Veggie Tales on NBC

I'm sitting here watching Veggie Tales as I translate Matthew 6, and I was reminded of this:

Eventually, someone in Tinseltown saw the commercial possibilities. Now, the news breaks that NBC (as well as NBC-owned Telemundo) will begin showing "Veggie Tales" cartoons on Saturday mornings for the new fall season. Maybe this isn't Earth-shattering news. In a world of 24-7 cartoon programming on cable and satellite, Saturday morning at the Big Three networks is a forgotten land, and the days where children would get up and watch test patterns on Saturdays in anticipation of cartoons has long passed.

But here is what should be news. The early word from producers is that NBC has grown increasingly fierce about editing something out of "Veggie Tales" -- those apparently unacceptable, insensitive references to God and the Bible.

So NBC has taken the very essence of "Veggie Tales" -- and ripped it out. It's like "Gunsmoke" without the guns, or "Monday Night Football" without the football.

Think about this corporate mindset. NBC is the network that hired a squad of lawyers to argue that dropping the F-bomb on the Golden Globe Awards isn't indecent for children, but invoking God is wholly unacceptable. Or, as one e-mailing friend marveled: "So, saying 'F--- you' is protected First Amendment speech on NBC but not 'God bless you.'"

The cartoon's creator, Phil Vischer, posted on his personal Web log the news of NBC's increasing creative stranglehold. "At first we were told everything was 'OK' except the Bible verse at the end. Frankly, that news (never) really surprised me, because, heck, we're talking about NBC here. (Would they allow) God on Saturday morning? It didn't seem likely."

But it grew worse than that edict, Vischer reported: "Since we've started actually producing the episodes, though, NBC has gotten a little more restrictive." How so? He said, "We're having to do a little more editing." How much? So much so that Vischer implied that the God talk is landing on the cutting-room floor. Now, he's merely hoping that people will "maybe wander into Wal-Mart and buy a video with all the God still in."

Why bother having a Christian show on the air if you are going to edit God out? And if you are a company who wants to share God with kids, why allow it? Producing a show that preaches moralism and not Christ is not helpful to the kingdom. Moralism is not Christianity, being good isn't going to get you anywhere.

Though, I have to say it really is a cute kid's show. I like the peas, they are pretty funny.

And here is something completely unrelated, I just heard a commercial that kids should be a booster seat until they are 4 foot 9 inches. This is nuts! My teenager would have been in one until she was twelve and my ten-year-old would be in one now. Are they insane? It was bad enough that I had to keep Samantha in a booster seat until she was eight (I hate NJ sometimes, it's such a Nanny state) but until they are teenagers? Maybe if the manufactures would improve the way they design the seatbelts we wouldn't need to compensate for them.

Updated to add: EEEP! This report is bogus! I just heard the words "Bible," "God" and "Samson" on the TV. What the heck is he talking about? I'll have to find out and let you know.

Tags: Veggie Tales, NBC, Christianity, seatbelts