"Popetown"

Too sleazy for the Beeb but just right for the U.S. The powers that be at the BBC have apparently found that their new "Popetown" cartoon might be a bit too anti-Catholic for Britain.

The star of the anitmated series is Father Nicholas, a canny fellow constantly battling the helpless bureaucracy of the Vatican, in which The Pope is said to be depicted as a childish septuagenarian whose every fickle whim must be indulged and fulfilled.

Someone took a second look at that concept (and the petition with a couple of thousand signatures protesting the showing) and decided it might not be just the thing after all.

But all is not lost:

The BBC is looking at ways of recouping at least some of the costs of the series through broadcast and video sales with Channel X and BBC Worldwide so the series may be sold to outlets in other parts of the world including the United States.

Wonderful.