Primetime still needs a prayer

A recent issue of TV Guide with a cover titled "God and Television" provided some interesting thoughts about religion and spirituality on TV -- and a couple of weird ones, too.

Of course, I firmly believe that TV Guide would not have done the stories inside that issue without my prodding. A few months ago, the magazine held a contest that invited readers to suggest topics for upcoming issues. I suggested one about religion on TV, including which stars are religious, the history of religion on television and how TV often ignores God -- all of which appeared in the copy in question.

You're welcome, TV Guide.

One of the features in the issue reported on a survey of 804 Americans about religion on TV, with majorities saying there is not enough spirituality on primetime, and looking for more references to God and prayer on the tube.

When the respondents were asked which TV character they would choose to teach Sunday school to their children, half of them naturally gravitated toward Tess, the boss angel played by Della Reese on "Touched by an Angel." But I would like to sit down with the 6 percent who named Jerry Seinfeld and the alien from "Third Rock from the Sun." What were they thinking of?

In the same vein, when the survey participants were asked to name whom they would like to talk to about the existence of God, Tess led the way -- with Seinfeld in a distant but still second place. Again, do those people live in Bizarro World?

In a survey of primetime series that have dealt with religious and spiritual issues in recent episodes, TV Guide came up with an eclectic collection that included both the obvious ("Promised Land" and "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman") and the unexpected ("NYPD Blue" and "Beverly Hills 90210").

The magazine also asked writers involved with religion to assay the status of religion on TV, and their general assessment agreed: The status is poor. Jack Miles, author of "God: An Autobiography," for example, noted that "religion is a subject that Americans generally take pretty seriously. Television, though, may be most comfortable taking it lightly: It often glosses over the spiritual lives of characters."

Father Andrew Greeley, the author and columnist, opined that "it's a form of censorship to ignore religion, which TV generally does....Faith is certainly handled in movies, so why not on television?"

And Rabbi Harold Kushner, author of "When Bad Things Happen to Good People," said that "primetime dramas are the natural place to deal with questions of faith."

Finally, TV Guide provided an historical look at how religion has been dealt with in the past on television, listing such highlights as Bishop Fulton J. Sheen's programs in the 1950s; "The Flying Nun" with Sally Field in the 1960s; "Bridget Loves Bernie," a 1970s' sitcom about an interfaith couple; "Highway to Heaven" in the 1980s with Michael Landon as an angel; and two failures of the 1990s: "Heaven Help Us," a syndicated series with Ricardo Montalban as an angel guiding a newly deceased married couple, and "Amazing Grace" with Patty Duke as a minister.

Here's hoping that TV Guide's analysis prompts more religion on primetime shows. God shouldn't be a stranger on the tube.

(04-10-97)

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