book of daniel
reposted from my blog:
don’t boycott NBC’s “The Book of Daniel” because it’s sacreligious. Don’t avoid it because it makes a man of the cloth look like an ordinary Joe. Don’t change the channel because Jesus is a smart alecky white-guy.
STOP WATCHING “The Book of Daniel” because it’s BAD TELEVISION.
Don’t let the “controversy bug” fool you, the new NBC drama suffers from bad writing - not bad morals.
The sad part is, I was DYING to love the show. I was all set to see a drag out knuckle fest between Christian fundamentalists and advocates for telling dramatic television. Alas, I hope to be the first to admit that this program should NOT be the poster child for that fight.
Any 19 year old creative writing student could have crafted the opening ten minutes.
Here’s the pitch:
OK. Instead of creating interesting characters and a believable plot, let’s take every dramatic hot-button and throw them all into two scenes of exposition - we’ve got a priest who pops vicodin, a gay son, a drug dealing daughter, an alcoholic wife, a conservative power struggle at work, money laundering, a relative who died of cancer, AND an adopted asian for comic relief.
It’s pathetic.
Telling me that sad or troublesome things happened does not make me care. I have to care about the people before I care that they’re living through suburban hell
NBC is smart. They know their show sucks, so they’re trying to make suckers of the viewers - luring them into supporting the show by teasing them towards a limited seating buffet of rhetoric and loyalty to long-held beliefs, asking those who care about things like quality drama and religious tradition to duke it out for the remaining plates.
While it worked with “The Passion of the Christ”, I hope to the same Jesus that it won’t work here. Regardless of what’s “hip” to admit, Gibson’s “Passion” was a watchable, and even artful at times, film. “The Book of Daniel” on the other hand, is crap posing as subversive art.
Finally, they better not try and pull a "Desperate Housewives" on us and tell us, "It's not bad, over-written, over-acted tripe; it's satire."
No, it's garbage. Satire is writing that seeks to make bad art hilarious, not writing that is hilariously bad.
Don’t let the peacock lure you with it’s colorful promises of meaningful hours of boob-tube time. Give Nuget a call and cross-bow that bird back to the wall.
yours, etc.
jp
don’t boycott NBC’s “The Book of Daniel” because it’s sacreligious. Don’t avoid it because it makes a man of the cloth look like an ordinary Joe. Don’t change the channel because Jesus is a smart alecky white-guy.
STOP WATCHING “The Book of Daniel” because it’s BAD TELEVISION.
Don’t let the “controversy bug” fool you, the new NBC drama suffers from bad writing - not bad morals.
The sad part is, I was DYING to love the show. I was all set to see a drag out knuckle fest between Christian fundamentalists and advocates for telling dramatic television. Alas, I hope to be the first to admit that this program should NOT be the poster child for that fight.
Any 19 year old creative writing student could have crafted the opening ten minutes.
Here’s the pitch:
OK. Instead of creating interesting characters and a believable plot, let’s take every dramatic hot-button and throw them all into two scenes of exposition - we’ve got a priest who pops vicodin, a gay son, a drug dealing daughter, an alcoholic wife, a conservative power struggle at work, money laundering, a relative who died of cancer, AND an adopted asian for comic relief.
It’s pathetic.
Telling me that sad or troublesome things happened does not make me care. I have to care about the people before I care that they’re living through suburban hell
NBC is smart. They know their show sucks, so they’re trying to make suckers of the viewers - luring them into supporting the show by teasing them towards a limited seating buffet of rhetoric and loyalty to long-held beliefs, asking those who care about things like quality drama and religious tradition to duke it out for the remaining plates.
While it worked with “The Passion of the Christ”, I hope to the same Jesus that it won’t work here. Regardless of what’s “hip” to admit, Gibson’s “Passion” was a watchable, and even artful at times, film. “The Book of Daniel” on the other hand, is crap posing as subversive art.
Finally, they better not try and pull a "Desperate Housewives" on us and tell us, "It's not bad, over-written, over-acted tripe; it's satire."
No, it's garbage. Satire is writing that seeks to make bad art hilarious, not writing that is hilariously bad.
Don’t let the peacock lure you with it’s colorful promises of meaningful hours of boob-tube time. Give Nuget a call and cross-bow that bird back to the wall.
yours, etc.
jp