Coming soon: NBC’s The Bible sequel

Hotair ^ | 07/02/2013 | Ed Morrissey

[SeekAndFind]

The History Channel tapped into an underserved market and came up with a blockbuster miniseries earlier this year in The Bible. The rumors of a sequel understandably peaked after the reception of the original; Hollywood likes nothing more than Roman numerals after a title, which is a bit more ironic than usual in this case. This time, though, the sequel moves to NBC, which outbid The History Channel for the follow-up:

The Bible is making the jump from cable to network TV, as Comcast’s (CMCSA) NBC said it has struck a deal for a sequel to History’s surprise spring hit. NBC’s version will be titled A.D.: Beyond the Bible and will pick up after Christ’s death, though after that it’s pretty open.

An expensive and overtly religious production isn’t an obvious fit for a major network these days. Those channels today lean on talent-show TV, which doesn’t require high-paid actors and special effects. The Bible, though, comes with a massive built-in audience and a unique and powerful marketing machine. The 10-hour miniseries, produced by reality-TV king Mark Burnett and his wife, Roma Downey, won a huge following, in part by screening previews for religious leaders of U.S. megachurches. Before the première, some pastors even showed their flocks 90-minute making-of documentaries, while Christian groups bought ads in Times Square to tout the show.

Burnett and Downey tried to remain as faithful to the source material as possible, albeit not without some interesting flourishes — such as the martial-arts angels that kicked butt in Sodom and Gomorrah, for instance. The installments in the first miniseries covered a few millenia between Abraham and the Resurrection, which meant a significant amount of narration and a telescoping of events. Nevertheless, thanks to the dearth of Bible-based entertainment over the last several decades, Burnett and Downey found themselves a huge audience and an avalanche of gratitude from the faithful.

What isn’t clear is what the source material will be for another miniseries … and the title Beyond the Bible gives the impression that it’s going to be a lot less moored in Scripture than its predecessor. The miniseries ended with Jesus’ ascension and the Pentecost, which is the end of the Gospels. What’s next? Acts, of course, and the letters of Paul, but the scope of the production will have to shrink dramatically between source and sequel. Besides, those are actually in the Bible, not “beyond” it. Perhaps it’s a historical miniseries about the spread of Christianity, but based on what source material?

Erick Erickson has been having some fun speculating on an NBC version of the Bible:

The Apostle whom Jesus loved? They'll explore that relationship. #NBCBibleChanges

— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) July 2, 2013

In NBC's Bible series, King Herod and Pontius Pilate will both wear pink sneakers.

— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) July 2, 2013

NBC picks up Bible Series. Rumor is they're in talks with Wendy Davis to play God.

— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) July 2, 2013

Lot, God, and the angels will be portrayed as ruthless bigots in the scene about Sodom. #NBCBibleChanges

— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) July 2, 2013

If Burnett and Downey are still exec-producing the miniseries sequel, they have earned the benefit of the doubt. If not, well, all bets are off. At the very least, this purchase by NBC demonstrates that Hollywood has ignored a very lucrative market for a long time, and maybe Hollywood has started to figure that out.

[ecomcon]

People are interested in the Bible?

NBC will nip that one in the bud, like right now.

[Fido969]

lol

[Alex Murphy]

What isn’t clear is what the source material will be for another miniseries … and the title Beyond the Bible gives the impression that it’s going to be a lot less moored in Scripture than its predecessor. The miniseries ended with Jesus’ ascension and the Pentecost, which is the end of the Gospels. What’s next? Acts, of course, and the letters of Paul, but the scope of the production will have to shrink dramatically between source and sequel. Besides, those are actually in the Bible, not “beyond” it. Perhaps it’s a historical miniseries about the spread of Christianity, but based on what source material?

It's predecessor wasn't exactly "moored in Scripture" to begin with.

“This may be largely preaching to the choir, but the choir is increasingly illiterate when it comes to the Bible.”
-- Bob Waliszewski, director of the Plugged In Ministry (Focus on the Family)
As quoted in The Christian Science Monitor

[GraceG]

Yay!! a sequel to the Bible series on TV

Booo!! NBC is involved....

I hope the Creators of the Series have signed a contract saying they have FULL creative and Editorial control over the project and if NBC interferes they can walk to another network easily to air it.

[SkyPilot]

While the series was generally a "good thing" and I applaud her and husband for producing it, a couple of notes:

- When Roma Downey decided to eliminate the homosexuality of Sodom and Gomorrah, that was wrong.

- When Roma Downey played Mary in the series, it was utterly cringe worthy.

She had the camera cut to her time, time, and time again during this portion of the series, showing us her weeping and sorrowful Mary character. Her portrayal of Mary eclipsed (at times) that of the actor playing Jesus, and she got almost as much screen time during one portion of that episode.

I am sorry, but the story of Jesus was and is more important than the suffering Mary. There is no other story or hero greater than Christ. You could almost feel her need to be noticed come through your flat TV screen.

[SeekAndFind]

And I didn’t know that Samson and his mother were black...

[mware]

Heck I didn't know that Satan was Obama.

(I did have my suspicions though.)

[donmeaker]

I bought my daughter the Manga Bible. I read it first. No egregious theological errors, and translated from the Japanese.

Got to meet people where they live.

[BenLurkin]

[SkyPilot]

Yeah, that was right up there with the Ninja angels (one Black, one Asian).

I would say to these people: "Look, it is great that you made a successful mini-series on the Holy Bible that was seen by millions of people. BUT, do not take "Hollywood License" with God's Word. The men of Sodom and Gomorrah are clearly listed in the Bible as Homosexuals, and you chose to alter that Truth. Don't misinterpret Scripture - period!

[Patton@Bastogne]

.


predictions ... (my wife laughed these off, now there's a sizeable bet as to who will be correct) ...


Jesus and Peter ... then sometimes Jesus and John ... and then Paul and Timothy ... and then Paul and Timothy ...


will all have their "special relationships" ...


to be shown by NBC as these guys take-off on mysterious 2:00 AM "walks through the garden" together ...


next, Jesus will perform a couple of "sodomite marriages" ...

heal a couple of sodomite-faggots of "aids" ... (before it was invented by the CIA to kill Africans) ...


and finally ... Jesus will father a dozen or more children (as their "baby-daddy") with His extremely-adoring female followers ...




Frankly, I wouldn't trust NBC to accurately broadcast or produce "anything" other than open (verey romantic) sodomite sex between obama and his "body man" reggie love ...

hey ... maybe chrissy "tingle up my leg" matthews could narrate that one ...




.

[Patton@Bastogne]

.


predictions ... (my wife laughed these off, now there's a sizeable bet as to who will be correct) ...


Jesus and Peter ... then sometimes Jesus and John ... and then Paul and Timothy ... and then Paul and Timothy ...


will all have their "special relationships" ...


to be shown by NBC as these guys take-off on mysterious 2:00 AM "walks through the garden" together ...


next, Jesus will perform a couple of "sodomite marriages" ...

heal a couple of sodomite-faggots of "aids" ... (before it was invented by the CIA to kill Africans) ...


and finally ... Jesus will father a dozen or more children (as their "baby-daddy") with His extremely-adoring female followers ...


Frankly, I wouldn't trust NBC to accurately broadcast or produce "anything" other than open (verey romantic) sodomite sex between obama and his "body man" reggie love ...

hey ... maybe chrissy "tingle up my leg" matthews could narrate that one ...




. .