I have long been known among my religious friends as a person who doesn’t really like the Veggie Tales videos all the much.  To me the represent an interesting contradiction of which I may blog on later.

But they are a cherished and beloved form of entertainment to many, and one that promotes biblical values.

IN that regard I respect them.  I may mock them a bit saying things like "I love Veggie Tales: With a good Ranch dressing" but that is all in fun, more to tweak the noses of my friends then really a dislike if Larry.

But there is not mistaking what they are.  They are and always have been a religious expression.  They have always heavily promoted Evangelical Christianity.

NBC decided to capitalize on the 50 million in video sales that the Veggie’s have to their credit, and brought them on to mainstream…sort of.

But the took them and they boiled and sanitized them into a mushy meaningless mess.  They removed much of the references to God.

Michelle Malkin at Hot Air takes them on here:

http://hotair.com/archives/2006/09/29/muzzling-the-veggie-tales/

The news story is here:

God references quashed; ‘VeggieTales’ creator steamed

Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber always had a moral message in their long-running "VeggieTales" series, a collection of animated home videos for children that encourage moral behavior based on Christian principles. But now that the vegetable stars have hit network television, they cannot speak as freely as they once did, and that has got the Parents Television Council steamed.

Two weeks ago, NBC began airing 30-minute episodes of "VeggieTales" on Saturday mornings. The show was edited to comply with the network’s broadcast standards, said NBC spokeswoman Rebecca Marks.

"Our goal is to reach as broad an audience as possible with these positive messages while being careful not to advocate any one religious point of view," she said.

The shows creator says he was surprised:

"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episodes for network broadcast, said he didn’t know until just weeks before the shows were to begin airing that non-historical references to God and the Bible would have to be removed.

Had he known how much he would 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 would not 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."

The Network says:

All programs set to air on NBC must meet the network’s broadcast standards, said Alan Wurtzel, a broadcast standards executive. "VeggieTales" was treated the same as any other program, he said.

"There’s a fine line of universally accepted religious values," he said. "We don’t get too specific with any particular religious doctrine or any particular religious denomination."

Vischer said he understands the network’s position.

"`VeggieTales is religious, NBC is not," he said. "I want to focus people more on `Isn’t it cool that Bob and Larry are on television."’ Marks said the network is "committed to the positive messages and universal values" of the show and expects "VeggieTales" to continue airing.

I am not as sympathetic.  Two things occur to me. 

One, Vischer should have read the fine print.  While I am not sure what he was told and such, but he shouldn’t be too surprised that a National Network is going to be a bit paranoid about religion.  If I was a cynic, I might wonder if the money blinded him.  Fortunately I am not, (ok, yes I am…shhh) but that is the first reaction some people will have.

But…

NBC is also being ridiculous.  They brought Veggie Tales into their domain with the full knowledge of what they are and why they are so popular.  To suddenly seek to sanitize it is just plain silly.

And hypocritical, as Michelle Malkin in the Hot Air vent above shows, since quite a bit of the content on NBC is far from being family friendly.  It seems NBC is more concerned about offending people with religion then with profanity, sexuality and other less family friendly elements.

If NBC wanted to bring in the VegTales and to capitalize on their popularity, they should be willing to accept what makes them popular as well.  Likely most of their audience would be people who already like them, so the damage would have been minimal.  As it is, will this de

And anyone new to Veggie-Mania who tunes in and gets offended by the mention of God always has the option to change the bloody channel.

This politically correct de-sensitization, particularly when it is generally one sided against evangelicalism is stupid.