From: http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=...&id=5245269

Soap opera pulls episodes involving school hostage story line

(4/25/07 - NEW YORK CITY) - Life imitates art and art imitates life, but in some uncanny coincidences, when art imitates life it's a little too close for comfort.

Such is the case with ABC's daytime drama "One Life to Live" and the tragedy that occurred at Virginia Tech, in which one student gunned down 32 classmates and teachers before turning a gun on himself.

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."

Not an Unprecedented Move

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

Schiller added that ABC's "Port Charles" had a terrorist story line surrounding the nightmare of Sept. 11, 2001, 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.

An Eerie Resemblance

Schiller told ABC News that "One Life to Live" had a very realistic teen story line, and that in anticipation for the summer, it wanted the show to be even more teen-centric.

Schiller said, "They [the writers] were trying to intensify efforts to tell a realistic story, something that would happen in a teen's life."

The character they created was a troubled teen, one who according to Schiller, "felt that there was no alternative to get the attention of the popular kids than to hold a classroom hostage."

This story line eerily resembles the scene at Virginia Tech more than a week ago. Law enforcement sources said the 23-year-old student, Seung-Hui Cho, left a long and "disturbing" note in his dorm room that said, "You caused me to do this." One of his former teachers told ABC News that Cho was "extraordinarily lonely -- the loneliest person I have ever met in my life."

The writers for "One Life to Live" had no idea their story line would be played out in real life just a few weeks before the episodes aired, but is it that strange that something like this happened?

Robert Thompson, a professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University, doesn't think so.

Thompson told ABC News, "Entertainment is an art of storytelling. … TV shows always want to be telling stories that are relevant to the society that they're telling them to."

He also added, "Serious movies and television shows are going to want to, at some point, be dealing with the fact that we live in a society where school shootings have become a disturbing regularity."

Censorship or Compassion?

After Sept. 11, the question "When is too soon?" was often raised. Is entertainment a comfort, an opportunity to process or is it merely a reminder of horrific events?

Clear Channel radio listed 165 songs it felt were inappropriate to air. The songs were not banned, but disc jockeys were encouraged not to play them.

Some of the songs included "Great Balls of Fire," "Knockin' on Heaven's Door," and all songs by the band Rage Against the Machine.

"When there's a big national tragedy, there needs to be a sacred space around it, and that time depends on the nature of the tragedy," Thompson told ABC News. "To respect that sacred space, what's the worst thing, we don't hear 'Great Balls of Fire'? Who's the worse for it?"

'Reduced to Silence'?

Though it is argued that there should be some level of sensitivity practiced by those in the entertainment industry, avoiding issues is not always the answer.

Sometimes it's better to address the issue for healing purposes.

Thompson said, "I don't think networks, soap writers or movie producers should be reduced to silence. School violence is something that happens and we expect to not only hear about it in our news reports, but we expect to hear about it in our histories … processed in our art as well."

While experts agree there is no formula or equation for when we recover from a horrific tragedy -- some of us never will -- the entertainment industry is best-served when it stays on the sensitive side after a horrific case like the Virginia Tech massacre.

So if we don't get to watch an episode of "One Life to Live" tomorrow with a high school hostage situation, are we really the worse for it?

Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures

Great....more "teen centric". OLTL is off my DVR this summer.

Great....more "teen centric". OLTL is off my DVR this summer.

That may be changed because of this....sounds like this teen hostage storyline (which sounds like what GH did but with teenagers instead) was supposed to be the basis for the whole summer. What are they going to show now? If they have already taped this stuff and aren't going to show that what will the show look like next month.

That may be changed because of this....sounds like this teen hostage storyline (which sounds like what GH did but with teenagers instead) was supposed to be the basis for the whole summer. What are they going to show now? If they have already taped this stuff and aren't going to show that what will the show look like next month.

Summers are always "teen centric." You know every since Luke and Laura and whatever the summer AMC story was that was such a big hit, soaps have been trying to launch the big summer teen story.

That may be changed because of this....sounds like this teen hostage storyline (which sounds like what GH did but with teenagers instead) was supposed to be the basis for the whole summer. What are they going to show now? If they have already taped this stuff and aren't going to show that what will the show look like next month.

Summers are always "teen centric." You know every since Luke and Laura and whatever the summer AMC story was that was such a big hit, soaps have been trying to launch the big summer teen story.

Wow - taking out material for 17 days of sweeps - that'll be rough. I wonder what they could hurry up and get in its place. This might be a huge task - needs some big shoes.

that sucks for the show, it sounds like it would have been a great storyline...

If the talented Gary Tomlin was still EP, perhaps we would have been treated to another May sweeps live event!

I remember that with PC, they had to scrap that storyline and rewrite, and they didn't have much time to do it.

I'm glad ABC canned this storyline, there is hope for them yet....

I'm so torn on this. I think it would have been a great story on OLTL. Especially with the kids and their parents reactions coming into play. Can you just imagine Todd's reaction? But I agree its probably best that it was canned...for now at least. Maybe further down the road they can revisit it or something. Oh well. I just hate what happened at VT and now this is making me hate the shooter just that much more...

Already they're playing the "being bullied" card out as an excuse or something for his actions which makes me sick. We've all been picked on before including me. Didn't make me go psycho. Neither did GTA, True Crime, or Halo although I love all three games. People need to be held accountable for their choices and the media should stop trying to put blame on certain people or certain areas.

I'm torn as well, because as horrible as Vt was, I think the "bullying" stories need to get played out, especially with a more positive ending like it seemed OLTL to have.

I'm also a fan of the teen group and would hate to see it all dropped

Wow - taking out material for 17 days of sweeps - that'll be rough. I wonder what they could hurry up and get in its place. This might be a huge task - needs some big shoes.

I dread what ever mess they get to cover it up... I'm sure something concerning John or Todd/Blair or Antonio/Jessica/Nash or Adriana/Tate; or even more Cole/Starr would make sweeps and summer horrible to me.

Edited April 26, 200718 yr by poohbear19

I dread what ever mess they get to cover it up... I'm sure something concerning John or Todd/Blair or Antonio/Jessica/Nash or Adriana/Tate; or even more Cole/Starr would make sweeps and summer horrible to me.

Oh, you and me both...and with the rush job they will have to do with it, I can only imagine what kind of crap they will be throwing at us. I'm dreading May 4th already.

The story line affected all the characters in some way and was linked to 17 different episodes set to air in May.

Why do I find that statement next to impossible to believe?

Starr, Cole and Marcie are the only ones with any connection to the remainder of the show. Todd would have been MIA since TSJ wasn't around to film. That leaves Blair and Marty as the sole concerned parents. We probably would have gotten a few scenes of Viki and Dorian wringing their hands in the background while fighting over Clint. Marcie and Michael might have had a couple of brief scenes. Certainly more of John. Evidently Nora was supposed to have some involvement via the DA's office so I guess Bo will represent the incompetent LPD. Did Henry have parents who would have made an appearance? Might we have finally met Langston's parents? Would the dayplayer Jennings have shown up? Would anyone have cared given the fact that we don't know them and know little about the teens beside Cole and Starr? The sad thing is Cole and Starr are the least interesting of the teens, IMHO.

Oh, you and me both...and with the rush job they will have to do with it, I can only imagine what kind of crap they will be throwing at us. I'm dreading May 4th already.

Bottom line, I'm glad they killed that storyline. Now is just not the time. There are more important things than what a daytime soap does for sweeps month. Emotions are very very raw, and this story did not need to be done right now. It's a good story in the can and it will be a fine story in September or whatever.

I don't like the bullying excuse either, and I don't let mass murderers duck under some skirt of mental illness. Yes they are crazy dong that, but it goes beyond crazy. They aren't having visions, or hearing messages. They are extracting revenge and enjoying it. They are very calculated. People who do this are evil. Yep, there is evil in the world.

Honestly, that is one of these things that bothers me about Higley doing this story. I guess she's been writing soaps too long because her perceptions are warped. I know she has been doing it for 19 or what years. It's almost like she has adopted this soap opera character judgement of right and wrong and who should be pitied and who should be heroes. That scares me when she writes a story like this, another reason I'm glad it's in the can for the time being.

Look at how she writes her so-called favorite couples: Dorian and Clint look like idiots. I'm sorry that was just painful to watch on Wednesday. He looked like a moron. Just seeing a character is not enough. The Jess and Nash story with Jamie in the middle is just sick. I think the fact that there are still some Blair and Todd fans after the way she wrote that couple for two years is a signal of the support TnB have because both Blair and Todd just looked awful. When she has that infant floating in the water, it was bad and it was Higley. And folks, Todd had made many comments about not caring if he killed that infant. We all were commenting on how she was making it possible for him to be a baby killer.

So, I think it's good that Dena's warped sense of entertainment and particularly right and wrong weren't brought to bear at this time in our country. I really believe someone can write a weird soap too long, and Dena did work for DOOL at its strangest times. She has not touch for writing heroes or root for people. I predict this story, when we do it see it, will be a disaster and we will all be glad it didn't air in May.