Comedy Central Considers 'JC,' Show About Jesus Christ

NEW YORK — Having already caused a fuss this spring with the depiction of the prophet Muhammad on "South Park," Comedy Central said Thursday that it has a cartoon series about Jesus Christ in the works.

"JC" is one of 23 potential series the network said it has in development. It depicts Christ as a "regular guy" who moves to New York to "escape his father's enormous shadow."

His father is presented as an apathetic man who would rather play video games than listen to his son talk about his new life, according to Comedy Central's thumbnail sketch of the idea. Reveille, the production company behind "The Office," "Ugly Betty" and "The Biggest Loser," is making "JC."

It wouldn't be the first time Jesus Christ has been on a Comedy Central cartoon; he's a recurring character on the long-running "South Park."

Comedy Central was the target last month of an Internet threat for a "South Park" episode that supposedly showed Islam's prophet in a bear costume.

Whenever "South Park" features Muhammad in an episode, Comedy Central obscures the character with a black box; Muslims consider any physical representation of their prophet to be blasphemous. Following the Internet threat, Comedy Central angered "South Park" producers by editing out a character's speech about intimidation in a subsequent episode.

"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," said William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Civil and Religious Rights.

Comedy Central wouldn't comment on Donohue's statement, said network spokesman Tony Fox, who declined to give further details about "JC."

A development deal is a couple of steps ahead of a series making it to air and, in fact, most such deals don't result in series. The network would have to like the scripts enough to produce a test episode, then like that enough to put it on the air.

Other series in the works are "Intercourse with Whitney Cummings," about the comedienne's adventures in dating, and "Live Sex Show," a late-night panel discussion about sex.

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Comedy Central is owned by Viacom Inc.

Comments

[TankGirlz]

08:07 AM on 05/24/2010

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=117587928&albumID=2248442&imageID=44565377

Jesus and Mohamed argue over which group is more persecuted. Happy?

[Noble9]

04:18 PM on 05/19/2010

The cowards at Comedy Central have already shown how much they value free speech by censoring the South Park Mohammed cartoon. They can only pick on "safe" religions?

[TankGirlz]

07:24 PM on 05/24/2010

see post above yours :)

[76United]

02:04 PM on 05/14/2010

P.S.
Should the station be referred to as "Cowardly Central" or "Cowering Central"?

[76United]

02:03 PM on 05/14/2010

I won't be expecting any comment from the gutless Jon "All About the Benjamins" Stewart.

[nogimmicks]

07:29 PM on 05/10/2010

I wonder if they also are considering cracking a few jokes about his father?

[arizonaindependent]

04:09 PM on 05/10/2010

Jesus did not look like the Huffie Post Cartoon above. He looked a lot more like Osama Bin Landen than some North European sissy.

[JessCostello]

06:01 PM on 05/19/2010

Are Northern Europeans sissies?

[CanUFeel2012]

02:17 PM on 05/10/2010

I'm already laughing,...

[Retrofuturistic]

02:06 PM on 05/10/2010

This is clearly progress. It used to be that if you made fun of Christianity, that the Inquisition would come and tie you on the rack and boil you alive. But now people can say what they think, which is very, very important. We must keep saying what we think, loudly, and never let anyone (such as a person like Sarah Palin) drown us out.

[lletaa]

01:17 PM on 05/11/2010

That lady could drown out a fireworks show on the 4th of July with her shreeking voice.

[1TRIILIONin1stYear]

11:20 AM on 05/14/2010

Right. Progress. ----Like the Swedish cartoonist whose depiction of the prophet Mohammed as a dog has elicited death threats and has become the object of an attempted attacks from Imams.
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/05/11/sweden.cartoonist.attack/

Christianity can become a joke but if you invoke Mohammed. You will be killed. That's Progress, right?

[loki]

01:13 PM on 05/10/2010

whats it going ot be called? Soul Park? I can take a trip in the way-back machine and recall an SNL skit where a woman was in her kitchen asking Jesus for everything that happened. She would need a cup or something , and ask jesus for it. Finally Jesus showed up in the kitchen and ended up slapping her down for constantly bugging him.
But I have to agree, South Park did the best ones. Santa v Jesus.. And the Easter bunny was suppose to run the catholic church and not someone who I think was Karl Rove, or at least acted and looked like him. Parody is good. It educates and enlightens.

[BebeLush]

12:00 PM on 05/10/2010

I think South Park covered that already with Jesus and Pals.

[lletaa]

11:47 AM on 05/10/2010

During the sixties when us teens grew our hair and beards our parents went crazy calling us a bunch of grubby fools. Yet that same picture of Jesus showing a long haired, bearded hippie made me wonder what thoughts went through their heads as they prayed to Him.

[karen1p]

11:39 PM on 05/10/2010

Knowing a few Christians.....absolutely nothing went through their heads.....believe me.

[gun1934]

08:22 AM on 05/11/2010

hey you people are really haveing a good time blaspheming jesus christ--there will be a day of reckoning--when you die theres only two places to go-thats hell or heaven and i dont think youll go to heaven makeing fun of jesus and blaspheming his name

[supergenius02]

11:32 AM on 05/10/2010

Typical Comedy Central garbage. They would never do this to Islam - never! Just shows the anti-Christian religious bias of this horrible cable channel. But then again we know Comedy Central is an abomindation - they hired Jon Stewart.

[totalliberal]

12:47 PM on 05/10/2010

An Abomination? Wow, way to dredge up thousand your old religious terms. Do yo guys ever let go of the past? The past wasn't that pretty.

[Andman0121]

04:51 PM on 05/10/2010

Jon Stewart is an abomination? LOL you dont watch him so how would you know? He is hilarious as his ratings show and he is influential as most polls indicate. YOU are in the minority

[jalowe1957]

09:35 AM on 05/10/2010

I once wrote a play called "Where You There When They Crucified Our Lord" where Jesus of Nazareth becomes an acerbic Bill Maher-like talk show host hosting a show best described as a cross between Sababor Gigante and You Are There, where historical figures drop in as guests to discuss religious events.

Now picture for a moment of Jesus and an invisible Mohammed dueting on Tom Lehrer's "National Brotherhood Week," Jesus joining an Amish woman, a Hassinic Jew and a Muslin woman in a line dance doing the Mashed Potato, or even ballroom dancing with a Catholic nun to the tune of Aretha Franklin's "Soulville'" and you can see what would make the likes of William Donahoe freak out to no end...

[Vere15]

04:13 AM on 05/10/2010

While I am for free speech and "nothing is sacred" humor, let me offer this caveat. Progressivism in North America owes much to the Christian tradition (rather than European socialism) and specificially the stories of Jesus.

The story of his crucifixion and resurrection has inspired many a cause oriented person to sacrificially continue "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" in pursuit of admirable goals for their fellow man.

In that respect, it was precisely that power that Christ gave the progressive movement, that corporate interests in a Promethean like action stole the flame and invented the fundamentalist cult in the last century.

As a result, I believe that Democrats may be at serious risk when they burn their bridges with the religion from which they have emerged and have distilled some mighty good truths.

There is no need to take specific pains to alienate this portion of the American electorate at risk of losing them forever by "piling on."

So let the show begin - but please keep the above in mind

[CountryBeforeParty]

08:35 AM on 05/10/2010

"The story of his crucifixion and resurrection has inspired many a cause oriented person to sacrificially continue "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" in pursuit of admirable goals for their fellow man. "

You mean the story of virgin birth, sacrifice and resurrection that Christianity "borrowed" from dozens of other cultures that pre-dates itself?

It's a nice story, but it is anything but original.

[Vere15]

04:45 PM on 05/10/2010

Thanks for the response. I am quite well aware of the mithraic and other stories.

These folks may or may not have been aware of the other stories but it was the Jesus ones which captured the imagination and prevailed over time and incited these folks to both vision and action.

So whether one believes they are true, certainly you and I have benefited from them, when they have been handled correctly.

Nevertheless, I am very interested and grateful for other significant historical figures and just plain huffpost community members who have found inspiration and motivation from other sources as well.

[angryoldman]

03:52 AM on 05/10/2010

Religion is the OPIUM of the people and the only reason that keeps them from killing the oppressive ruling class. (Two good reasons for politicians to cloak themselves with faux pietism.)