Three More NBC Affiliates Nix 'Daniel'

NewsMax ^ | 1/6/06 | NewsMax

[wagglebee]

Three Kansas NBC affiliates have announced they will not be carrying NBC’s "The Book of Daniel.” KSNG in Garden City, KSNC in Great Bend and KSNK in Oberlin have responded to community concern and will not air the program.

They join KNSW-TV in Wichita, Kan., KARK-TV in Little Rock, Ark. and WTWO in Terre Haute, Ind., in refusing to carry NBC’s new series.

American Family Association (AFA) says that NBC has received more than 600,000 emails protesting the program.

After viewing the first episode at WBIR in Knoxville, several religious leaders gave their views on the program. Brian Kearns, minister at Lighthouse Christian Church, said, "I think it’s very demeaning to Christianity. It’s an assault on the Christian faith.”

Rev. Tom Seay of the Bearden United Methodist Church, described it as "just a pretty sorry piece of work.” Dale Powers of the Catholic Diocese of Knoxville said "You’re portraying something as normal that is just absurd.” And Rev. John Stuart said, "What the show has done is demean my faith. You’ve diminished the person I worship ... you’ve wounded me.”

Donald E. Wildmon, chairman of AFA, said NBC is running the program despite the loss of millions of dollars in advertising revenue. "Advertisers are shying away from the program,” Wildmon stated. "But NBC’s hostility to Christians and Christianity runs deep.”

The program’s main characters include Daniel Webster, a drug-addicted Episcopal priest; his alcoholic wife; his son, a 23-year-old homosexual Republican; his daughter, a 16-year-old drug dealer; a 16-year-old adopted son who is having sex with the bishop's daughter; his lesbian secretary who is sleeping with his sister-in-law; and a very unconventional white-robed, bearded Jesus who reassures the priest that his drug-dealing daughter and promiscuous son are good kids.

According to media reports, it is written by Jack Kenny, a practicing homosexual, who describes himself as being "in Catholic recovery,” interested in Buddhist teachings about reincarnation, and not sure exactly how he defines God and/or Jesus. "I don't necessarily know that all the myth surrounding him (Jesus) is true,” he said.

[Sun]

Thank you.

ABC has never been a moral group - just like most of them.

[ReignOfError]

Welllllll, I watched the thing because to be honest, I wanted to put it down, and wanted to do it honestly.

And you don't think that might have colored your reaction to the show?

The Book of Daniel, was IMO, the 2006 version of "SOAP" or "MARY HARTMAN MARY HARTMAN ", only with no morals or respect and uses as much shock that you should look for Howard Stern for relief.

I didn't find it that offensive. On about the same level as the shows you mention, with the one exception that none of the major characters was a member of the clergy (there was a Father Bob in Soap, I think).

The lead character...The Episcopalian Priest....who every five minutes pops Vicadin...is oblivious to what is going on in his family...like his wife...and talks to Jesus, who is brought down to common man level.

The wife of the priest is a heavy martini drinker.

We do see the priest popping pills, and we see the wife make herself a drink as a response to stress on a few occasions, but we don't see either of them in a visibly intoxicated state.

I don't see the father as particularly oblivious, any more so than the typical father in a TV drama. Keep in mind that this was the pilot, and the writers had to introduce all of the characters and their dysfunctions at one shot.

Despite his pill-popping and self-doubts, Father Webster is clearly committed to his flock and his family. The siblings needle each other in the way siblings do, and the main venue for that needling is when the entire extended family sits down for Sunday dinner, which most families don't bother to do any more.

I saw the Webster family as basically solid and loving despite its quirks, and if anything, the trappings threatened to fall into familiar stereotypes: The teenagers keeping secrets, the loving father who spends too much time at the office and struggles to live up to his own father's standards, the loving wife who feels stifled being at home all day, etc.

I don't think the show mocks Christianity; just the foibles of a group of Christians. There wasn't a lot of theology in the show, and what there was will no doubt offend some as being a soft, left-of-center version of Protestantism, but the guy is an Episcopalian.

The daughter is selling drugs.

She's not exactly a mule for the Cali cartel. The daughter sold drugs once as a misguided way to make some money, got caught, and was punished. There's no indication she ever touched the stuff herself or intends to sell it again. When she unloads the last baggie, she sounds relieved as she says she's "out of the pot business."

To put this in perspective, imagine that on an episode of Seventh Heaven -- a show that has been widely praised as a family-friendly drama about the family of a minister -- one of the kids was caught with pot, got arrested, got lectured, and swore never to do it again. That would be a garden-variety Very Special Episode, not an assault on Christianity.

One of the sons is gay.

Yup. No two ways about that, and the immediate family is accepting of that. The grandfather doesn't know. There are some folks who won't be happy unless he's depicted as a twisted soul who dies horribly of AIDS, and I really don't have anything to say to those folks.

Other adopted son is Chinese, and is boinking the daughter of one of the church administrators 16 yr. old daughter.

Yup. So we have teens getting caught up in drugs, teens getting caught up in sex -- sounds like every family drama of the last 20 years.

The Mother has Alzheimer's , and this is make a joke of.

There's a drastic difference in perception. I didn't think the mom's Alzheimers was played for laughs (there were a couple of funny lines, but that's the nature of dark humor). The scene where the mom thanks the dad by name, but then doesn't recognize him and slaps him when he tries to put his arm around her, was particularly poignant.

The depiction of Jesus is going to irk some folks, as will any depiction of Jesus. I don't look as the statements by the Jesus character as pronouncements by themselves, but as part of a dialogue with Daniel; remember that He knows what Daniel is thinking, and his role in the drama is to tell Daniel what he needs to hear at the moment. Don't expect every line to be lifted from the Gospels.

I'm not going to get into the plot point by point, because I've put enough time into this, but I'd encourage folks to watch a whole show rather than trust someone else's summary, including mine. The show does feature a gay character as a normal, fairly well-adjusted kid, and depicts Jesus as more or less a non-judgmental Jiminy Cricket character, so if either of those is going to really gall you, don't bother.

[finnigan2]

"If it isn't insulting to Christians and an assault, then why don't they do a similar show on Muslims? "

- Because they know if they did, they would have their throats slit by an Islamofascist. It's much easier to be an anti religious crusader when you know the target will not kill you. Hypocrites and cowards.

[tuckrdout]

Good letter.

Wonder if they will make a program with a hip, PC "Allah" or prophet Mohammad?

[Honorary Serb]

I missed the first episode of "The Book of Daniel" because I was celebrating Badnje Vece (Serbian Christmas Eve) with my Serbian Orthodox congregation.

Well, I guess that I was where I was supposed to be, and not where the New World Order media lords wanted me to be!!!!

[Fletcher J]

Don't expect the courtesy of a response from the general manager of WBIR. I emailed him and the WBIR sales department prior to the first show's airing, and never received a response.

My understanding is that the manager was interviewed on WBIR news about the show, and he said that those who didn't want the show to air should just change the channel and watch something else. That seems strange, since WBIR's own survey indicated that 60% of their audience didn't want it shown.

I thought WBIR would want to *attract* viewers to their channel, not run them off. However, I guess that's true only when it doesn't interfere with their Christian-bashing...

I'm sure it won't stop them from advertising their folksy home-town goodness with their "Straight from the Heart" slogan.

Fletcher J

[TennesseeGirl]

Did you notice the next day he was quoted in the paper saying he replaced local advertisements with PSAs during the program, "not that he was asked to". Yeah, right. I'm sure WBIR wants to turn down revenue from local advertisers and encourage the majority of viewers to watch other channels. With a management style like that he must be applying for a PBS job so he can be funded by our tax dollars to broadcast garbage.

You are correct. I never did receive so much as a courtesy response.

[Fletcher J]

LOL... Good points.

I hadn't heard about WBIR running PSAs rather than local ads. My plan was to watch the program this week to get a list of advertisers. My church and at least one other that I know of are preparing to boycott WBIR and their advertisers.

If WBIR insists on running only PSAs, I guess our only recourse would be to go after *all* WBIR advertisers, rather than just the ones on this program... There are plenty of other channels in Knoxville, TN for advertisers to buy space on.

Does anyone else find it even more insulting to learn that WBIR is so determined to insult us, that they'll pass up advertising revenue and encouraging their viewers watch other channels? All this just to air a silly little sitcom, which will likely be cancelled in half a season anyway... strange



Fletcher J

[Fletcher J]

You're absolutely right. NBC would never do it, because only white Christians can safely be mocked in today's society.

Plus, they know that if they broadcast a sitcom denigrating muslims in this same way, the believers of the "religion of peace" would go absolutely wild and do very bad things to them.

America & Europe continues to cowtow to groups those that use violence to get respect and favors (islamofascists). At the same time, they mock those that are peaceful and follow the rule of law (Christians).

I worry sometimes that this will cause unintended consequences over the course of years - consequences that would be to no one's benefit...


Fletcher J

[Sun]

I received this from a e-mail from afa.net:

"I watched the Book of Daniel show on NBC tonight just so I could
see if it was as bad as you said. Mr. Wildmon you have it wrong -
it was worse than you described. The so called pastor takes drugs,
smokes, drinks, takes the Lord's name in vain. He supports
homosexuality and drug use. He broke the law by giving out
prescription drugs to a Bishop. Two Bishops were committing
adultery. They mis-quoted the Bible. The program portrayed our
Savior in a joking way. There was a corrupt Catholic priest. The
maid smokes pot. The Bishop drinks, the pastor's wife is a drunk
and her sister is a lesbian and the son is a homosexual. One son
sleeps around. I found this program very offensive to my Christian
beliefs. They were poking fun at our Savior."

[Mr. Silverback]

Lots of words, very little substance.

Yeah, my editor says I'm way too wordy. Nature of the beast, I guess. There's plenty of substance in there, though. I'll review it quickly, and to keep the word count down I'll even stick to just the questions and requests:

I asked you to tell me how two competing groups writing to a TV network and the network deciding how to respond to them curtailed anyone's freedom.

I asked you to provide some evidence that I or those contacting NBC about the show were doing so primarily to prevent others from seeing it.

I asked you to provide the Constitutional clause that shows I'm restricting the freedom of others by contacting a business about its product mix.

I asked if you watch the 700 Club, and if not, how you know Pat Robertson is a knob.

I asked if the show you saw included the stuff described in the last two paras of the article.

Oh, and let me add two more...If NBC ran a movie portraying Frank Zappa as a chronic child molester, would you write in to complain, or would that be censorship?

Would you have as much vitriol to spew at me if I wanted to contact NBC and defend Zappa's honor as you do in this thread?

There, now you can answer some of those, and maybe even provide evidence to back up your ideas.

[Central Scrutiniser]

I could care less what they say about Zappa, its their choice to do a documentary. As for the rest, what I am saying is that you all want this show not on the air at all, so no one can watch it. Why? You disagree with it, that's fine, but I resent you dictating what I can and can't watch.

I decide what I want to watch via my remote control. It works quite well for me, and it should for you, but no, you have to be the nanny who decides for someone else.

Its not a difficult concept, I want to be the one who decides what I watch, not you.

I have watched the 700 Club, its quite funny, although I'll bet that Pat Robertson doesn't think so, he actually believes the crap he spouts. Can you call him and have him send some rain to Phoenix? We are in a drought.

[defenderSD]

Good post, #98. I'm not exactly an old man--I'm in my late 40s, and I'm stunned at how far network television shows have degraded during the time I can remember. When I was a kid growing up in San Diego, there were all kinds of good TV shows with very talented stars like Red Skelton, Karl Malden, and Peter Falk. There was a fair amount of violence in those shows in the 70s, but there wasn't all the depravity and the tremendous emphasis on sexual topics that you see today in so many network shows. There is a near-obsession today with gay jokes on some shows and now shows dominated by gay characters. None of that was on TV back in the 60s and 70s.

Now I don't watch any primetime network shows except for "Numbers" on CBS, MASH reruns, and occasionally CSI and some other cop shows. I watch a lot of network sports programming but generally I'm not interested at all in their news or primetime shows. What we're seeing is a massive fragmentation of the TV audience into dozens of small audiences who will be watching their own kind of shows on cable TV in the future. Look for Christian and family programming to make a major move into large audiences in the future. They might even start showing those Red Skelton reruns.

[Mr. Silverback]

I could care less what they say about Zappa, its their choice to do a documentary.

Well, for one thing, it wouldn't be a documentary, it would be a slander piece. But what if they did that to Frank, and his family wanted the network to pull it? What if his many fans decided to back the family and write letters to NBC? Would you then say they were trying to dictate what you watch? Would you say the same things about them that you've said about Christians in this thread? Would you call them cowards and Taliban because they asked someone to stop insulting them and someone they love deeply?

As for the rest, what I am saying is that you all want this show not on the air at all, so no one can watch it.

I've asked you for evidence to back up your charge, and you just make the charge again. Look up evidence in the dictionary and you'll find that it doesn't mean "repetition."

Why?

As stated, if a business goes out of its way to insult me, I have every right to respond. You have every right to contact them and thank them for insulting me, and do the same for their advertisers. You're the one trying to restrict options, not me.

You disagree with it, that's fine, but I resent you dictating what I can and can't watch.

1. Please show where anyone, in this thread or anywhere in regards to this issue, has said we should prevent you and other supporters of the show from contacting NBC. That would be the only way we could hope to "dictate" what you watch, because you are currently just as free to influence NBC as we are.

2. By your own admission, we or NBC have already "dictated" what you watch, because you only watched the show because of our objections to it. "These are not the droids you're looking for..."

but no, you have to be the nanny who decides for someone else.

When did I become the president of NBC? When did I say you can't write to NBC? When did anybody? If it's so important to you, write a letter to NBC. If it's not, let me introduce you to the Maine state bird, the Quitcherbitchin.

The bottom line is this: You want to tell me what to do, and I don't want to tell you what to do, and without a shred of evidence to back your assertions up you continue to claim the reverse is true. Looks like you've only got one option left:

In any event, you definitely need to hit the silk before those flames get to the main fuel tank. Have a nice Air Force day.

[Mr. Silverback]

Thank you for the backup. See posts 171, 172 and 174. I think you'll enjoy it.

[fox0566]

Maybe Kiran Chetry will be on singing its praises tomorrow on Fox & Friends Weekend. Heck, she loved Brokeback Mountain, so why not this? Kiran is Fox's cheerleader for everything trashy.

[Mr. Silverback]

Maybe Kiran Chetry will be on singing its praises tomorrow on Fox & Friends Weekend. Heck, she loved Brokeback Mountain, so why not this? Kiran is Fox's cheerleader for everything trashy.

Too bad, she seems like a nice person.

[fox0566]

She does seem like a nice person, but I think she lacks moral direction. She's very, very liberal.

I don't understand the strategy of Fox News Channel as of late. They've been giving their most liberal anchors and hosts more and more airtime. Do they think that praising a film that features explicit homosexual sex is what middle America wants to hear? Is it what the average Fox viewer expects of that female host who sits in the center chair on its morning show? In my opinion, Kiran Chetry's view doesn't even come close to what normal, average Americans think about this issue. She's on the extreme left-hand side of things. I don't even think that E.D. Hill would have admitted to liking this trash. She's a little more professional.

And another little observation I've made about Fox News....I've never heard a host utter a pro-life viewpoint, and I know why. Pro-life is considered too extreme, meaning "right wing". But the host of Fox & Friends Weekend is allowed to spew her extreme "left-wing" views for all to hear by touting some perverted flick on gay men. It's always been this way, and will continue, only to get even worse.

[Vinnie]

Because they know if they did, they would have their throats slit by an Islamofascist.

Exactamundo

[Central Scrutiniser]

Nice try. Again, you speak hundreds of words, yet say nothing.

I don't want people like you to decide what I can watch on TV, pretty radical concept eh?

And, after reading your increasingly creepy and zealot like posts, I would think that most people wouldn't want you to be in charge of what they watch.

Regarding Zappa, complete red herring, specious argument by you, engineered to get a response from me. My response is, so what? Say anything you want, I don't care.

I censor my TV with my common sense and with my level of taste. Again, I don't want you or any of your little religious zealots telling me what to watch, if you haven't figured that out yet, you need medication.