God, the Devil and Bob

This was a great show. I guess I can understand why many people would be against it, but weren't people against the Simpsons when it first came out? I remember many groups saying "Eat My Shorts" was blasphemous! I mean, if FOX had listened to those religious groups and canceled the Simpsons, TV would be really different today. God, the Devil and Bob was not given much of a chance to suceed, and it was really funny. I hope another network, perhaps one less obscure, picks it up again someday.

As you may have gathered from reading the other user comments (you did read the other user comments didn't you? Go and read them. Read them? Good.) The concept was brilliant. The animation was very good (I hesitate to say brilliant, but it kind of is). The characters were marvellous.

Then the Americans cancelled it.

They said it was blasphemous.

God and the Devil influence a man's actions and he usually, after wavering slightly to make the plot better, ends up doing the right thing. It shows man as a creature that, whilst fallible, is generally good. That God has faith in man and that as hard as the Devil might try he can't seem to turn man to evil. How is this blasphemous? Well, it's blasphemous because it takes the name of God in (what they construe as) vain. The name of God, Lord, Christ or Jesus are taken in vain on so many other shows that it is almost impossible to count them all. [Side note; ever notice how these shows never take Mohammed or Allah or Vishnu or Gnesha or Buddha in vain? There's political correctness for you.] So why target this show? The character's in it didn't take the Lord's name in vain nearly as often as other shows did. The only difference is that God was there to answer back. Was God out of character? No. Was God callous? No. Did God ever do anything nasty? No. Did God have faith in humanity? Yes. Was God good? Yes. So it was the fact that he was actually there, whether or not he was 'as he should be'.

The people who objected to this seem to be overly sensitive to the portrayal of God. I can see their point; they may see this as the thin end of the wedge and that if they let this go God may be portrayed in another show in a far less favourable light. But their job is done for them by studio executives who would not go anywhere near putting that much effort into broadcasting something that would attract so much protest from so many Christians.

So who are the Americans who were not wrong? The ones that made the show and thought that common sense was a lot more common than it is. A wise man once wrote that the IQ of a mob is the lowest individual IQ divided by the number of people in the mob. This does not just apply to mobs but to any group really.

And just as a final note, before the show was broadcast in the UK it was shown to a number of religious leaders. They saw the show as a good comedy and that it had a very good, very Christian message.

This show had a lot going for it. Great voice talent, the leads are all quite well known (although Allen Cumming only recently for his role as Nightcrawler in X-2) a smart premise, and hilarious writing. I've been reading a lot of the other comments on this board and a lot of them tend to blame Americans (not with any real hostility mind you) for the show getting canceled. I have to say that as an American I was very disappointed when it was cut. Here in the states we only got to see one episode before it was yanked from the air waves. My only hope is that some day soon it will follow in the foot steps of Family Guy and be put on DVD so that every one here in the Sates can enjoy it finally.

In the mean time, I plan on checking for it with Kazaa.

Somebody brought up the Simpson's in this context. It's true: the same narrow minds that fought the Simpsons for Bart's "rebellious attitude" fought this one too. How stupid can you get. While not the greatest show in the world, this was clever, fun, and quite wise on a theological level. In fact, I can't really figure out why a religious person would be against this, unless they are simply looking for something to be offended by, because it makes them happy to get in a paroxysm of moral outrage, regardless of the matter before them.

I'll tell you the difference between the Simpson's and this quick cancellation: we've had a great increase in power, over the last 15 years, of the narrow-minded and censorious. This trend must be fought, or we won't have much culture left.

Personal opinion this was a very entertaining adult comedy and should never have been cut. I mean how many networks authorize 13 episodes and then CANCEL after only 4 claiming poor ratings. If poor ratings after only a few episodes were the only reason the show was cut than my guess is half of Adult Swim's shows would never last. What kills me it that even in 2000 they gave into pressure from religious activists based on this particular show. To actually find it offensive my opinion is you would have to be more characterized as a religious EXTREMIST, nut case or DISHONEST and simply looking for another cause as this show, at least in my opinion, is pretty tame actually and BOTTOM LINE IS A GOD DAMN CARTOON. My guess is God likely has a sense of humor and I doubt he or she would find humor this tame offensive. I know I am a few years late writing this but once again I just discovered the show, purchased the season, enjoyed it and am disappointed it was cancelled, especially given the cancellation was due allegedly to poor ratings although once again with 13 episodes in the can and only 4 aired, which does not seem quite enough time give any show a chance (look it up, all would be amazed at the number of long running shows that would never have made it if cancelled solely on the ratings of the first four episodes) as well as objections by religious extremists (just my opinion likely given the most weight at the time). What bothers me is why any attention is paid to such objections; obviously they are from pretty ignorant people who are unable to grasp the concept that if they don't like a show they can always change the channel.

Religious extremists in this country are no better than any others as they use intimidation tactics and threats to get what they want. How does this really differ from the tactics of terror groups. Bottom line wrong is wrong and when networks give in they are simply sending a sign to others and condoning actions that most of the world rightly condemns.