When I saw that NBC’s new fall line-up included a Saturday morning Veggie Tales series, it crossed my mind that it was unusual to see “Christian programming” on a broadcast network. Veggie Tales made evangelical history with their tradmark “Sunday morning values and Saturday morning fun” approach to kid video. The videos, sold in Christian books and later at major retail outlets, were a refreshing new thing for Christian media efforts: real wit and creativity that could compete successfully with secular children’s entertainment. The computer-generated hosting duo of Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber told fractured Bible stories and other moral tales that always included a concluding Bible verse that completed the entertaining and edifying story. As the company grew, creator Phil Vischer spoke of expansive plans to have his company, Big Idea, be the anti-Disney, big but not exploitive, entertaining, but Christ-centered. But then a lawsuit trial resulted in Big Idea’s bankruptcy and Vischer losing control of his company as it was acquired by Classic, an publicly-held entertainment company that effectively made Bob and Larry’s creator a hired hand in his company.
Thus, this op-ed piece by the conservative Media Research Center’s president L. Brent Bozell III in which he comments on the elimination of the signature scripture lesson for the NBC version of the show as well as their sign-off benediction, “God made you special and he loves you very much.” Not surprisingly, many Veggie Tales fans are upset that Classic is going ahead with the edited versions of the show, and some have written blistering letters to Vischer’s blog. As Vischer points out in his blog, NBC will allow Madonna’s performance on her mirrored crucifix, an offensive act if there ever was one, but doesn’t want to risk offending parents by including God in their children’s programming.
This is no doubt a heartbreaking lesson for Vischer and those who have worked for and supported his desire for producing quality and Bible-based children’s entertainment.
