Discovery Cancels American Guns -- What About Nugent's Show?
Written by Melody Johnson
Published
After this post was published, it was reported that Ted Nugent would not appear again on Discovery Channel “in any form or fashion.”
Following the mass shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, the cable network Discovery told Fox News that it has canceled its reality series American Guns. In October, Discovery aired a one-hour special called Ted Nugent's Gun Country starring NRA board member and Washington Times columnist Ted Nugent, despite his history of inflammatory rhetoric.
While Discovery has described Ted Nugent's Gun Country as a “one-hour special,” Nugent claimed that Discovery “want[s] to do it as a regular feature.” Nugent has also said the show would help him advance his view in the “culture war.”
The episode of Ted Nugent's Gun Country that aired in October showed Nugent shooting a scimitar-horned oryx, an animal extinct in the wild, and using a .50-caliber Browning armor-piercing machine gun to blow holes in a steel door used by a team of “preppers” to protect their armory.
From FoxNews.com:
Discovery Channel's popular reality show about a family of gun makers, “American Guns,” came under intense scrutiny in the wake of Friday's mass shooting at a Connecticut grade school, with people flooding the show's Facebook page calling for its cancelation.
“I know you all have to make money but would Discovery Channel PLEASE consider ceasing to broadcast the show in the U.K.? Sadly your program makes buying/owning guns seem fun, glamorous, even normal,” wrote one. Another tweeted, “Dear Discovery Channel: it's not appropriate showing the program American Guns now!” Another weighed in: “With Discovery shows like 'Sons of Guns', 'American Guns', 'Ted Nugent's Gun Country' etc it's not surprising how guns r seen as acceptable.”
It seems the critics may have been heard.
A Discovery rep told FOX411 that “American Guns” - which is out of production and not currently broadcasting new episodes - has been canceled and will not return for a third season. This comes as something of a surprise given its growing popularity. The show had a 50 percent ratings increase for its second season premiere, and one of its stars, Renee Wyatt, recently said she would “definitely” be interested in returning for season three. The rep, however, would not link the show's cancelation to the Connecticut school massacre.
According to the Discovery website, another of the network's gun-oriented programs, Sons of Guns, has no scheduled upcoming episodes.
UPDATE: After this post was published, Raw Story reported that Ted Nugent won't return to Discovery “in any form or fashion.” A Discovery spokesperson told the outlet that while Ted Nugent's Gun Country didn't draw high ratings when it aired in October, the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, also played a role. The spokesperson also denied Nugent's claim that Discovery had been working on a Nugent series consisting of at least a dozen shows a year.