TV Networks Pulling Simpsons Nuclear Episodes Off Air, Expect Pat on the Back for their Effor

(EW.com) -- Japan's nuclear power plant crisis is no laughing matter in Springfield: Networks in several European countries are reportedly reviewing episodes of "The Simpsons" for any "unsuitable" references to nuclear disaster. An Austrian network has apparently pulled two eps, 1992's "Marge Gets a Job" and 2005's "On a Clear Day I Can't See My Sister," which include jokes about radiation poisoning and nuclear meltdowns, respectively. Al Jean -- exec producer of the animated Fox comedy featuring inept family man/nuclear power plant worker Homer Simpson -- tells EW that he can appreciate the concern. "We have 480 episodes, and if there are a few that they don't want to air for awhile in light of the terrible thing going on, I completely understand that," says Jean, citing the previous example of the 1997 episode "Homer Versus the City of New York" that was pulled after 9/11 because it included key scenes at the World Trade Center. "We would never make light of what's happening in Japan." Twentieth Television, the syndication division of Fox Television, has provided U.S. stations that air "The Simpsons" in syndication with a list of episodes that contain potentially sensitive material given the unfolding disaster in Japan, so those stations can decide whether or not to pull them. (This isn't an uncommon practice in such situations.)

Here's the thing, I get why networks would pull it for sensitivity reasons for a while, but why go out of your way to broadcast it? Why give someone like me a chance to bitch about this? It's not a big deal, you could have pulled the episodes quietly for a while, there's like 23 or so seasons of the Simpsons, plenty of episodes, I'm not sure anyone was going to notice if you pull 3 or 4 off the shelves for a year or so.  

You know why they did it? So they could put out a press release congratulating themselves for pulling the episodes.  It's a publicity ploy.  They could have quietly done the right thing and pulled the episodes without mentioning it, but they had to pat themselves on the back for doing their part to help Japan through their difficult time.

Screw you and your phony self awareness. CW is over here, consciously going out of his way not to make any Japanese jokes (and I went to BestBuy to buy new technology this weekend, do you know how hard it was to walk by the digital camera section and not make jokes) but I'm not out there advertising it so that everyone thinks I'm doing my part. I'm doing shit over here, and pulling episodes of a cartoon off the air isn't exactly making these networks the equivalent of the Red Cross either, so spare me the self righteousness and self congratulations.