I’ll admit it, I love VeggieTales. I can’t say that I’ve seen every episode, but I’ll admit I was a little sad to hear that God is being edited out of the show for NBC. Here are a few excerpts:
Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber always had a moral message in their long-running “Veggie-
Tales” video series. But now that the vegetable stars have hit network television, they can’t speak as freely as they once did, and that’s got the Parents Television Council steamed.
The conservative media-watchdog group issued a statement Sept. 20 blasting NBC, which airs “VeggieTales,” for editing out some references to God from the children’s animated show.
“What struck me and continues to strike me is the inanity of ripping the heart and soul out of a successful product and not thinking that there will be consequences to it,” said L. Brent Bozell, president of the Parents Television Council. “The series is successful because of its biblical worldview, not in spite of it. That’s the signature to ‘Veggie-
Tales.”‘
I would agree–VeggieTales is popular not only because it has cute little characters and bright colors, but mostly because of its stories. I understand Big Idea’s hope that airing the edited version of the shows will bring them to a larger audience, and I certainly respect their choice to go ahead and air the shows with the required editing. That being said, I hope that VeggieTales doesn’t lose some of its appeal by taking God out of the equation. I agree with Bozell, “The series is successful because of its biblical worldview, not in spite of it. That’s the signature to ‘Veggie-Tales.”
Phil Vischer, the creator of Veggie Tales, said he wouldn’t have agreed to the deal if he knew ahead of time how much the show would have to be changed to air on NBC.
“VeggieTales” creator Phil Vischer, who was responsible for readying episodes for network broadcast, said he didn’t know until just weeks before the shows were to begin airing that nonhistorical references to God and the Bible would have to be removed.
Had he known how much he’d have to change the show - including Bob and Larry’s tagline,
“Remember kids, God made you special, and he loves you very much,” that concludes each episode - Vischer said he wouldn’t have signed on for the network deal.
“I would have declined partly because I knew a lot of fans would feel like it was a sellout or it was done for money,” he said, adding that “there weren’t enough shows that could work well without those (religious) references.” All programs set to air on NBC must meet the network’s broadcast standards, said Alan Wurtzel, a broadcast standards executive.
It will be interesting to see whether the watered-down version of VeggieTales will experience the kind of success the video version has.