Conservative Groups Slam NBC's "Book" - Now I want to watch it!

[wyldwolf]

A new sitcom's portrayal of Jesus is just not all right with conservative Christian groups.

The Tupelo, Mississippi-based American Family Association has launched a campaign against the fledgling NBC drama, The Book of Daniel, claiming the show offers a disrespectful and offensive portrayal of Christianity.

NBC affiliates in Terre Haute, Indiana; Little Rock, Arkansas; Beaumont, Texas; and Meridian, Mississippi, have refused to air the series premiere Friday night, citing viewer complaints.

Daniel stars Aidan Quinn as the Rev. Daniel Webster, a dedicated Episcopalian minister with a painkiller addiction who regularly sees and converses with Jesus Christ (played by Garret Dillahunt).

Aside from Webster's struggles to manage the politics involved with leading an austere New England congregation, the show focuses on the various stresses of his family life.

To sum up: the reverend's wife has a fondness for midday martinis; his teenage daughter is caught selling marijuana; his teenage son is on a constant quest to have sex with his girlfriend; and his older son is a gay Republican trying to forge his identity. Then, there's his own Vicodin habit and, of course, the whole chatting-with-Jesus thing.

Unsurprisingly, it's not a family model that sits well with conservative Christians.

http://tv.yahoo.com/news/eo/20060106/113660346000.html

[NightOwwl]

1. Yeah...I'd never even heard of it until all the uproar.

I'll make sure to watch it now. Thanks for the tip, fundies!

[hippiechick]

2. Bush can chat with Jesus but a TV character can't ?

:wtf:

I enjoyed the show -- thought it showed that
a/ 'church people' are human beings too
b/ all families have problems
c/ the main character was looking for direction in solving those problems, in most cases.
And that's when he 'talked' to Jesus.

What's so inappropriate about that ?

[catmother]

3. i totally agree. n/t

[Daphne08]

7. I love the title of your post

Bush can chat with Jesus but a TV character can't ?

:rofl:

By the way, I enjoyed the show, too.

[Democrats_win]

8. Long hair Jesus got them mad.

I too liked the BOD. The gay side involved the straight brother, who is constantly sneaking around with his girlfriend, teasing his gay brother. That was fun.

The show was not the normal boring American TV. Perhaps they shouldn't have referred to any religious denomination. Catholics and Episcopalians may not like the way they were shown. The most shocking moment was when a bishop who's wife as Alzheimers, has an affair with a female priest!

I predict this good show will be unjustifiably cancelled.

Note: 7th Heaven and most WB shows NEVER have gay characters but otherwise they have many of the same problems as shown in the BOD. They're supposedly family friendly.

Lesson learned: If you want really good stories without censorship: read. Thank God this censorship reminded me not to waste my time watching the super bowl or the other crap that'll be offered in the next months.

[Plausible]

4. It's pretty good

I watched it last night.
Probably wouldn't have without all the fuss.

[MaineDem]

6. I fell asleep

I did like the character who used to be Carla's exhusband on Cheers as the Catholic priest with mob connections.

[Democrats_win]

5. Was show boycotted by advertisers?

From my observations, something was up because all of the commercials were for NBC programs except for a few commercials about movies. There was one commercial for male hair dye.

[MADem]

9. I saw a fair amount of commercials, plus the NBC shows, plus a push

for the OLYMPIC coverage that NBC is running. But most of the commercials were local-ish (Gold Bond foot and skin products, e.g.--that shit is big in the Northeast).

Whatever, it was a very good show for NETWORK TV--between the gay kid, the horny adopted Chinese kid, the pot selling daughter, pot smoking BLACK housekeeper (not PC in the 'conventional wisdom' big picture, but she is a great character!), the drinkie mama/Friday night sex, the bi sister in law, the Altzheimer's mom/granny, the bishop dad/grampa having the affair with the other bishop, and the pill-popping, codeine addicted Rev, to say nothing of the mobbed up catholic priest, it was a damn fine and funny, well written, program!! And that was just the PREMIERE program!!

So much opportunity for outrage, from all corners!!! The surfer-dude spit image of the fundie picture Jesus was a side dish, after all that!!!

[rodeodance]

10. silly take-off from A kiss of an angel--watched some-got bored. It will

be off the air soon.

[MADem]

11. No way that had anything in common with Touched by an Angel

I don't recall any bi sisters in law or horny chinese kids whose girlfriend's parents "didn't want oriental grandchildren around the Xmas tree" on that show!

But hey, YMMV, and clearly it does. I give it a thumbs up.

[Eric J in MN]

16. What is "A kiss of an angel?"

a TV series? Special? Movie?

[chefgirl]

12. I watched it, wasn't impressed

The script seemed awfully sophomoric to me. I think the not so subtle skewering of the fundie crowd was a bit overdone, actually.

I'm sure it offended the people it wanted to offend, but I do think the script suffered in the process.

That said, if, as I suspect, it was meant to be a sort of quasi-religious homage to 'Desperate Housewives', I suppose it hit the mark.

-chef-

[graywarrior]

13. It got better in the second hour.

Too bad they made Jesus so white. I'm wondering what the black maid's story is. Bet she's an interesting character.

The show started slow and I had trouble staying with it, but by the second hour, I was hooked. What a dysfunctional group. I'm surprised the catholics aren't in an uproar over the mob connection.

Not as good as LOST, but I'll still tune in if I'm not at some dignitary dinner or something.

[MaineDem]

14. Wasn't the housekeeper smoking a joint?

Outside when the priest came to visit? I thought that was funny.

[Eric J in MN]

15. That explains why the daughter couldn't find

her pot later.

Thanks, I didn't notice that.

[graywarrior]

17. Ahhhhhh, now I get it. Of course!