Posted on 08/17/2005 7:57:52 AM PDT by sionnsar
NBC has an interesting science fiction series scheduled for mid-season:
A new television drama featuring the struggles of an Episcopal priest with family, church politics and Jesus, his mentor and friend, and even his own nagging reliance on painkillers, is planned for the NBC 2005-2006 mid-season line-up.
A pilot episode for “The Book of Daniel,” was filmed at All Saints Church in Pasadena, where Quinn portrays Daniel, a young, liberal priest and father who clashes frequently with his conservative bishop, Dr. Beatrice Congreve, played by Ellen Burstyn.
A conservative FEMALE bishop. In ECUSA. Bet they make her a member of the Anglican Communion Network or the American Anglican Council. And if this thing does manage to hang around, the bishop will "grow."
In other words, she'll change her views and agree with the leftie. But let's move on.
The series, set in upstate New York, would also feature Quinn’s frequent conversations with Jesus, played by actor Garrett Dillahunt. Among his parishioners is long-time actress and comedienne Phyllis Diller.
Uh huh. Wonder what "Jesus" will tell Danny boy. Actually, I really don't wonder that at all. Webster Groves, Missouri fast fact: back in the 60's, several marriages ago, Phyllis Diller used to live in Webster Groves. We still tell people that on a regular basis. Of course, a lot of us here are still bent about that CBS documentary they did about us in the mid-60's, Sixteen in Webster Groves. Anyway, Susie Russ is down:
The Rev. Susan Russell, an associate rector at the Pasadena parish, said the plot for the series is hopeful.
“It is one more indicator of how much issues of faith and religion are ‘in,’ right now,” said Russell, who is also national Integrity president.
“How cool is it that a progressive Episcopal priest has a shot at being a prime-time drama protagonist,” she added. “How surprising might it be to many who tune in to find out there actually IS a church where women can be bishops – clergy can be human – and there’s enough Good News around to extend to everybody?”
In other words, bite us, you stupid Nazis bigots Klansmen homophobes fundies conservatives. 815 likes Susie's LibProt evangelism angle:
The new series also offers the Episcopal Church a rare product placement opportunity at a time when TIVO devices make it possible to excise paid commercials from home viewing. In 2004, the value of television product placements (a product or brand name inserted for marketing purposes into entertainment fare) increased by 46.4 percent over the year before, to $1.88 billion, according to the research firm PQ Media.
If you want to know why the Episcopal Church is dying and needs to die much faster, it can be summed up in two words from that paragraph. Product placement. The fact that that phrase actually appeared on the website of a "Christian" church is nothing short of mind-boggling.
As the universalist pronouncements of its leaders indicate, the Episcopal Church has no real interest in spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But it is intensely interested in spreading itself. To Episcopalians, "evangelism" means nothing more than bodies in the seats. If that lost person yonder profusely thanks an Episcopalian for telling him about Jesus and then becomes Catholic, Orthodox or Southern Baptist, the Episcopalian will consider it a defeat.
But this show will have a bit of a following. I fully expect ECUSA churches from one end of this country to the other to host "Book of Daniel" viewing parties and "Book of Daniel" discussion groups. There will no doubt be "Book of Daniel" study guides and "Book of Daniel" T-shirts, coffee mugs and tote bags for sale online at the ECUSA bookstore.
And, of course, there will be an anguished ECUSA "Book of Daniel" letter-writing campaign when this turkey is axed.
Bishop will come out, as a long-closeted lesbian, get married, in a same-sex ceremony in the church, with some parishioners protesting outside. The Bishop's younger, beautiful "wife" will then undergo an "in utero" transplant so that they can have a family..Four months into her pregnancy, she'll develop an illness that will require the fetus to be aborted to save the mother's life...
I could go on, and on, and on.......
Is an oxymoron waiting to happen.
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