CBS entertainment chief Nina Tassler spoke during the Television Critics Association press tour about how the network is sensitive to concerns about the violence on television after the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.
According to The Huffington Post, even though CBS is dominated by crime procedurals and some include gruesome murders, Tassler said that the network's paradigm is that the good guy always wins and the bad guy goes to jail.
NBC entertainment head Robert Greenblatt and several other network executives singled out CBS's Criminal Minds for its violence and Tassler said Greenblatt made a "huge mistake" doing so but also added that it's not a show for children.
"Look, that’s a much-maligned show. I happen to enjoy the show. It’s not for everybody. It’s an adult show. It’s a suspense thriller and a character crime procedural. I don’t let my kid watch it. I do. It’s a genre show and it’s done very well," Tassler said about Criminal Minds, as quoted by Deadline.
She continued by saying that pointing the finger at certain shows with violent content is not the answer and said, "I think we’re making a huge mistake here — and I’d say it to Bob to his face — to allow the conversation to devolve into a discussion of one show vs. the other. This is a much bigger issue, and thank God it’s being discussed on the level that it is. It’s really a very personal issue.”
Tassler revealed that the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut has shaken her and many others working at CBS and “people come to work with a renewed sensitivity, absolutely."