ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, November 30, 1996 TAG: 9612030130
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: S-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID ZURAWIK THE BALTIMORE SUN
IN a television season defined by the abundance of older performers such as Bill Cosby and Ted Danson returning to prime time, there is one such venerable star whose presence and hit ratings have been overlooked: God.
Whether it is CBS' ``Touched by an Angel'' this month becoming the first overtly religious drama to crack Nielsen's Top 10 during its 46-year history, or Bill Moyers' much-discussed 10-part series about Genesis on PBS or the Jesuit-educated Frank Pembleton wondering why God allows the kind of evil he witnesses on NBC's ``Homicide,'' talk of God and religion is at a level never before seen in prime time.
``It seems as if it's everywhere you turn this season on television,'' says Joan Thiel, Ph.D., who teaches courses in television and culture at George Washington University.
``I don't think there's ever been more of it at any one time - certainly not enjoying the kind of success our shows on CBS are. Clearly, America is sending Hollywood a message that there's a craving for entertainment that deals with religion and values,'' says Leslie Moonves, president of CBS Entertainment, which airs three religiously themed series.
For its part, Hollywood appears to be listening. In the other half of what's thought of as Hollywood, the motion picture industry, such high-priced stars as Denzel Washington and John Travolta will be playing angels in feature films soon to be released. And virtually every major studio has at least one religiously themed film in the works.
In terms of made-for-television movies, December brings Elizabeth Hurley in ``Samson and Delilah,'' the latest release in cable channel TNT's highly rated Old Testament series, and Dolly Parton in CBS' ``Unlikely Angel.''
So much for what some politicians and religious leaders were calling ``Godless Hollywood'' not too long ago.
The question is: Why all the God talk now?
``The subject of religious beliefs and individual values has relevance in different ways at different times,'' says Kathy Quattrone, head of programming at PBS. ``I think currently it's both a personal question many people are seeking to explore and also, clearly, a very public debate as evidenced by the election and many of the issues left as we begin another four years.''
Adds CBS' Moonves, ``A lot of the time, television reflects what's going on in the country. America went through a cynical time in the 1980s, and now I think we're back to caring more about each other. One message of these shows is, `Help thy neighbor.'''
Politics and changing attitudes are part of the equation, but a trend like this doesn't start on a dime. It takes at least a year in most cases to move a television show through the production pipeline from idea to on-screen.
The election that matters most in this case is the one in November 1994, which brought a wave of conservative congressmen to Washington.
Historically, network television has mainly tended to stay away from overt religious messages in prime time, although what's happening today is not totally new.
The precedent most relevant here involves ``Highway to Heaven,'' a drama starring Michael Landon as an angel, and ``Amen,'' a sitcom featuring Sherman Hemsley as a deacon. Both shows made it into Nielsen's Top 20 during the 1985 and '86 seasons - the first overtly religious series to do so.
Both were obviously helped by being on NBC, which dominated the ratings in the mid-1980s. But they clearly also connected with something in the larger society - the popularity of conservative values associated with Ronald Reagan.
The lineage of CBS' current shows can be traced back to Frank Capra and his 1948 meditation on angelic intervention, ``It's a Wonderful Life,'' as well as to the influence of the conservative Congress of '94.
Just as the '94 election led to the network dramas, the '94 congressional debate over funding for PBS led to the inclusion of such conservative voices as former Reagan aide Hugh Hewitt and Reagan Cabinet member William J. Bennett in the public television series we're seeing today.
Thus, conservatives in the Congressional Class of '94 - and those who helped elect them - can look over the prime-time plain and legitimately claim a major culture-wars victory in getting Hollywood, the commercial networks and public television not only to include religion but to treat it and those who believe in it seriously.
Not everyone is enthusiastic about some of the new religious programming.
``What bothers me about most television shows is that when they do deal with religion, they make redemption seem so easy that they really trivialize the struggle,'' says producer Tom Fontana, who during the mid-1980s was executive producer of ``St. Elsewhere,'' a series that regularly dealt with matters of faith and religion in the same hard-edged questioning way as his current hit, ``Homicide.'' ``I think that diminishes the impact of what true faith is.''
Disagreement about which kind of God talk is best? You bet. That television is carrying several examples from each of the various camps is perhaps the best indication of just how alive and well God is in prime time today.
``In one way or another,'' says Thiel, ``it is all religious in that it is concerned with transcendence or something more than this life.''
LENGTH: Medium: 98 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. Roma Downey (from left), Della Reese and John Dyeby CNBstar in CBS' ``Touched by an Angel,'' airing Sunday night at 8 on
WDBJ-Channel 7. The series recently became the first religious drama
to crack Nielsen's Top 10. 2. Elizabeth Hurley heads the cast of the
TNT presentation ``Samson and Delilah,'' airing Dec. 8 and 11.
color.