…to Pop Culture!

There was a time, ages and ages ago, when the start of a new television season just grabbed me – of course, I was fifteen at the time, but still. I’d grab up the TV Guide fat Fall Season preview issue as soon as it hit the stands and pour over it, practically taking notes.

I’m not quite sure why, though – it’s not as if I was watching a lot of television, even then. I can’t think of many shows from that period that I was deeply interested in, except maybe The Rockford Files, Bob Newhart…a couple of others. Actually, I think most of my television interest in late adolescence was focused on PBS – I was a huge Upstairs, Downstairs fan, and was actually even more involved in The Pallisers (the adaptation of the Trollope novels. I was particularly hot for Donal McCann, who played Phineas Finn)…

But anyway, those days are long gone, and I watch even less television than ever because there’s hardly anything new under the sun, this week’s Office premiere notwithstanding…but here are some pop culture notes from this week, so add your two cents:

Barbara Nicolosi says she’s got Aaron Sorkin’s number regarding the Christian character on his new show.

Kathryn Jean Lopez notes a strongly pro-life start on the notoriously edgy Nip/Tuck

NBC says it still hasn’t made up its mnd about airing Madonna’s crucifixion.

Another NBC note – as many of you already know and have noted on your own blogs, NBC is airing VeggieTales – sans explicit religious content, particularly a sign off that reminds the kiddies that God loves them. This has been a matter of great controversy, but the best place to go to hash out opinions on it is on the website of one of the VT creators, Phil Vischer (remember, the Veggie Tales rights situation is complicated – since the bankruptcy of Big Idea, I don’t think they have rights to the material any more, but Vischer was asked by NBC to produce the Saturday morning show, so what he alludes to in this entry are cuts he’d been asked to make as producer, hired by NBC, not owner of the property. Correct me if I’m wrong.)

I want to put these shows back the way they’re supposed to be as soon as I can, and make lots more shows that can help raise the next generation of Christians.  Overall, I think the NBC situation is a little like being invited to sing at the White House on the condition you won’t sing certain songs that might offend certain foreign dignitaries.  Some artists might say, "Forget it!  Those songs are what I am about!  I won’t compromise!"  Others might say, "The impact of singing at the White House is worth living with their rules.  Once I’m out the door, though, I’ll be singing my songs at the top of my lungs."

That’s sort of my attitude here.  I understand if you disagree, but I hope at least you’ll know now that I’m wrestling through these issues with good intentions.

By the way, last week it was announced that NBC would allow Madonna to perform, on the air, the song in her current tour the she sings while suspended from a mirrored crucifix.  I know the audience and time of day is completely different, but it is a bit ironic that telling kids God loves them is "not okay," but singing a song while mocking the crucifixion is fine and dandy.  Let us Christians never forget that we are strangers here.  We don’t fit in.

And that’s okay.

Believe it or not, there’s a bit of commentary on this over at Catholic law blog Mirror of Justice because, among other reasons, MOJ blogger Rob Vischer is Phil Vischer’s brother.

Coincidentally, Terry Mattingly’s latest Scripps-Howard column sorts through the Veggies, and has an interesting take from Phil Vischer on his editing experience:

"The parameters of what we’re doing have not been clearly articulated," said Vischer, who works as a consultant for Big Idea, Inc., the company he created that is now owned by Classic Media. "It’s kind of like hunting for the electronic fence in your yard. You keep walking until the back of your neck starts tingling and then you know that you’ve hit it."

However, he discovered a crucial clue while editing the broadcast version of "Minnesota Cuke and the Search for Samson’s Hairbrush."

In the script, Larry the Cucumber is convinced Samson must have gotten his extraordinary strength from his hairbrush. No, replies Bob the Tomato, the Bible says that Samson’s strength came from God.

"That line was OK," said Vischer. "Where we got into trouble was the next line, where Bob says, ‘And God can give us strength, too.’ The NBC people said we had to take that out, so we must have crossed a line right there…

"What God does in the past is OK as long as it stays in the past. But if you cross that line and say that God can affect your life in the present, then that’s too much. That’s reaching out to the audience and that’s proselytizing or something. That’s bad."

The rules get tougher when children are the primary audience, he admitted. Media executives worry about programs that blur the line between "values" and "evangelism." Still, anyone who studies modern cartoons knows that producers are constantly trying to shape the beliefs of children when it comes to the environment, racism, gender, self esteem and a host of other topics.