January 24, 2006 [LINK]

"Book of Daniel" is axed

I've only seen two episodes of NBC's controversial new comedy-drama "The Book of Daniel," so I must confess a little disappointment that it has already been cancelled. Aidan Quinn, who has played a variety of interesting movie roles, usually as a man with strong ethics who perseveres over difficulties, was well cast as the Episcopal priest, and his imagined conversations with Jesus were a clever plot device. (I didn't like the flippant attitude of the Jesus character, however.) The other members of the dysfunctional family struck me as a bizarre caricature of the American WASP mainstream. I was kind of hoping there would be a guest appearance by Dana Carvey, who lampooned stodgy mainstream Christianity as "the Church Lady." The show has its own blog, whose host is the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. I guess they believe in the saying "there is no such thing as bd publicity." For more commentary, see The Waffling Anglican (via Phil Faranda).