The Creator of VeggieTales, the kids videos airing as part of NBC's Saturday-morning kids block, says that the cuts he was asked to make by NBC on the show were to take out references to God and the Bible.
On his Website, Phil Vischer says that as the person who cut the episodes, he sent the first one to NBC at "exactly" the right length, but "they rejected it because, at the end, Bob the Tomato said, 'Remember kids, God made you special and he loves you very much.' They demanded we remove that line.The show wasn't too long, it was too Christian."
He posted an e-mail on the site, www.philvischer.com, that he said was from NBC that did suggest cuts in several lines that mention God and the Bible.
"They certainly have the right to decide what is or isn't appropriate for their own network," wrote Vischer, "but if they are going to reject programming because they feel it is 'too Christian,' they should at least own up to it."
NBC had said in a statement that: Veggie Tales was originally created for home video and, in most cases, each episode is over 30 minutes long. As it appears on Qubo [NBC's Saturday-orning Block, which is a co-venture with four other kids TV producers including Veggie Tales], Veggie Tales has been edited down for broadcast without losing any of its core messages about positive values."
NBC had not returned calls at press time.
