Suspects in killing 'Sacred'

Who killed "Nothing Sacred"?

I think four culprits can be indicted on charges of doing away with the ABC series about the staff and members of an inner-city parish. They share the blame in equal measure, so the following list is in no particular order:

1. William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, tried to abort "Nothing Sacred" by attacking it even before it came on the air last fall. Claiming that the show was some sort of satanic plot against the Catholic Church, he convinced many Catholics never to give the show a chance. He also panicked sponsors into leaving the program, freeing them to put their millions into shows that really are offensive.

Mr. Donohue's opinions were mostly silly and often addled-brained, such as when he labeled the program as having "a political agenda" and said that "only a masochist would love to watch a depressing show about a dissident priest in a dysfunctional parish." In fact, supporters of the series included bishops and priests, Catholic critics and broadcasters, and millions of active, non-masochistic Catholics.

And when he presented his personal opinions as some sort of ex cathedra pronouncements that made disagreeing with him akin to heresy, he was way out of line.

2. ABC did everything it could to undercut its own show. When the fall shows were being promoted last summer, ABC cast "Nothing Sacred" as something it wasn't: a sort of "Melrose Place" in Roman collars.

That idiotic approach, which assumed ratings could be found only by claiming salaciousness and not by emphasizing the program's real values, reached its nadir when Jennifer Beals joined the program as a theologian who was named director of religious education at the parish. She played a sexy dancer in "Flashdance," but that was 15 years ago. Nevertheless, ABC's advertisement in TV Guide proclaimed: "Jennifer Beals is now on 'Nothing Sacred.' Impure thoughts are strictly prohibited."

If ABC wanted to create an image for the series that was exactly the opposite of reality, that ad succeeded.

But more damaging was that ABC placed the show in the wrong time slot (8 p.m.) on the wrong night (Thursday, against "Friends"), then preempted the series often, then moved the show to Saturday at 8, then took it off for a month and then moved it to 9 p.m. Many people said to me: "I'd like to watch the show, but I never know when it's on."

3. The creators, producers and writers of "Nothing Sacred" fell short on several occasions. They deserve enormous credit for coming up with the most honest, original, serious and adult presentation of Catholicism ever on series television, but they also made several missteps.

One error was starting the show with an episode that was partly about abortion. That immediately cast it in the wrong light for millions of viewers who heard Mr. Donohue's version and didn't watch it for themselves. Another mistake was never establishing consistency in some of the characters. For example, Father Eric was a conservative one week, a middle-of-the-roader the next and a liberal the third.

4. Viewers also had a hand in the death of "Nothing Sacred." They never showed up. Yes, ABC made it difficult to find the series. Yes, Mr. Donohue said idiotic things about it. Yes, the writers could be inconsistent. But those writers also turned out beautiful stories of faith.

The episode about the man whose wife died...the show about Father Ray's high school friend...the touching scenes of the sacraments...the homily by Father Leo about Christ's wounds...the recitation of St. Patrick's Breastplate -- those were all memorable moments on television over the last eight months, but they were missed by tens of millions of people who should have sworn off junk like "Friends" to connect with "Nothing Sacred."

It's a shame the series did not make it. It had its flaws, but it had many more pluses. Its demise will probably make it harder for other serious shows about religion to find support from networks. Now we know whom to blame.

(04-16-98) [[In-content Ad]]