Book of Daniel

Well, I think I saw "Soap" in reruns last night. The hype around the new NBC-TV program "The Book of Daniel" I think was only to get us to watch. Duh! I got a headache in the first hour with all the crises going on. This family wasn't simply dysfunctional. They all need at least 6 weeks of treatment. Not one person had any level of healthy boundaries. Jesus was more like a "good buddy" (or as Martha [my wife] said to me - Jiminey Cricket as your conscience.) I didn't see much spirituality in it, let alone Christian spirituality. Having been part of two clergy families - the one I grew up in and my present family...none of the issues or roles that were played out seem anywhere near realistic. You had to have some familiarity with Episcopal church governance and roles to figure out some of the things (as best I can figure, Daniel's father the bishop, is retired and he is having an affair with the woman who is the present bishop.) The only thing that really touched me was the retired bishop's wife struggle with alzheimers. Even one of the best lines of the program was plagarized...when Jesus tells Daniel "You know I don't work like that." Bill Cosby said it far better over 35 years ago in his comic routine of Noah and God.

In this show you get the impression that being part of the church, it is all about you. Jesus is more like a sidekick to try to straighten you out, to have some relaxed conversations with, and to remind you in a nice way when you aren't doing things right. There was no sense of authority. In fact there was no authority, which probably reflects the view of the writer who is an athiest. And he has his right to try to sell a tv show to entertain folks in any context he desires, if the ads can be sold and the audience is large enough. So...I probably will only watch it myself on Fridays when I want to watch tv and I am dialing around the channels. Or if I want to find out how wacked out any of the characters have gotten over time.

I have always felt that the folks who claimed religious bias in the media...particularly in respect to the Catholic Church, have been out of bounds. I always thought they were thin skinned. But I have to say having the Catholic priest using his past connections with the Mob to track down the millions of dollars stolen by Daniel's brother-in-law, I think the protesters have a point. After 31 years in ministry and 57 years as part of a clergy family with great ecumenical relationships including with priests of the Catholic Church - no way! This isn't fair.

I take at face value what the writer of the show said, it isn't about religion in any fashion. The religious context is just a backdrop to play out what he calls is a normal dysfunctional family. I take offense at that! The folks in this show are beyond dysfunction. Yep, many, many families have our issues. But not like this.

BTW, does anyone know who got voted off "Dancing With the Stars" last night?