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January 11, 2006

The AFA's shortsighted strategy

The fundamentalist attack on The Book of Daniel appears to be succeeding, with advertisers and affiliates dropping like flies. But this could be a Pyrrhic victory, a throwback to the boycott evangelicalism of the 1980s. In Shaking the World for Jesus, an analysis of Christian pop culture that is much better than its title, Heather Hendershot notes that as long as Christians defined themselves as "nonconsumers with a vengence" -- people eager to turn of the TV and stop buying the advertised products -- networks and advertisers would certainly try hard not to alienate them, but would also make no effort to cater to them. It was only after evangelicals began to identify themselves as people who would buy all the same crap as everyone else -- as long as it was tailored to them -- that they really gained cultural power. In fact, I would guess -- though I have no evidence for this -- that somewhere in the development process of the Book of Daniel, someone got the idea that this could be another opportunity to tap the Christian market, seeing as how it's a show about a sympathetic priest who has a serious personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The part this hypothetical executive didn't get, as I pointed out earlier, is that fundamentalists don't want just any pro-Christian media, they want pro-fundamentalist media.

In that previous post, I mentioned my college buddy who is now an Epsicopal priest in Westchester — just like Aidan Quinn! "John" live-blogged the first episode with entertaining results (while flipping back and forth to Remember the Titans). Highlights after the jump.

Billy calls Quinn "reverend." Hate that. It's "father," or "pastor," or "brother."...

Nice house the priest lives in. The wife, obviously snookered. She seems like fun.Feeling like a martini myself...

Could this Jesus be just a little less predictable. Maybe change his duds or smoke a bit?...

Father and his wife talk about gay relatives with beknighted amusement. Then they make love. They make love every Friday. Is this supposed to be weird? That's what all Episcopal priests do. I think its Talmudic....

Then look! there's Jesus! Jesus grins, shakes his head, and says, "you just never know, do you?" I think a little less piety is in order for Jesus. Or more omniscience. It is very hard for an omniscient deity to have good lines. They'd just be saying "I knew it!" or "I told you so"...

The bishop is over for dinner. The wife really needs to hold that martini glass still. And BTW, we Episcopalians have wine with dinner. Martinis before. Usually starting lunch. I hate it when they get these things wrong....

Father then jokes on "living together in sin" to the parishioner, who is living with his fiancee. "Just kidding" he says. Kind of funny. Have to use that myself. ...

Back to manga. Looks like the daughter seller has matched the dominitrix with superpriest. that is kind of hot, actually. ..

Stud son and Paxton daughter now getting it on in a parking lot. Evil wife Paxton spies. I'm getting a drink. Two.

Posted by Daniel Radosh

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