ABC schedules "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" directly before new "Scandal" that started with graphic sex scene.
Parents watching the "Charlie Brown" Halloween special with their children needed cat-like reflexes to turn the channel in order to avoid a graphic sex scene on the adult-themed "Scandal."
"Shame on ABC for putting a peep show next to a playground," Tim Winter, the president for the Parents Television Council, said on Monday about the scheduling conflict on Thursday, Oct. 30. "In less than 26 seconds we were taken from the Peanuts pumpkin patch to a steamy 'Scandal' sex scene. Twenty-six seconds, boom."
"It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" quickly segued from an angry Sally kicking her locker to "Scandal's" Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) having a sexual fantasy about her two love interests Jake (Scott Foley) and President Fitz (Tom Goldwyn).
"Unless parents had the remote control in their hand, thumb on the button and aimed directly at the TV screen, they didn't have a chance. Such a transition is grossly irresponsible by the network and entirely unfair for parents. ABC owes families an apology," Winter said.
The Halloween special replaced "Grey's Anatomy" at 8 p.m. on ABC for the night. New episodes of "Scandal" and "How to Get Away With Murder," both Shonda Rhimes productions, aired at 9 and 10 p.m. that night.
"The juxtaposition of a reliably classic family-friendly children's cartoon special like the 'Great Pumpkin' - a huge family draw every year for decades - with such a graphic bedroom scene is unjustifiable," Winter continued.
ABC has not issued a reply, but Shonda Rhimes did retweet a fan who immediately noticed the "juxtaposition" of wholesome Peanuts and sexy "Scandal."
"@shondarhimes The leap from Charlie Brown to the first scene of #Scandal #CloseYourEyesKiddies," Twitter user @TstormVA wrote.
The official Peanuts Twitter even enjoyed being a part of the "Thank God it's Thursday" line-up.
"@shondarhimes Thank you for letting us be part of #TGIT! Does that make us Gladiators? We hope so!" Peanuts tweeted.
