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The Book of Daniel was a television series broadcast on NBC. The network promoted it as a serious drama about Christians and the Christian faith, but many Christians saw an insulting portrayal of Jesus, a pro-homosexuality tone, and an atypical and dysfunctional church. The show had been proposed for NBC's 2005 fall line-up, but was rescheduled as a 2006 midseason replacement. The program premiered on January 6, 2006 in the US and was scheduled to air in thirteen episodes on Friday nights. NBC called the show "edgy," "challenging," and "courageous" in its promotional material. However, on January 24, 2006, a spokeswoman for NBC announced the show had been dropped.[1]
SynopsisSet in the fictional town of Newbury in Westchester County, New York, the main character is the Reverend Daniel Webster (Aidan Quinn), an unconventional Episcopal priest who is addicted to narcotic painkillers while his wife Judith (Susanna Thompson) fights her dependence on mid-day martinis.
The Webster family is rounded out by a 23-year-old gay Republican son Peter (Christian Campbell), a 16-year-old daughter Grace (Alison Pill), who is arrested for drug possession in the pilot, and Adam (Ivan Shaw), a 16-year-old adopted Chinese son who dates the daughter of one of Daniel's parishioners, the latter who harbor anti-Asian prejudices. When Daniel's brother-in-law, Charlie (last name unknown), absconds with church funds and abandons his family, his sister-in-law enters a lesbian relationship with Charlie's bisexual secretary. Bishop Beatrice Congreve (Ellen Burstyn) is involved with Daniel's married father (James Rebhorn) a retired bishop who, despite his gruff exterior, is troubled by dealing with his wife's Alzheimer's disease. ControversyThis show's acceptance among the Christian community was mixed. Some conservative Christians as reflected in various blogs and websites opposed the program. The conservative American Family Association accused NBC of being anti-Christian. The organization has also objected to the fact that the show's creator, Jack Kenny, is openly gay [1], as are three characters on the program. However, the Rev. Susan Russell, president of the liberal IntegrityUSA and an Episcopal priest at All Saints Church in Pasadena, California (where some of the show was filmed) had seen rough cuts of the program and praised the show by saying, "How cool is it that a progressive Episcopal priest has a shot at being a prime-time drama protagonist. 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?” [2]
In contrast, a spokesman for the evangelical organization Focus on the Family compared the show's depiction of Jesus to a "namby-pamby frat boy," saying that "Having previewed the pilot and an additional episode, I find NBC’s new television show, The Book of Daniel, extremely repulsive in its portrayal of Jesus Christ and intentionally offensive in its flippant attitude toward behaviors almost universally agreed upon as unhealthy to society."[4] Criticism has also come from some who feel the show presents a hypocritical and dysfunctional church. Based on pre-premiere commercials, some critics have objected to what they see as Jesus's portrayal as a somewhat disinterested hippie character. Some have also questioned whether the show was purposely designed to offend. Some Catholics and others have taken exception to the depiction of Daniel's Catholic counterpart, Father Frankie (Dan Hedaya). Fr. Frankie is an Italian priest who has connections to the mob. They see this as unhealthy stereotyping of both Italians and Catholics. NBC insists that their program treats Christians and Christianity with respect, promising a fresh modern look of the religion with a "hip, modern Jesus." "This challenging new series is our first announced drama for midseason as we continue to seek different out-of-the-box projects," NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly asserted in a media interview.[5] The New York Times reported NBC had difficulty selling advertising during the program, even after offering significant rate discounts, because of the controversial content. [6] Stations refuse to airEight of NBC's 232 affiliates refused to carry the program due to consumer complaints: WTWO in Terre Haute, Indiana (owned by Nexstar Broadcasting Group); KARK in Little Rock, Arkansas (also owned by Nexstar); KNWA/KFTA in Fayetteville-Fort Smith, Arkansas (also owned by Nexstar); KBTV in Beaumont, Texas; WGBC in Meridian, Mississippi; WTVA in Tupelo, Mississippi; WSMV in Nashville, Tennessee (owned by the Meredith Corporation); and KAMR in Amarillo, Texas. After KARK refused to air the series, the local WB station KWBF picked up the series. The company stated that it was excited to offer an outlet for viewers in the central Arkansas area who wanted to watch this show. However the station soon received a number of threats which required it to hire extra security.[citation needed] Several stations in Michigan, including WDIV in Detroit (owned by Post-Newsweek), WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids, WILX in Lansing, WPBN and WTOM in Traverse City and Sault Ste. Marie, and WLUC in Marquette, did not air The Book of Daniel's second episode, although this was due to a live broadcast of the 2006 North American International Auto Show Charity Preview and not necessarily the controversy.[citation needed] Oddly enough, NBC's Salt Lake City affiliate, KSL-TV, did carry The Book of Daniel, despite the station's past history of preempting shows that would offend the religious (including Saturday Night Live). Network cancels program mid-seasonOn January 24, 2006, NBC announced the show had been dropped from the schedule. The last airing of the show was on January 20, 2006. The January 20th episode was the fourth in the series, drawing 5.8 million viewers. NBC gave no official explanation for the cancellation. Airings on the WebThe show held the distinction of being one of the first shows to be streamed on the web after its cancellation. On January 27, 2006 at 8:10pm/ET, NBC.com streamed the first of the unaired episodes. Episodes continued to be streamed, one a week, for the next three weeks. New episodes were initially made available at around 8pm on Friday night and were viewable until the next episode replaced it on the following Friday. The final episode was streamed on February 10, 2006. With that streaming, NBC had aired (either on TV or the Web) every episode of the show's initial order (and consequently, every episode that had been produced up to that point). Revelations - Lost episode or series finaleThe last episode to air on television was titled “Assignation” and was marked as production number 103 while the first episode to air online was entitled “Withdrawal” and was marked as production number 105. This disparity became obvious in the “Previously on…” sequence of “Withdrawal” which contained scenes that had never aired either on television or online. That led many to believe that NBC had aired the show out of order and that the episode with production number 104, entitled “Revelations”, had been skipped. This theory seemed to be confirmed by the Book of Daniel Web Site which featured a section titled “Catch up with the unaired episode, “Revelations””. When viewers followed the link, it led to a photo recap of an episode entitled “Episode 3” that contained a sub plot (notably featuring actress Marin Hinkle) where Daniel meets a young girl who speaks to Jesus at a time when he had chosen not to. These scenes were consistent with the recap that aired in “Withdrawal (Production #105). “Revelations” did eventually air as the very last episode of the series but, contrary to earlier speculation, events that took place in the episode verify it aired in the proper order. The scenes recapped in “Withdrawal” and featured on the web were not present while scenes that could not have predated earlier episodes were. This has led to speculation that this episode was repositioned as the final episode and that it consisted of newer scenes that were combined with previous material (perhaps replacing those scenes that were recapped earlier on). DVD ReleaseImage:BookOfDaniel2006.jpg Cover Art As of September 26, 2006, a complete-series collection of "The Book of Daniel" is available for purchase at Amazon.com. The set includes two discs featuring all seven episodes, in the traditional hard plastic case.
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