Made out of its profits from ' Third Rock From The Sun', NBC's cartoon series ' God, the Devil and Bob' was taken off the air in the USA, after only four episodes, in April 2000.
At the moment [ May 2001] all 13 episodes are being shown on BBC2 at 10 pm on Tuesday evenings.
The basic idea of the series is that God [ voiced by James Garner ] has decided that the Earth is a mess, and He's decided to wipe it out with a plague and start again.
In a charitable moment, however, God decides that if a single person can prove that humanity is worth saving, He'll cancel His plans.
God lets the Devil [Alan Cummings] choose the person upon which mankind's future will rest. The Devil chooses poor Bob ['Third Rock's French Stewart ] a middle-aged ordinary guy with few interests beyond beer and tv. Humanity, needless to say, doesn't look to be in the best of hands- especially when Bob's first reaction to his pious task is to head for the nearest video store and ask, "Do you have the Bible on tape?"
Stewart is more than passable as a beer-swilling everyman. Surprisingly, the twitchy actor does far straighter work here in the cartoon than he does in ' Third Rock.' Garner and Cummings have a nice rapport as a laid-back God and a self-esteem lacking Satan. Instead of their usual fighting relationship, this God and Devil spend their time hanging out at car shows and going out for Greek food. Of course, that doesn't stop them from battling for Bob's immortal soul.
It all sounds like good, clean fun, but unfortunately many people and Christian groups in America didn't see it like that. I've seen the first two episodes and found them amusing and harmless. I particularly liked the idea of God in sun-glasses drinking light beer.
The American Family Association [AFA] and other groups campaigned to get the show taken off the air, claiming that it was 'offensive' and 'blasphemous'. The AFA stated, " This program is not only insulting to people of faith, it is also just plain stupid." The tv networks decided to put it on later in the evening so that it could not be seen by children. NBC, for their part, said that it had to be aired during prime-time or not at all. In the end 22 stations 'pulled' the show.
See it for yourself and make up your own mind.
Mr Christodoulou |
