Fox to Revise School Violence Scenes

July 23, 2007 — -- A Fox drama based on the movie "The Terminator" will be revised to tone down the level of violence out of concern for viewers' sensitivity following the Virginia Tech shootings, the company announced.

"The Sarah Connor Chronicles" is a new series that follows a mother trying to protect her son, destined to save mankind from technology turned bad.

The series as originally filmed includes a scene in which the boy is attacked while at school. And though the executive producer of the show, Josh Friedman, defended the scenes, he said they should be changed.

The scenes were filmed before the Va. Tech tragedy in which a student at the college gunned down 32 classmates and teachers before turning a gun on himself.

When asked by the U.S. Television Critics' Association if programs should avoid fictional violence, Friedman said, "Creative questions are answered on an ad hoc basis, not on a broad one, and we need to respect our audience."

This is not the first reaction of its kind in the entertainment industry following a national tragedy.

Earlier this year, the producers of ABC's daytime drama "One Life to Live" also decided to edit their storyline.

According to Abbie Schiller, vice president of media relations for ABC daytime television, the crew planned, taped and edited a story of a high school hostage situation in March. The story line affected all the characters in some way and was linked to 17 different episodes set to air in May.

After the Virginia Tech massacre, the top executives at ABC decided to pull the plot and rewrite the show.

Frank Valentini, "One Life to Live's" executive producer, said in a statement, "Out of respect to those affected by this devastating tragedy, especially the families, I felt that it was important to remove this story line from our show."

According to "Access Hollywood," Fox pulled its latest episode of the TV series "Bones," titled "Player Under Pressure," from its Wednesday night lineup more than a week ago.

Characters on the show were investigating human remains -- identified as a star student-athlete -- found under the bleachers at a gym. A "Bones" repeat aired in its place.

Similar to Valentini's statement, a Fox spokesperson told "Access Hollywood" the decision was made "out of sensitivity to the victims and families touched by this senseless tragedy."

Schiller added that ABC's "Port Charles" had a terrorist storyline surrounding the nightmare of Sept. 11 that was pulled as well.

In 1999, the season finale of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" was pulled from the WB schedule after the Columbine High School shootings. The controversial episode was called "Earshot" and involved the heroine, Buffy, discovering that she could read minds and that someone was thinking about committing mass murder at a high school.

The Columbine shootings involved two teenagers who shot and killed 12 students and a teacher before committing suicide.

The star of "Bones," David Boreanaz, was in both the pulled "Buffy" and "Bones" shows.