TLC Pushes Back “Best Funeral Ever” Reality Show After Sandy Hook Elementary Shooting
This weekend, around the same time as the names of the victims and shooter were being confirmed in the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting, TLC announced its most tasteless grab at ratings to date. A reality show based around a Texas funeral home that threw a party with a casket in the room and called it a day. The owner of the funeral home claimed it would be a celebration of the person’s life rather than mourning of the deceased’s death. And producers claimed the show would change people’s perceptions of funerals.
All those involved in the production of Best Funeral Ever are eating their words only days later. Because the viewing audience isn’t going to be receptive to its original December 26, 2012 release date. In apparent deference to the deceased, TLC confirms in a statement that the show is being postponed… by about 10 days.
TLC has delayed its upcoming Best Funeral Ever due to sensitivities surrounding the recent school shootings in Newtown, Conn.
The hour long special, which revolves around John Beckwith Jr. and his staff of Golden Gate Funeral Home who organize unique funerals including a Christmas, State Fair and doo-wop-themed services, was slated to air Dec. 27 but instead has been pushed to Jan. 6, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
Friday’s killing spree at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown, Conn., left 28 people, including gunman Adam Lanza, 20, and his mother, dead. Twenty first-grade students were among the victims in Lanza’s attack before he turned the gun on himself.
Funerals for the youngsters were due to begin Monday as relatives began to claim the bodies of the deceased, according to the New York Times.
TLC’s Best Funeral Ever special will serve as a back-door pilot, meaning if it is successful it could lead to a series order. The Jan. 6 premiere will air after Here Comes Honey Boo Boo’s Halloween special at 9 p.m. – via The Hollywood Reporter.