The Book of Daniel (TV series)
| The Book of Daniel | |
|---|---|
| Created by | Jack Kenny |
| Starring |
Aidan Quinn Susanna Thompson Christian Campbell Alison Pill Ivan Shaw Ellen Burstyn Leven Rambin |
| Composer(s) |
W.G. Snuffy Walden Bennett Salvay |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 7 (3 unaired) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Production company(s) |
FlodyCo Bumpy Night NBC Universal Television Studio Sony Pictures Television |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release | January 6 – January 20, 2006 |
The Book of Daniel was an American drama series that was broadcast on NBC. The network promoted it as a serious drama about Christians and the Christian faith, but it was controversial with some Christians. The show had been proposed for NBC's 2005 fall line-up, but was rescheduled as a 2006 mid-season 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. On January 24, 2006, a spokeswoman for NBC announced the show had been dropped.[1]
Synopsis
Set 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.
Struggling to be a good husband, father, and minister, Webster regularly sees and talks with a traditional western, white-skinned, white-robed and bearded Jesus (Garret Dillahunt), who nonetheless is rather unconventional. Daniel's Jesus appears only to him and openly questions modern interpretations of church teachings, reminding Daniel of his own strengths and weaknesses.
The Webster family is rounded out by a 23-year-old gay 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, Caroline Paxton (Leven Rambin),[2] the latter of whom harbors anti-Asian prejudices. Peter's twin brother, Jimmy, had died of leukemia two years prior to the beginning of the series; Christian Campbell also played the role of Jimmy in flashback scenes in one of the episodes never aired on television, but included in the DVD release.
When Daniel's brother-in-law Charlie absconds with church funds and abandons his family, his sister-in-law (Cheryl White) 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.
Cast
- Aidan Quinn......Rev. Daniel Webster
- Susanna Thompson......Judith Webster
- Ivan Shaw......Adam Webster
- Garret Dillahunt......Jesus
- Alison Pill......Grace Webster
- Christian Campbell......Peter Webster
- Ellen Burstyn......Beatrice Congreve
- Dylan Baker......Roger Northrup
Episodes
1. Temptation January 6, 2006 2. Forgiveness January 6, 2006 3. Acceptance January 13, 2006 4. Assignation January 20, 2006 5. Revelations UNAIRED 6. Withdrawl UNAIRED 7. God's Will UNAIRED
Controversy
The New York Times reported NBC had difficulty selling advertising during the program, even after offering significant rate discounts, because of controversial content.[3]
Stations refuse to air
Eight of NBC's 232 affiliates refused to carry the program due to viewer complaints: WSMV in Nashville, Tennessee (owned by the Meredith Corporation); WGBC in Meridian, Mississippi; WTVA in Tupelo, Mississippi, and six stations owned by Nexstar Broadcasting Group – WTWO in Terre Haute, Indiana; KARK-TV in Little Rock, Arkansas; KFTA-TV/KNWA-TV in Fayetteville-Fort Smith, Arkansas (the former is now affiliated with Fox); KAMR in Amarillo, Texas and KBTV-TV in Beaumont, Texas (owned at the time by Nexstar, now owned by Deerfield Media and affiliated with Fox). Most of the affiliates refusing to air the program were located in the Bible Belt.
After KARK-TV refused to air the series, KWBF (now MyNetworkTV affiliate KARZ-TV), then an affiliate of The WB, 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 the show. However, the station soon received a number of threats which required it to hire extra security.[4] Both KARK-TV and KARZ have been owned by Nexstar since 2009, some three years after the show's cancellation.
Several stations in Michigan, including WDIV in Detroit (owned by Post-Newsweek), WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids (owned by LIN), WILX in Lansing (owned by Gray Television) and Barrington Broadcasting stations 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.
NBC's Salt Lake City affiliate, KSL-TV (whose owner, Bonneville International, is operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), did carry The Book of Daniel, despite the station's history of preempting shows claiming that they would offend Utah's religious population.
Network cancels program mid-season
On 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 20 episode was the fourth in the series, drawing 5.8 million viewers. NBC gave no official explanation for the cancellation.
DVD release
On September 26, 2006, a complete-series collection of The Book of Daniel was released on DVD exclusively on Amazon.com. The set includes two discs featuring all eight episodes, in the traditional hard plastic case.
References
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20060220142411/http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/13702858.htm. Archived from the original on February 20, 2006. Retrieved January 25, 2006. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ http://www.nndb.com/people/124/000353062
- ↑ Elliott, Stuart (January 11, 2006). "Few Are Booking Ads on 'The Book of Daniel'". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-11-01.
- ↑ Shapiro, Beth (2006-01-10). "TV Station Threatened Over Series With Gay Character". 365Gay.com. 365GayMedia Inc. Archived from the original on 2007-04-11. Retrieved 2008-09-23.