Slaying Shouldn’t Be Death of TV Hit

If only the boys had watched more cartoons and less HBO. That will be the mournful lament from some quarters after the two California sons of Jane Marie Bautista allegedly took a page out of New Jersey mobster Tony Soprano’s book.

Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona said the sons, 20 and 15, told investigators they got the idea to cut off their mother’s head and hands after killing her from seeing Tough Tony do it to Ralph Cifaretto on “The Sopranos.”

Apparently, a corpse minus a head and hands makes it tougher to identify is da way dey wuz tinkin’.

Carona went on to say that one of the sons, 20-year-old Jason, spilled the beans not long after authorities told him they wanted to search his apartment. Although heavily influenced by Tony Soprano, Jason apparently missed the parts of the series where Tony never tells the cops he’s clipped somebody.

As with all discussions (they’ll never end) about how fictional violence affects real people, TV and movie bashers will have to be selective in making their arguments.

So far, Carona hasn’t sounded off on “The Sopranos” connection. I don’t know his viewing habits, but if he gets HBO, I have a hunch our sheriff probably likes the show. Most cops probably do, so I’d be surprised if Carona ventures down that dead-end highway.

However, the Bautista slaying was just what a longtime critic of the show was waiting for.

The National Italian American Foundation, which for obvious reasons hasn’t liked the way its ethnic group is depicted, issued this press release Tuesday:

“By promoting violence and worshiping at the altar of gangsterism, ‘The Sopranos’ has produced an ugly scene. The time has long passed for HBO to put the public interest before concern for profit. The blood of Jane Marie Bautista’s family in Orange County is on their hands. The public has a right to know what HBO is going to do about it.”

Where is that argument going to end up? That the boys, if guilty, weren’t the killing types until they saw on TV how easy it is? Or that, oh, sure, they might have killed their mother, but they never would have thought of dismembering her?

It’d be foolish to argue that no one ever got a criminal idea from watching TV or a movie. Dangerous people are always on the lookout for a better mousetrap. They play copycat.

But here’s a news flash: Human beings, long before TV and movies arrived, have always carried a violent strain in their bloodline.

A TV show or movie only demonstrates how we kill, not why we kill.

That’s too complicated for a press release that blames a TV show for a woman’s death. Aside from taking off a widely hailed program that provides numerous aesthetic pleasures, killing every last Soprano (and let’s throw in Paulie Walnuts) wouldn’t dent violence in America. It would only dent violence on HBO. Sons killing parents predates “The Sopranos.” Just ask Lyle and Erik Menendez.

So yes, let’s have less violence. More laughs.

Less Tony and Paulie and more Tom and Jerry cartoons, with supporting players Mammy Two-Shoes, Spike and Toodles.

Yearning for those days, I found a synopsis of a “Tom and Jerry” episode from 1944 called “Mouse Trouble.”

“Tom gets caught in a mousetrap, punched in the eye, beat up by a cornered mouse, has his ear drums blown out by a stethoscope, has the top of his head shot off with a shotgun, bear-trapped on his rear, hit with a mallet, pierced with needles, sawed in half and finally is blown to bits by dynamite.”

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Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Readers may reach Parsons by calling (714) 966-7821 or by writing to him at The Times’ Orange County edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626, or by e-mail to dana.parsons@latimes.com.