Fox Won't Air Family Guy Abortion Episode

by generaldecay | August 4, 2009 at 10:32 am

556 views | 85 Recommendations | 21 comments

The Seth MacFarlane creation that is "Family Guy" has built a reputation on poking animated fun at everything from race to religion to sexuality issues over the course of its seven seasons on the air. However, according to a press release from last week's Comic Con there is one issue that is just too taboo, even for a show that routinely makes rape jokes. That issue? Abortion. Apparently, the next season of "Family Guy" contains an episode that deals with abortion. While Fox (the network that airs "Family Guy") originally paid for production of the episode, now they are saying they will not air it.

Now, as the article points out further down, Family Guy will surely never been considered a feminist production so pro-choice feminists are not (again as the piece says) turning to Family Guy to promote their rights. No, that is not the issue at hand here. Rather, this issue is:

So it's fine to air a show dealing with prison rape, sexual harassment (no way is that cardboard cutout sex consensual), and drunk driving, but abortion is somehow waaaaay too taboo for television? No wonder some people are contacting Fox to complain.

Good question. Is this just yet another example of Fox's conservatism (and bad judgement) or is it a deliberately anti-women?

While it is likely that the episode (which will be available on DVD) doesn't do the reproductive rights movement any huge favors, censoring it also sends a cultural message that discussion of abortion is off-limits, even though a musical number performed by abandoned prom night dumpster babies gets two thumbs up. Will we ever normalize abortion on television, or will it always be a censored topic?

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Jordan Yerman

at 10:48 on August 4th, 2009

News Corp knows on which side its bread is buttered, as Fox caters to a conservative base. If Fox thinks that this will scare away viewers, then it--like all mainstream networks-- will err on the side ;of what it considers caution.

generaldecay

at 11:15 on August 4th, 2009

Jordan, thanks for the recommendation and comment. And I dare say you're probably right about viewer figures being at the forefront of Fox's mind. I'm still not convinced, though, that abortion is the most 'controversial' issue that Family Guy has ever touched on.

Amy Judd

at 11:51 on August 4th, 2009

Interesting move, considering they did air one episode where Peter's mum goes to Mexico to try and get an abortion, which consists of a few little kids hitting her stomach with baseball bats, but the abortion doesn't work and Peter is born anyway. But *now* that subject is too taboo? Doesn't make sense to me...

Spydermonkey

at 11:54 on August 4th, 2009

LoLoLoL I didn't see that one :)

I'll have to find it on youtube I guess

generaldecay

at 12:03 on August 4th, 2009

Amy, thanks for the recommendation and and comment.

And, see, that's where their whole point falls down: they can air a satire of 'backstreet' abortions but they have to deny an authorised procedure that is legally available to women all over the country. I do not understand the logic but I can only think that the Mexico episode was so 'far-fetched', they didn't feel threatened by it; whereas abortion on your doorstep...

Amy Judd

at 12:18 on August 4th, 2009

I didn't think about that aspect of it, interesting points you make there. I suppose you must be right, it's much easier to poke fun of something far away and could never possibly be true, but much harder to attack something that is true and could actually happen.

generaldecay

at 12:24 on August 4th, 2009

Thank you Amy. I don't know Fox's motivation at all but I'm trying to think around it. I really do believe that they've differentiated between the 'fantastical' and the realistic, and it seems clear that they don't want to touch the latter, particularly when it might upset some of its owners/ patrons.

Spydermonkey

at 11:53 on August 4th, 2009

I bet that when it is released to other networks for rebroadcast, this episode will get lots of viewers, & on youtube too.

The best advertising money can't buy:)

generaldecay

at 12:03 on August 4th, 2009

Censorship always is, Spyder. Thanks for the recommendation and comment. :)

master_jim2008

at 12:34 on August 4th, 2009

Fox caters to the conservatives on the news, but their shows, which come from the same Ivory Fox tower are the most disgusting and sexually oriented in television

What is up with THAT?

generaldecay

at 12:50 on August 4th, 2009

Really? Um. I suppose there's a difference between appearing to endorse sexual activity and endorsing abortion (although showing Family Guy would hardly be endorsing anything) but I'm still not getting it. And the programmes you describe certainly do not fit in with what I would perceive as as typically 'Fox'. Um.

Thanks for the comment Jim.

Barry Artiste

at 14:36 on August 4th, 2009

Ah yes, Grousing Griffin, granted they are over the top, but South Park beats them hands down when it comes to "Shock Value!"

Mr, Garrision's episode when he goes to an Abortion clinic thinking just because he had a sex change, he was able to get pregnant.

cyn.khoo

at 15:41 on August 4th, 2009

Thanks for this. I agree with what Jordan said and what you said (generaldecay) in reply to Amy: that Fox caters to conservatives and so would never show anything that presents abortion as anything other than horrible, farfetched, sketchy, illegal, and beyond outrageous (since outrageousness masks the seriousness of the issue, so it's only if the show treated something "normally" for once that it'll actually stand out). Not to mention, in the episode Amy mentioned it happened in Mexico and not the U.S., so they could likely just blame it on, or trusted their constituents to attribute it to, "backwards would-be illegal immigrants" or something like that.

generaldecay

at 11:41 on August 10th, 2009

cyn.khoo, yes, thanks exactly it. Thank you for this comment. There always has to be an 'othering' aspect.

elvisjj

at 18:29 on August 4th, 2009

Hey Family Guy does push the buttons of the network executives at FOX. But I mean a show like this is needed to be out there as Family Guy takes pot shots at everything so why not abortion. I mean come on FOX lighten up.

generaldecay

at 11:42 on August 10th, 2009

I don't think it's an issue of 'lightening up' - they are clearly 'light' enough about other controversial issues so that is not the problem here. They are censoring, and that's it.

Rory Cripps

at 18:50 on August 4th, 2009

It would probably tick a lot of FOX viewers off. Many FOX viewers believe that abortion is wrong. And a lesser amount of FOX viewers believe that abortion is good. It comes down to numbers and, as one of your editors pointed out, which side the bread is buttered on. FOX is no different from any other media outlet in that FOX looks at its audience and on that basis decides what to air in order to maximize ratings, profits and advertising revenue. Alienating the majority of its viewers is simply not good for ratings and therefore business. Major news media, whether they be print, TV, cable, or radio are simply a business. Whatever works works in terms of gaining readers, viewers, and listeners. To believe that any major media outlook has a political and ideological agenda and will forfeit profits to further that agenda is naive thinking in my opinion.