Friday, September 15, 2006

Shame on NBC



I heard about a sad state of affairs on our local talk radio station this morning. It turns out that Veggie Tales is now going to be on NBC on Saturday mornings. "Wow" I thought to myself, I had not heard of this. But then I found myself fuming. The so called wise people in charge of NBC have said that Phil Vischer (the man behind the tales) is not to have any reference to God during the show. WHAT? Say it again because I know I did not hear it right. Sorry, but yes, I did hear it correctly. I just think now, what in the world is happening.

I can not let my children watch the basic three channels because everything they put on the air is awful. OK sometimes the shows they may have on are OK but then you better watch out for those commercials. You never know when they might show a commercial for an rated R movie during a sporting event that everyone in the family is watching.

I would like to challenge Mr. Phil Vischer to tell NBC off. He does not need their money. He should hold true to his art and not take any of it out. If we, as competent people, begin to compromise where will it end. Everything in the world is being compromised. We must hold true to our faith.

3 comments:

Barb the Evil Genius said...

There are a few points I would like to make. One, NBC seems to have created a whole "family friendly" Saturday morning theme, with one of Vischer's other creations, "321 Penguins," and other more wholesome cartoons than the standard fare. This seems like an interesting and positive step after all the junk that has been produced for kids.

Two, at least one episode of "321 Penguins" has showed the two little kids praying and I think had a Scriptural reference as well, if that makes you feel a little better about the direction of these shows.

Three, Veggie Tales seems to have done very well in the ratings, which may give those who produce the show the clout to ask for Bible passages and references to God to be put back in, if they want it.

Fourth, Phil Vischer may have had a say about whether he would work directly with creating stuff for NBC, but I don't think he had a say as to whether NBC would show Veggie Tales. He doesn't own Big Idea anymore, after all. It is possible he hoped more people might be exposed to Veggie Tales who then might watch some of the older videos that do talk about God and what the Bible says. Or even that NBC might change their minds if the show did well.

Phil Vischer has his own blog, so maybe you could read his responses to what others have written and tell him anything you wanted him to know. I do not wish to say point-blank that I think what Phil is doing is right, but I see reasons why he might be doing what he is doing, just from the quick look I've taken at his site.

The Hen (Charity) said...

Barb,
I guess I should reaseach things a little bit more before I blog about them. I had just read a news report and blogged my feelings after reading it. I really do not have the time to look up thing before I write about them. I am sorry. Life is busy with 4 children under 9. I will try to be more carefull in the future.

Barb the Evil Genius said...

No need to be sorry about anything! I just wanted to let you know that there are a lot of ways in which Veggie Tales on TV could maybe be seen in a positive light. Now, the fact that NBC is now denying they asked God to be cut out is a whole different story, and definitely something to be mad about. Plus the news that they will be showing Madonna's latest tour video later this fall, and were planning to include all the offensive cross bits. Now that the news is coming out, they are having second thoughts about showing all of it.

It's a definite problem for Christians and they don't all agree with the solution. Some say that we should reject any business who does something we don't agree with, even if they do other stuff we would support. Others think that we should support specific shows like Veggie Tales on NBC, even if we reject some of NBC's other programming. What you and your family feel called to do is your family's call. I just wanted to give you some other things to think about in that decision.

BTW, I like your name! One of my daughters has Charity has her middle name. I have two sisters-in-law named Faith and Hope...

I'm sure you are very busy! I only have two and they are a bit older, so I have a bit more time. Not that I always use it wisely! Thank you for stopping by my blog. Glad you liked the flower quiz.