'Family Guy': An abortion episode?

"Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane loves to push buttons," said Michael O'Connell in Metromix St. Louis, "and when his network doesn't want to push along, he pushes theirs too." While speaking on a panel at Comic-Con over the weekend, he told the crowd that Fox let him produce an episode about abortion for the upcoming season "but will probably decline to air it—and MacFarlane isn't particularly happy about it."

Good for Fox, said Jezebel. The abortion episode reportedly centers on Mila Kunis' character, Meg Griffin, who's been raped in prison. What's funny about that? Too bad the network didn't take more of a stand in the past, with episodes that featured "shooting prostitutes as a form of 'community service,' or punching them in the face as they cry, 'I don't understand! What did I do wrong?'" Yeah, that was "really hilarious stuff."

Look, said Ken Tucker in Entertainment Weekly, "you can never predict what side of any argument the Emmy-nominated Family Guy will come down on." MacFarlane and his writers "know how to work within network standards," and I "would completely support the show's right to say whatever it wanted." I think we should "all write to Fox and petition them to air this episode."

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It doesn't matter either way, said Steven Zeitchik and James Hibberd in The Live Feed. This is "exactly the sort of controversy that's unlikely to wound the hit series," because "even if the program never airs on broadcast television, envelope-pushing content is the show's specialty and outrage could boost DVD sales if/when the episode is released on home video."