason for the cancellation. An official announcement is expected Wednesday morning.”Upon initial news of Gandee’s death, MTV halted production of the show, of which 4 episodes of Season 2 had already been shot. The episodes will no longer be aired, though a special taped 2 months ago is still expected to broadcast, according to TMZ.The Hollywood Reporter explains MTV’s decision to cancel:Continue Reading… … Read More
Raskolnikov seeks mentor
Dear Cary, I just read your column advising Lost in the Fog, and I couldn’t help relating his/her feeling of imprisonment to my own. I’m a freshman in college and I’m extremely unhappy. I don’t know exactly how to express this state of discontentment because I’ve never felt it before. In high school, I self-medicated a lot with pot, taking the pressure off myself. Now I’m at college and it’s way harder so I had to stop smoking, but I’m miserable. I can’t seem to escape my ego. I fear constantly that I won’t succeed in life — and for some reason my definition of success is achieving some sort of artistic greatness that will result in fame. I realize this is a totally superficial and selfish goal, but I literally can’t stop thinking about it. I tell myself to just be patient, to get through college so that I can explore different forms of art, but I can’t find my niche and it’s torturous. I feel like I’m a 35-year-old trapped in an 18-year-old’s body. Continue Reading… … Read More
Sen. Cruz: Medicaid expansion will put ‘violent criminals’ back on Texas streets
Speaking just before a Monday morning press conference with Gov. Rick Perry (R) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), freshman Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), a tea party favorite, told a Texas radio host that accepting nearly $90 billion in federal funds to expand Medicaid will ultimately force the state to release…
Rob Portman’s son writes about his “coming out” experience
In the Monday edition of the Yale Daily News, Will Portman, Sen. Rob Portman’s (R-OH) son, wrote about the experience of coming out to his mother and father as a Yale freshman in 2010. The revelation that his son was gay would eventually change the Ohio lawmaker’s position on marriage equality, making him the first sitting Senate Republican to endorse same-sex marriage.As Will wrote for the Daily News:I came to Yale as a freshman in the fall of 2010 with two big uncertainties hanging over my head: whether my dad would get elected to the Senate in November, and whether I’d ever work up the courage to come out of the closet. I made some good friends that first semester, took a couple of interesting classes and got involved in a few rewarding activities. My dad won his election. On the surface, things looked like they were going well. But the truth was, I wasn’t happy. One night, I snuck up to the stacks in Sterling Library and did some research on coming out. The thought of telling people I was gay was pretty terrifying, but I was beginning to realize that coming out, however difficult it seemed, was a lot better than the alternative: staying in, all alone.Continue Reading… … Read More
Texas Moves to Repatriate its Gold from the Federal Reserve
It appears that Texas Rep. Giovanni Capriglione has a bill in play that would move the state’s gold from New York (where its under the “safekeeping” of the ultra shady Federal Reserve) to a depository within the state of Texas itself. … Read More
