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After President Bush was re-elected with the support of traditionalist Christians, there was much talk about how Hollywood could attract them. Suffice it to say The Book of Daniel (NBC, Fridays, 10 p.m. E.T.; debuts 9 p.m. E.T., Jan. 6) does not exactly lay out the welcome mat. Its content--did I forget to mention his sister-in-law's lesbian affair? his wife's martini habit? the adulterous bishops?--has already drawn the ire of the American Family Association (AFA), a conservative cultural watchdog group, which charged that the show "mocks Christianity." (Or that at least the promos...
Past TV executives would have had an unmixed reaction to Daniel: Are you nuts? Outside 700 Club territory, religion on TV has usually been soft-pedaled or protested. In 1997-98, ABC's button-pushing Nothing Sacred, about a rebellious young priest, was quickly canceled. Touched by an Angel was only vaguely spiritual. The God who spoke to Joan of Arcadia was carefully nondenominational. The WB's genial 7th Heaven, about a minister and his family, has been the network's highest-rated show for most of its 10-season run but has never got the hype of edgier shows...
Jack Kenny, Daniel's creator, says he set out to tell the story of "a family man, a regular guy who's trying to do good." Making his protagonist a priest raised the dramatic and moral stakes. "A priest's family is supposed to be perfect," he says, "so anything anybody does wrong becomes heightened." As for adding Jesus to the ensemble, he says he did it not for shock value but as an outgrowth of what he was taught growing up as a Catholic (he now considers himself Christian but belongs to no church): that one should have...
...Second Coming," says Kenny. Other characters on Daniel can't see Jesus; no water is walked on. "I don't want it to feel like Daniel is talking to himself, but in a way he is. Jesus represents the best part of Daniel's faith." Dillahunt plays him low-key, without thunderbolts or preaching, like a wry, mildly hip dorm adviser. When Daniel says he takes his pills only rarely, Jesus answers, "Ri-i-i-ight." "Could you put more judgment into that 'Right'?," Daniel asks. "Actually," Jesus replies, "yes, I could...
Conservatives may be less put off by the portrayal of their Savior or the over-the-top story lines than by Daniel's progressive preaching. "If temptation corners us," he says in a sermon after Grace's arrest, "maybe we shouldn't beat ourselves up for giving in to it." His is an easy-listening, baby-boomer ministry, not so much fire and brimstone as Fire and Rain. Of course, Daniel is a priest in a liberal church; American Episcopalians have even ordained a gay bishop, to the consternation of conservative members and the church's overseas counterparts. (The church...