Good news for AMC, as they move toward airing the entire Sopranos series: Violence on TV doesn't beget violent children. Rejoice!

Well, first consider that said belief comes from The Media Institute, a First Amendment mouthpiece. The FCC, you might've guessed, feels differently on the matter — and that's precisely what the free speech organization is countering. (It should be noted: NBC Universal, Time Warner, News Corp., Viacom, Tribune, and Gannett all have TMI's back.)

While the FCC may have issued a report concluding violence on TV harms children, The Media Institute says, in a paper lead by University of Toronto professor Jonathan Freedman, those claims are unfounded; the evidence just isn't in the research.

Freedman concedes that research shows there is a correlation between watching violent TV and aggressive behavior, but that the explanation may be that aggressive children tend to want to watch more violent shows, an "intuitive" explanation he says should be "ruled out before causation can be proved."

Freedman has been a leading critic of research asserting a causal connection between violent media and real violence.

He points out that the violent crime rate has been declining for the past 15 years, which would not support a theory that the increase in violent media causes more societal aggression.

That, or now that murder has become a suburban joke, that whole "acting out" thing has just lost its appeal.