Bob the Tomato Diced by NBC

VeggieTales is probably the most successful animated franchise in Christian video, and now they've made the leap from home video to network TV. They have a message that certainly wouldn't hurt kids to hear, but NBC thinks differently:

Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber always had a moral message in their long-running "VeggieTales" series, a collection of animated home videos for children that encourage moral behavior based on Christian principles. But now that the vegetable stars have hit network television, they cannot speak as freely as they once did, and that has got the Parents Television Council steamed.

The conservative media-watchdog group issued a statement Wednesday blasting NBC, which airs "VeggieTales," for editing out some references to God from the children's animated show.

"What struck me and continues to strike me is the inanity of ripping the heart and soul out of a successful product and not thinking that there will be consequences to it," said L. Brent Bozell, president of the Parents Television Council. "The series is successful because of its biblical world view, not in spite of it. That's the signature to `VeggieTales."'

More than 50 million copies of the series have been sold since 1993, according to Big Idea Inc., which produces the series.

If the star had been "Achmed the Falafel", do you think NBC would have so eagerly edited out the religious content? Not if they wanted to keep their heads.