NBC’s ‘Hannibal’ Pulls April 25 Episode After Boston Marathon Bombings

We've heard of multiple programming changes in the wake of this week's tragic Boston Marathon Bombings, including 'Revolution' delaying its finale a week to accommodate continued news coverage and a similar move for CBS drama 'Vegas' tonight, but NBC's latest move might be the most drastic yet. The network has decided to pull next week's 'Hannibal' episode altogether over sensitive content, thereby shifting the season forward and entire week.

Critics and audiences alike have been vocal in their support of NBC's Bryan Fuller-helmed drama 'Hannibal,' though today the season has effectively been cut by an episode. Variety reports that NBC has pulled next week's 'Hannibal' episode on request from Bryan Fuller himself, as the episode features children-on-children murder that could be construed as inappropriate in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings, and the surrounding events.

Rather than re-air the episode at a later date, however, NBC will slot the series' fifth episode in on April 25, thereby moving the season schedule and its ultimate finale up a week. Curiously, the original episode intended for April 25 had not been screened for critics, while last night's previews showed footage from upcoming episode "Coquilles," which had.

“I didn’t want to have anyone come to the show and have a negative experience,” Fuller told Variety. “Whenever you [write] a story and look at the sensational aspects of storytelling, you think, ‘This is interesting metaphorically, and this is interesting as social commentary.’ With this episode, it wasn’t about the graphic imagery or violence. It was the associations that came with the subject matter that I felt would inhibit the enjoyment of the overall episode. … It was my own sensitivity.”

NBC will air the episode overseas, while making clips from the shelved episode available online. Do you think NBC made the right decision in shelving its latest 'Hannibal' episode out of sensitivity?