In the last edition of Catalyst, we ran a story on an episode of the Fox animated TV show, “The Simpsons,” that raised our eyebrows. Our objection centered on an exchange between the character, Bart, and his mom.
On the November 22 show, Bart said to his mother, “I’m starving. Mom, can we go Catholic so we can get Communion wafers and booze?” She replied, “No, no one is going Catholic. Three children is enough, thank you.” What we received from Thomas Chavez, Manager for Broadcast Standards and Practices, was double-talk. Now “The Simpsons” has struck again, big time.
On January 31, in an episode that ran shortly after the Super Bowl (Fox aired the game and must have known that they’d draw a big audience), there was a segment in which a nerdy-looking man drives up to a gas station and is greeted by three buxom, scantily-clad women. One of them is wearing black and she is the most scantily-clad of all. She’s also shaking her body more than the others to the rock music which is playing in the background. As she bends forward, the camera zooms in on her to reveal a large cross, and then says, “The Catholic Church, we’ve made a few changes.”
We wrote to Mr. Chavez again, but we also told him that he’d be hearing from you, too. So don’t disappoint us. Write to him at Fox Broadcasting Company, P.O. Box 900, Beverly Hills, California 90213-0900.
