"Family Guy" Holds Back

Could Family Guy possibly have gone too far? The show,
created by off-color comedian Seth MacFarlane, made its name by taking on
issues not often touched by other animated sitcoms. However, a show scheduled to
air next season—entitled "Partial Terms of Endearment"—stuck Lois
Griffin in the position of having to choose whether or not to have an abortion.
Not surprisingly, the show’s network, Fox, has declined to put it on the air.

According to a report,
the episode featured Lois becoming a surragate mother and, during the
pregnancy, the biological parents are killed in a car crash, leaving her to
decide what to do with the fetus.

“The episode was originally supposed to conclude on a vague
note, with Lois' verdict left unclear. But creator Seth MacFarlane added a coda
at the very end, with Lois' husband Peter poking his head into the frame to
tell viewers, ‘She had the abortion.’”

The decision supposedly came from Fox entertainment
president Kevin Reilly because of how it would affect advertising. Executives
assured members of a press conference that it wasn’t a move to censor
MacFarlane, merely a business decision. But with shows like South Park and
Family Guy confronting the grey area of many issues, isn’t it about time
abortion got its time in the animated spotlight?