ABSTRACT
“‘ God’ is dead on peacock web.” So read Variety 's headline in April 2000, a postmortem vigil for the controversial animated comedy, God, the Devil, and Bob (Adalian and Schneider 2000: 72). After coming under fire from several religious advocacy groups, the mid-season replacement about the Almighty and the Prince of Darkness competing for control of the world and the soul of a Detroit autoworker was canceled by NBC after only four airings. Despite media pronouncements by NBC that God was not blasphemous and that the network had several theological consultants on staff, Jerry Falwell, the American Family Association, and the Council on American–Islamic Relations found the show's portrayal of the “supreme being” to be tasteless and offensive. Such protests adversely affected NBC's ability to sell advertising time or guarantee clearance to advertisers, as 22 of its 220 affiliates preempted God. 1 In its final week, God drew a 4.4 rating – under six million viewers – down from the 14.4 million viewers who watched its premiere. In fact, the last telecast of the show was the worst performance in the 8:30 p.m. time period ever for NBC and about one-fifth the size of ABC's competing Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (“NBC Cancels God, the Devil, and Bob” 2000: D4; Huff 2000: 122). It was evident that many affiliates felt the show did not serve the public interest of their communities and that many viewers either found the show inappropriate for broadcast network television or just not funny enough.
