This is a post about lost love. Not personal, romantic love (I’ve overplayed that card in this space), but television series that at one time or another were high points of my week, satisfying substitutes for an actual social life. And then something happened, and love died.
My judgments on these programs are not intended to be a guide to the reader. If you enjoy these shows (most of them are still on the air), God bless you. Enjoy yourself.
But they are dead to me.
First on the list is Touched By an Angel. Oh, how I adored this show during most of its run. Aside from starring Roma Downey, with whom I longed to run away to the Isles of the Blessed, it was produced by an open Christian, who made it a point to keep her angels (more or less) consistent with biblical descriptions. They were not the souls of dead people. They had no wings. And it was hinted, though not much dwelt on, that not only did heaven exist, but there was a bad place as well, where those who rejected God ended up. I understood that the realities of the business prevented them from saying anything specific about Jesus Christ. I appreciated the good parts.
But around the final season (I don’t know which season exactly) they featured Mohammed Ali on the program, in what I assumed (I never actually watched that episode) was a role that cast him as someone of whom God approved. Despite the fact that he had explicitly denied Jesus Christ as Lord, and embraced Islam.
I kept watching, but I was on my guard now.
Then they did an episode about a genetic scientist who stole Albert Einstein’s DNA, in order to impregnate herself. The episode featured a scene in which Monica (Roma Downey) made it clear that a child of Jewish ancestry could never celebrate Christmas.
That was too much for me. I said goodbye to Touched By an Angel. No doubt as a direct result of this, it wasn’t around much longer.
Number Two: Bones. Bones is a fun show, and I consider Emily Deschanel one of the great beauties of our time, in Ingrid Bergman’s league. Usually I had no problem with the show. But about once a season, for reasons known only to the producers, they do an episode touching on religion. These episodes (the ones I saw) treated Christianity in a positive way, but it was a mushy, New Age-y Christianity, with the implication that my kind (the kind with historical and doctrinal legitimacy) is out of date and too judgmental.
So, I stopped watching, confident that they wouldn’t want a theocrat like me as a viewer anyway.
Number Three: NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles. I fell under the spell of the original series, and stayed over for the new LA version out of goodwill, even though it was hard to see what actual connection that operation had with the U.S. Navy. And then, last Christmas, they did a pair of episodes, back to back, that dealt with a) an honor killing, and b) a suicide bomber. In both cases, knee-jerk suspicion fell on Muslims, but the actual criminal was a Christian.
Thanks for the Christmas greeting, guys. You’re off my list.
Finally: CSI. I loved the CSI concept from the beginning, and watched faithfully, even as the quality gradually slid, and even when William Peterson left and Marg Helgenberger started botoxing heavily. But early this season they did an episode about a domestic terrorist group. And when (I can be pretty slow on the uptake) I realized a couple days later that they were actually talking about the Tea Party movement, I asked myself, “Do I really love the doddering remnants of CSI enough to put up with this insult?” The answer, of course, was no.
So goodby, my lovelies. No, don’t say anything. It’s not you. It’s me.
I don’t hang out with shows that don’t respect me.
I suspect this is only the beginning. Eventually I won’t be able to watch TV at all.
Which will be a good thing, I suppose. But I’ll miss it.
You know, I haven’t religiously watched a TV series since Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman. This kinda makes me glad. TV is a waste of time– rather be sewing or reading a book!
I remember enjoying the Touched By an Angel show (two parts I think) when Mandy Patinkin played the Devil. It came together well. I’ve never watched the other shows.
Kelsey, I often called that show Dr. Quinn: Medicine Man, because it seemed to shove the feminine power thing in your face a bit.
Well, I am 21 now. I religiously watched Dr. Quinn when I was about 4-8, at that rate. I think the whole feminism thing was lost on me. The most lingering effect of that show, I guess, was a huge crush on Sully.
And Dr. Quinn was my hero. I wanted to be her. : )
I watch Antiques Roadshow, American Pickers, and Hoarders. They’ve yet to do me wrong.
We pulled the plug on broadcast TV four years ago when we moved to a remote area with limited access. I neglected to put up a roof antenna. Therefore, since the switch to digital broadcast, which has only 2/3 the range of analog, we no longer get a single broadcast station. (Prior to the switch we could get a couple of very snowy channels if we adjusted the rabbit ears just right.) I also declined to pay for satellite.
Since we aren’t paying for regular TV, I do spend a bit on DVD’s. I do tend to go for quantity over quality. The 20 old movie DVD sets in the $5 bin at Wally World have kept us going for many a month watching John Wayne and Roy Rogers in old B Westerns.
I’ve also found that old TV series offer great value in the cost per hour of entertainment. It also affords me the opportunity to corrupt my children with the programs from my youth. They have nearly all the seasons of Get Smart, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Pinky and the Brain, Little House on the Prairie, Underdog and Gilligan’s Island. In her younger years My wife filled a couple of bookshelves full of vhs cassettes with broadcast marathons of Star Trek, Dr. Who and Star Trek Next Generation, Good Neighbors and To The Manor Born. My middle daughter has fallen in love with these. In addition our library has introduced them to The Partridge Family, Starsky and Hutch, The Rockford Files and the modern reintroduction of Dr. Who.
Of course, it does create an impenetrable bubble around my kids when other kids don’t understand their allusions to Daleks, Corbanite, Willi and Nelly, Narf!, Shoeshine Boy or the Professor. I think it’s kind of a protective bubble.
Another thought. I grew up hearing about old preachers decrying the worldliness in movies. At the time I thought that those old preachers were pretty wacko. In my mind the old Hollywood movies were pretty clean compared to the raunchiness that took over the silver screen in the 70’s.
Now, watching those old movies through the eyes of a middle aged preacher, I do see that the old content standards kept much of the blatant graphic sexuality and violence off the screen. Yet the worldliness of the characters, even the heroes, shines through. Characters tended to portray worldviews devoid of God, driven by self interest and the seeking of personal power, position or pleasure.
I’m beginning to see the danger that the old preachers warned of in these old movies. Rather than the in your face acceptance of immorality, there is a subtle denial of eternity and judgment if only you’re a decent person. While an external standard of behavior is generally upheld, the need for redemption is obscured.
The Large Catechism’s explanation of the Third Commandment to Keep the Sabbath Holy notes that those who go to church, but ignore the preaching of God’s Word, thinking it trivial, have broken it just as assuredly as the person who completely rejects God’s Word to spend the day in frivolity or drunkenness. The latter’s rejection of faith in Christ is obvious to all whereas the former goes through the same motions on the outside as a person of faith, yet without believing. That’s the same danger faced in some of the old movies. The generally moral behavior masks a lack of faith that ultimately leads to the same eternal demise as those who blatantly reject faith.
Re: Bones. That’s why I was astounded when I viewed last year’s Christmas show which included a contrite hate radio jock giving a Christmas Day talk which included specifically talking about Jesus being born on that day to die for our sins. Of course, that isn’t ever included in any quotes so I can’t find the specific reference. But it was very definitely non-New-Age-ish.
Greybeard: I know what you mean. I remember something that struck me, even when I was a kid, watching “Father Knows Best,” one of the archetypal 50s family values shows. I noticed that the Andersons, portrayed as a model American family, never went to church, and the one time they said a blessing before a meal the father noted that they didn’t usually do that. I thought, “Somebody’s sending a subtle message here.”
Julie: That’s interesting about “Bones.” Possibly enough to persuade me to give it another chance.
Yeah, but what about great shows like . . . Medium? Uh, Family Guy? Stargate rerun/spin-offs?
Mentioning Stargate reminds me that Richard Dean Anderson was in a great retro sci-fi show called Legend. It was funny, interesting, non-traditional, but it must have run out of ideas early because after a handful of good shows, there was one slamming Christians and that was the end of it.
Aren’t there enough Christians in the English speaking world to justify some TV series that are Christian optimized?
Maybe I’m looking at things the wrong way, but this sounds more like a business opportunity than anything else. There are plenty of Christian adults who’d enjoy TV shows from a Christian perspective. You can put them up on youtube probably to get started, and then make money from selling DVDs.
Now, who do we know who might be able to run this?
You know, November 5th is Guy Fawkes Day, and we let it slide by without mention or exploit. Oh well.
DARN!!!! We missed Guy Fawkes Day!!!!! Doesn’t that just burn you up!!!!!!!! I could just blow up over something like this!!!!