Comedy Central Reveals Jesus Christ Cartoon in the Works
Cartoon Will Depict Jesus as a 'regular Guy'
According to a press release from Comedy Central, JC is a "half-hour animated show about JC (Jesus Christ) wanting to escape his father's enormous shadow and to live life in NYC as a regular guy. A lot has changed in 2000 years and he is the ultimate fish out of water. Meanwhile his all-powerful yet apathetic father would rather be playing video games than listening to JC recount his life in the city. JC is a playful take on religion and society with a sprinkle of dumb."
Comedy Central was recently the target of threats on the Internet over a South Park episode depicting Muhammad, Islam's prophet, in a bear suit. Normally, the character of Muhammad is obscured by a black box.
Popeater quotes William Donahue, president of the Catholic League for Civil and Religious Rights, as saying, "It's not certain what is more despicable: the nonstop Christian bashing featured on the network, or Comedy Central's decision to censor all depictions of Muhammad."
According to Hollywood Reporter, Kent Alterman, head of original programming at Comedy Central, said, "In general, comedy in purist form always makes some people uncomfortable."
In order for the deal to happen, Comedy Central would have to like the scripts enough to do a test episode and that episode would have to be liked enough for them to begin airing it. It's my prediction Comedy Central will like JC enough to put more episodes into production. After all, they obviously liked South Park enough - as warped, goofy, and controversial as it is - and it's been going strong since 1997.
Sources:
Development Slate 2010-2011, Comedy Central Press Release
Popeater, Comedy Central May Roll Out Jesus Christ Series
Hollywood Reporter, Comedy Central developing Jesus Christ cartoon -- The Live Feed
Published by Kenzy England - Featured Contributor in Arts & Entertainment
I'm a full-time freelance writer, A&E Featured Contributor, and recipient of the Yahoo! Contributor Network's 2010 Top 1000 award. I enjoy writing about my favorite celebrities, music, and television shows.... View profile
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7 Comments
Post a CommentSpeaking of satire what really cries out for satire is Lawson's type of fulmination. There can't be any "one true religion" because smart people like him don't believe there is any real truth. This opens the door for him to tell everybody: what's what, who's who and where we can all get off. This would only make sense if there was absolute truth. The Lawsons of this world perform the amazing feat of blowing up a platform and then standing on it! Pretty funny!
Great article!
To answer the question in the opening sentence of this article, "Yes -- bring it on!" Voltaire once said, “God is a comedian, playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.†I doubt if Jesus ever intended for his followers to be so stodgy. Perhaps this series is an allegory for Christianity getting out from under the shadow of oppressive fanaticism and seeking the New York of tolerance, joy and brotherhood -- kind of like how Jesus washed the feet of the dregs of society. There is so much condemnation in Christianity and "one true religion" attitude -- it cries out for satire! In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if this show winds up on Jesus' TiVo.
Follow the money: They "push the envelope" as far as they can for the almighty ratings.
Jan - I'm not so sure how it's going to go over either. It'll be interesting to see what the reaction to JC will be. They sure do seem to push the envelope a lot.
I wonder how viewers will react, should be interesting.
I'd have to see an episode to really be able to judge, but it doesn't sound like anything that would hold my interest.