Veggies Still Have Religion, Says NBC
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 9/22/2006 5:05:00 PM
NBC says it has not edited all the religious references out of its VeggieTales kids series, but does not want to advocate one religion over another either.
That's according to NBC Universal spokeswoman Rebecca Marks. Marks would not comment on whether the network had specifically asked that the show's creator, Phil Vischer, edit out all references to "God" or "The Bible," saying it was network policy not to discuss broadcast standards edits on any of its shows.
Vischer has claimed that the network sent him a list of lines that needed to be removed from the Saturday morning series, each of them containing either the word "God" or "Bible."
"NBC is committed to the positive messages and universal values of VeggieTales," said Marks. "Our goal is to reach as broad an audience as possible with positive messages, while being careful not to advocate any one religious point of view over another," she continued.
One thing Vischer isn't unhappy about is the performance of the "Christian-lite" program, as he labels the NBC version of VeggieTales.
He points out proudly that the series did a .95 in its debut vs. a .65 for the show that followed it.
