Veggies on NBC

So Veggie Tales has come to NBC, with a few ... edits. And I've been wondering how I felt about those changes. From Phil Vischer's blog:

At first we were told everything was 'okay' except the Bible verse at the end. Frankly, that news really surprised me, because, heck, we're talking about NBC here. God on Saturday morning? It didn't seem likely. Since we've started actually producing the episodes, though, NBC has gotten a little more restrictive. (I think they actually sat down and started watching a few VeggieTales videos. "Hey wait - these are religious.") So it's gotten trickier, and we're having to do a little more editing. More than I'm comfortable with? Frankly, yes. But I had already committed to helping Big Idea with this, and I really didn't want to leave them in a tight spot. Plus, the new stuff we're coming up with is really fun, and at least some new kids will meet Bob and Larry on NBC, and maybe wander into Wal-Mart and buy a video with all the God still in. So it could be better, but overall it's not a total loss. The new stuff is really cute. You'll like it.

Sounds to me like NBC didn't do their research. They figured that Classic Media would provide them some nice, safe, kid-friendly stuff to air, and Classic decided to promote their hottest new product. Then NBC got cold feet.

We watched this morning -- the Veggies were on at 9 eastern, and 3-2-1 Penguins was on at 10. Would I have liked to have seen more Bible, more of the "God stuff" that NBC wanted cut? Absolutely. But I think we're losing focus here. Watch the rest of what passes for kids TV these days. The Veggies have an opportunity to offer a ray of light, a more positive alternative to what's being shown already. There isn't enough decent programming for kids on TV, and complaining that they had to edit the Veggies is really a tad counterproductive. When Big Idea was bought by Classic, there were fears that the religious nature of the shows would be compromised. Well, the next video they're doing is about Gideon, and they're promoting the one after that about Moses, so I really think that we over-reacted there, and I think we are now as well. Let's be happy that NBC is airing some decent programming.

Posted by Warren Kelly at September 9, 2006 09:50 AM | TrackBack