The episode titled 'Ceuf', which was originally scheduled to air next week, has been shelved over concerns about a violent storyline.
- Apr 20, 2013
AceShowbiz - "Hannibal" has joined a list of TV shows which pull episodes out of sensitivity to the Boston Marathon bombings. NBC decides to shelve the fourth episode, originally scheduled to air April 25, which is deemed inappropriate in the wake of the recent tragedy.
Titled "Ceuf", the said episode features children who are brainwashed into killing other children. The fifth episode, "Coquilles", will air in its place. Due to the omission of one episode, the series will now wrap its first season earlier on June 20, instead of the original schedule on June 27.
Creator Bryan Fuller was the one who made the decision not to air the episode. "Given the cultural climate right now in the U.S., I think we shouldn't air the episode in its entirety," he said. "We want to be respectful of the social climate we're in right now."
"I didn't want to have anyone come to the show and have a negative experience," Fuller further explained to Variety. "With this episode, it wasn't about the graphic imagery or violence. It was the associations that came with the subject matter that I felt would inhibit the enjoyment of the overall episode ... It was my own sensitivity."
The episode will still air on networks outside of the United States. NBC will make selected clips for the episode available online.
Previously, ABC pulled a bomb-related episode of "Castle" from its original schedule of April 22. The episode is pushed back to April 29. FOX also decided not to air a repeat of "New Girl" episode that features Nick (Jake Johnson) suspecting one of Jess' (Zooey Deschanel) students of plotting a murder.
