A case of ‘Mr Robot’ gone lose
Show criticised for depicting suicide on television during National Suicide Prevention Month
Show was delayed because the upcoming episode had stark parallels with a real-life incident. PHOTO: FILE
Only a few days after the airing of its finale, Mr Robot has run into trouble with the Parents Television Council. It has been criticised for depicting suicide on television during National Suicide Prevention Month, reported The Hollywood Reporter.
“USA Network should have realised that a graphic suicide scene is highly inappropriate for children and rated the episode for adults only (TV-MA). The scene is disturbing and graphic for adults, let alone children. While this is emblematic of the TV content ratings system, it is inexcusable. USA Network should commit to a thorough and transparent evaluation of the process it uses to rate its own shows so that children won’t be exposed to this type of graphic content again,” stated PTC president Tim Winter.
Launching a scathing criticism of airing the episode in September, which is suicide prevention month, Winter said, “USA Network should have just canned the episode entirely, especially if the network was truly concerned for the similarities of the content to the real-life tragedy in Virginia, and even more so since it showed the suicide.”
“Waiting a week surely didn’t minimise the potential harm to the viewing audience,” told Winter.
The USA network had earlier found itself embroiled in a similar controversy when it had made the announcement of delaying the season finale due to extensive “plot similarity” to the Virginia TV shootings.
The show was delayed because the upcoming episode had stark parallels with a real-life incident. The scene in which a corporate executive places a gun in his mouth and shoots himself during a live TV interview, turned out to be very similar to the Virginia TV station tragedy, where a reporter was killed while conducting an interview.
Mr Robot creator and showrunner, Sam Esmail, had earlier defended the inclusion of the controversial scene and moments during the debut season explaining, “There was never a choice in the script phase or in the production phase that we made that was gratuitous or to be showy or anything like that. It was always something in service of our story and our characters,” he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 14th, 2015.
“USA Network should have realised that a graphic suicide scene is highly inappropriate for children and rated the episode for adults only (TV-MA). The scene is disturbing and graphic for adults, let alone children. While this is emblematic of the TV content ratings system, it is inexcusable. USA Network should commit to a thorough and transparent evaluation of the process it uses to rate its own shows so that children won’t be exposed to this type of graphic content again,” stated PTC president Tim Winter.
Launching a scathing criticism of airing the episode in September, which is suicide prevention month, Winter said, “USA Network should have just canned the episode entirely, especially if the network was truly concerned for the similarities of the content to the real-life tragedy in Virginia, and even more so since it showed the suicide.”
“Waiting a week surely didn’t minimise the potential harm to the viewing audience,” told Winter.
The USA network had earlier found itself embroiled in a similar controversy when it had made the announcement of delaying the season finale due to extensive “plot similarity” to the Virginia TV shootings.
The show was delayed because the upcoming episode had stark parallels with a real-life incident. The scene in which a corporate executive places a gun in his mouth and shoots himself during a live TV interview, turned out to be very similar to the Virginia TV station tragedy, where a reporter was killed while conducting an interview.
Mr Robot creator and showrunner, Sam Esmail, had earlier defended the inclusion of the controversial scene and moments during the debut season explaining, “There was never a choice in the script phase or in the production phase that we made that was gratuitous or to be showy or anything like that. It was always something in service of our story and our characters,” he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 14th, 2015.