NBC de-Godifies Veggie Tales
NBC is planning on running the Veggie Tales series (they are required by law to run educational kids programming and it's cheap). Of course, all that pesky God talk is a problem, so they are requiring it to be edited out. Their claimed reason? To cut down the 30 minute shows to 22 minute TV slots. Phil Vischer, the shows creator, who is the one actually being asked to do the editing, has the real scoop.

s the guy required to do all the editing, I know that statement is false. We sent them our first episode for TV, which was already edited to EXACTLY the right length, and they rejected it because, at the end, Bob the Tomato said, "Remember kids, God made you special and he loves you very much." They demanded we remove that line. The show wasn't too long, it was too religious.

Then we sent them the next episode, which contained a slightly shortened version of Minnesota Cuke. Again, the episode, as we delivered it, was perfectly timed for television. What did we get back from NBC? An email with a list of lines that needed to be removed from the show, each of them containing either the word "God" or "Bible." The show wasn't too long, it was too religious.

In fact, would you like to see that list? Here it is, in an email from NBC on August 24th…

As discussed, there are a few edit notes for Episode # 2 MINNESOTA CUKE

We list the time-code with the specific dialogue lines to be deleted:*

11:50-11:52 - "Calm down. The Bible says we should love our enemies." (on phone)

16:53-17:06 And the best part is God gives us strength too. He gives us an even greater power than Samson's, the power to love our enemy and even be kind to them." (on phone)

18:36 - "Because God gives us the power to love everybody, even our enemy." (on phone)All of the lines are from MARTIN's voice-over during phone conversations

Greatly appreciate your attention to Program Standards notes & concerns. As soon as the edits have been addressed, we will need to re-screen for broadcast approval.

This was the list of offensive lines we needed to remove before Minnesota Cuke could be aired on NBC. The show was already cut down to the proper length, so timing had nothing to do with it. These lines were unacceptably religious.

I'm not trying to cause trouble for NBC, but whoever is making these statements to the press is either misinformed, or is actively misrepresenting what has happened. They certainly have the right to decide what is or isn't appropriate for their own network, but if they are going to reject programming because they feel it is "too religious," they should at least own up to it.

We're making the edits because NBC is requiring us to do so. Regardless of what they are now saying to the press.

Yep. No media bias there...nothing to see...This is not the bias you are looking for....move along.
- posted by Alan Grey @ Friday, September 22, 2006