New fall series starring Debra Messing on NBC jokes about school massacres

NEW YORK, N.Y. – School massacres apparently will be fodder for humour in a new NBC prime-time fall series.

During NBC’s schedule preview to advertisers on Monday, the network ran a clip of “The Mysteries of Laura,” a new series that begins this fall starring Debra Messing. Messing plays a homicide detective, and one scene shows her recoiling after rushing into a schoolroom where the walls and windows are smeared in bright red.

She says: “This is a depraved, unspeakable act.”

Then comes the scene’s punch line: her character’s two children, also covered in red, had gotten a little wild with paint during an art project.