Watchdogs unite against Comedy Central's "JC"; Plus FCC urged to monitor media hate speech

News & Commentary from the Crossroads of Faith & Media:

WATCHDOG A-TEAM FORMS GROUP TO OPPOSE COMEDY CENTRAL'S JC
Read Story.  The new association is called CARB and it has nothing to do with the food police.  Instead the Coalition Against Religious Bigotry is concerned with the menu being offered on your cable box.  Their first target: JC the animated (so-called) comedy currently in the development phase at Comedy Central that follows the adventures of Jesus in New York City as he tries to escape the shadow of his "powerful but apathetic father.  
    This space has already noted the obvious (and, for Comedy Central, frankly embarrassing) hypocrisy of banning depictions of Mohammed (basically out of fear for their lives) while acting as brave soldiers in the crusade for comedic freedom when it comes to mocking Christianity.  Christians (to their credit) tend to react with boycotts not bombs.
    I'm not against an advertiser boycott of shows that go out of their way to offend and I applaud people of different faiths coming together to denounce all religious bigotry (even if it's not specifically directed at their particular faith) but I do think we should be cautious about giving show's like this more attention than they deserve.   TV is an ego-driven business and perpetrators of dreck tend to get off on the attention driven by controversy -- while too often garnering praise for their "edgy irreverence" or whatever by reviewers in the mainstream media.
    I guess I'd kind of like to see a group like CARB organize a "buycott" for advertisers of programs that portray religious faith in a positive light.  Or how about organizing to find sponsors for positive films like Florence Nightingale, a strongly pro-faith biopic that aired on the BBC but has not received wide distribution in the U.S.?  People of faith should unite to support movies and TV programming they like and not just to oppose what they don't.

FCC URGED TO MONITOR MEDIA HATE SPEECH
Read Story.  I'm not weighing in on behalf of hate speech here,but some caution is in order when going down this road.  Certainly blatant calls for violence and the like need to be watched and kept under control but the definition of "hate" can be dangerously pliable and formed to suit political purposes.  Is it hate speech when Comedy Central disrespects the Christian faith?  Is it hate speech when a TV evangelist preaches the view that the Bible opposes acts of homosexuality?  Viewers can decide such matters for themselves -- but it's best to keep government out of it. 

NANCY PELOSI SAYS HER FAITH DRIVES HER POLICY POSITIONS
Read Story/View Video.  The House Speaker, who is Catholic and voted against a ban on late-term abortions, says of following the Gospel "we have to give voice to what that means in terms of public policy that would be in keeping with the values of the Word."  That's fine. Ms. Pelosi is certainly free to interpret the tenets of her faith and apply them as her conscience dictates. But I do think it's fair to ask the liberal commentators why progressives can talk about bringing their religious values into the formation of public policy decisions but it becomes "chilling" when conservatives do. 

GOVERNMENT TURNS TO AVATAR DIRECTOR JAMES CAMERON FOR HELP WITH OIL LEAK
Read Story.  Maybe he can bring the wisdom of the Na'vi to dealing with the environmental crisis.

MCDONALD'S DEBUTS GAY-FRIENDLY AD
See Video. Taking Burger King's "Have it Your Way" campaign to the next level.

TV SEASON SCORECARD PART 2: CBS
CBS' best of the 2009-2010 season tended to be non-scripted and and long running.
CBS HIGHLIGHTS:
The Amazing Race is by far the best reality-competition show on television.  It's exciting, well-edited, is a testament to the human spirit and, quite often, is touching.
CBS Sunday Morning is quite simple the best news program on television. It's fascinating profiles of people with interesting stories are done with a quality increasingly rare on television: dignity.
60 Minutes is the oldest and still the best of the prime-time newsmagazines.  No lurid crimes of the week (ala NBC's Dateline) and no dramatic background music of the type used on virtually every other program in the category.  There was a time when adding music to a news story was considered cheap and unbecoming to journalism.  There's just something unseemly about watching people talk about, for instance, the deaths of loved ones amid music better suited for a TV movie.  It's disrespectful and 60 Minutes should be applauded for standing against the trend.
Of CBS' newer offerings, Undercover Boss which features corporate CEO's going incognito within the ranks of their own companies and, in the process, discovering just how hard their employees really do work has its heart in the right place.  I just wonder how long a show like this can really go on.
CBS LOWLIGHTS:
Two and a Half Men actually started out funny way back in 2003 but has steadilly drifted toward the low road of comedy ever since.  If nothing else, isn't it time for a title change -- maybe to Three Sleazy Guys?
Despite the still-high ratings, I still think it's time to let this one go.
LOOKING FORWARD TO:
This fall's Blue Bloods, starring Tom Selleck as the patriarch of a family of Irish-Catholic cops in New York City, has a lot of positive potential.
Also, from a pure entertainment perspective, the Hawaii Five-0 reboot looks like fun -- less sordid than most of the current crop of TV crime dramas (including CBS' own CSI shows) while also offering the old-fashioned moral satisfaction of watching good guys nail the bad guys on a weekly basis.  I'm a little tired of too much moral ambiguity in my cop shows.
NOT LOOKING FORWARD TO:
Arranged Marriage is a CBS summer "reality" show that turns choosing a life partner into a TV game show. 
$#*! My Dad Says, a sitcom based on a twitter feed, will more than likely live up to its suggestive title. What's next? A TV drama based on a sofa warning label?  It would probably be better.

Next: FOX