TNT, FX Stand Ground By Keeping 'Batman Begins'/'The Dark Knight' Airings

Certain programming of sensitive topical natures was altered across several major networks following Friday's deadly rampage at an Aurora, Colo. movie theater's midnight "The Dark Knight Rises" premiere.

Conspicuously, TNT and FX won't bump "Rises" director Christopher Nolan's previous two Batman films, The Hollywood Reporter said Saturday.

TNT will keep to both its scheduled "The Dark Knight" airing Saturday at 8 p.m. ET/PT and its Sunday night encore at the same time. Likewise, FX will also keep to its scheduled airings of "Batman Begins," both films' airings originally scheduled to capitalize on the nigh-unprecedented hype surrounding this weekend's premiere of Nolan's third and final Batman offering.

Airing "The Dark Knight" may seem particularly bold: when shooter James E. Holmes, 24, was taken into custody after killing 12 people and injuring 58 about a half-hour into Friday morning's premiere, he told Aurora police that he was "The Joker." Beneath the riot helmet he wore into the theater, he'd dyed his hair red. "The Dark Knight" earned the late Heath Ledger a posthumous Oscar for his portrayal of Batman's nemesis of the same name.

Various networks have fallen in line with Warner Bros. cancelling planned premiere events in Tokyo, Mexico City and Paris. Respective episodes of "Law & Order: SVU" on USA and "The Unit" on CLOO with plots involving hostage situations were pulled Friday night following the tragedy.

Showtime didn't indicate which movies it had shuffled in its schedule, but network representatives told THR that certain films had been bumped for thematic considerations. Starz, meanwhile, will air episodes of its Roman gladiator drama "Spartacus" and the Edward Norton drama "American History X."