I actually watched Veggie Tales last week and this week and noticed the changes in this week's episode (I'd never seen last week's, but "lyle the kindly viking" is one of my absolute favorites). When I noticed the things they'd left out (aside from the obvious frame story), I did a quick search on it. Here's the LA times article which is similar to the one you posted, but with different quotes:
I was a little annoyed with the "sellout" at first, myself...but as I discussed it with Jeff and thought about it (and read Vischer's comments), I realized the following:
1) It's a no brainer that NBC would catch Hell (sadly) for leaving blatant relgious references in, no matter how innocuous. So long as they're consistent, I guess that's their business. 2) Getting kids interested in the moral messages of VT is more important than advocating religion in my opinion, and it would seem for the company as well. 3) If kids are interested in VT, they may ask to get/rent the DVDs, thus allowing BigIdea the opportunity to spread their original word.
I agree with the idea from the article that VT are about more than just moral messages, they are actually about God...but I think I can see their point that getting on TV is worth something-- and it's not like they've truly commercialized...they're just editing a bit. Annoying, but understandable. I have read enough about BigIdea in the past that I suspect if NBC asks too much of them...they will pull out.
And yeah, the Christian Right does tend to get their panties in a bunch way too often.
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Date: 2006-09-30 07:13 pm (UTC)http://www.latimes.com/features/religion/la-fi-veggies23sep23,1,5484612.story?coll=la-news-religion
I was a little annoyed with the "sellout" at first, myself...but as I discussed it with Jeff and thought about it (and read Vischer's comments), I realized the following:
1) It's a no brainer that NBC would catch Hell (sadly) for leaving blatant relgious references in, no matter how innocuous. So long as they're consistent, I guess that's their business.
2) Getting kids interested in the moral messages of VT is more important than advocating religion in my opinion, and it would seem for the company as well.
3) If kids are interested in VT, they may ask to get/rent the DVDs, thus allowing BigIdea the opportunity to spread their original word.
I agree with the idea from the article that VT are about more than just moral messages, they are actually about God...but I think I can see their point that getting on TV is worth something-- and it's not like they've truly commercialized...they're just editing a bit. Annoying, but understandable. I have read enough about BigIdea in the past that I suspect if NBC asks too much of them...they will pull out.
And yeah, the Christian Right does tend to get their panties in a bunch way too often.