Created by:
Jack Kenny
Starring:
Aidan Quinn …. Daniel Webster
Susanna Thompson …. Judith Webster
Christian Campbell …. Peter Webster
Ivan Shaw …. Adam Webster
Alison Pill …. Grace Webster
Garret Dillahunt …. Jesus Christ
James Rebhorn …. Bertram Webster
Dylan Baker …. Roger Paxton
Ellen Burstyn …. Bishop Beatrice Congreve
Cheryl White …. Victoria Conlin
Jonah Meyerson …. Yoda
Studio: Universal Studios.
Release Date: September 26, 2006.
Number of Discs: 2.
Number of Episodes: 8.
Running Time: 345 minutes.
MSRP: $29.98.
Available at Amazon.com
When you think of a Reverend and his family life, there’s probably one family that immediately comes to mind: The Camdens. Well, 7th Heaven this show is not. In fact, The Book of Daniel is the anti-7th Heaven in every way imaginable.
The Book of Daniel centers around an Episcopalian Reverend by the name of Daniel Webster and his twisted family. Making up this clan are Peter, his gay Republican son working his way through medical school looking to specialize in Cancer research. Adam, an adopted Chinese son who is having premarital sex with one of the Reverends friends daughter. Grace, a drug dealing daughter with an affinity for Manga drawings. And his wife Judith, who your more than likely to find with a martini glass in hand with a very waspy demeanor. If that weren’t enough, he’s got a growing addiction to vicodin, with pills stashed throughout the house. He even talks to Jesus when he’s alone, and it’s a wise-cracking Jesus at that!
He has a mother who is stricken with Alzheimer, a father who is not only a Bishop but also tends to look down on every choice his son makes. All while secretly sleeping with the Bishop of his sons congregation. But it doesn’t end there, his sister-in-law Victoria, who’s life is a wreck and appears to always be crying or just finished sobbing, can’t decide whether to date Libby, the bisexual secretary of her recently deceased husband, or a member of the mob.
Talk about having a lot on ones plate, yet it doesn’t even end there. In the first episode we find out that his brother-in-law has skipped town with over three million dollars of the church’s money that was to be used to build a new school. When the money is found by the local mob, Daniel needs to make a decision – hire the Vaporelli brothers to work construction on the school, or say goodbye to the money once and for all.
The show was heavily marketed by NBC, was aired out of order, and seems to pack more stereotypes into a single show than anyone could possibly imagine. While it takes a slanted and somewhat fresh view on these characters, and at times clearly making fun of the stereotypes, there seems to be no subtlety found here whatsoever. Its trying to show that everyone is flawed and imperfect, but It all boarders on self parody. Why does everyone need faults? Most of the stereotypes are downplayed after the pilot, but they’re all in full swing during the first episode to almost a hyper extent and are hard to shake afterwards because they make such a big first impression.
Not all religious figures are infallible, we get that, but this many things happening to just one person feels like too much. It’s one thing to show a troubled Reverend who has the same difficulties going through life as the next man, and still has to go though family life like the rest of us. But for a show that was marketed as a hard hitting drama and to then start the show off with so many cliched and atypical characters, it was hard to hold back the laughter. These problems were fix later on in the season, adding some true gravity to the problems presented, but with the pilot episode so fresh in viewers memory (the show only lasted eight episodes afterall, with only three making it on the air), it’s hard to let all those things go.
Showing that family life is no different for priest or reverends or ourselves is one thing, but over emphasizing the matter like The Book of Daniel does takes away from what’s trying to be accomplished. While the series does cover important parts of life, the over the top nature and unsureness of whether or not its a drama or comedy softens whatever point is trying to be made.
The over the top musical score is another problem in the show. Sometimes when a score contrasts with the tone of the actual show on screen, they can create a wonderful mix. Thus is not the case for The Book of Daniel. The shows musical scores do get better as the season goes on, finding a middle ground between the score and shows content. But for the first half of the series there is a very dramatic tone set from the composer that in no way matches what’s happening during the show, and brings too much attention to itself. Which, for all the wrong reasons, only makes the show even more unintentionally hilarious.
Aiden Quinn does a great job as the troubled Reverend, making the comical slightly more believable. He owns the role and is the backbone of the entire series. He has a presence that is undeniable, and I hope he gets some more work soon.
Aside from a few very funny one liners, the show tends to lack longevity, replayability, true humor, tension or drama. In fact, it’s hard to find anything that show actually does well enough to point out, it tends to coast by as being quite average all around. But hardest of all, it’s difficult to rate an incomplete series with loose ends that are left unresolved like this one has. While the series slowly evolved in to a moderately enjoyable show, there’s good reason to believe that it wouldn’t become anything above average.
Its almost as if the show was designed and produced just to see how angry and infuriated they could make the religious organizations that love make a fuss about shows like this. As if the it was green lit as nothing more than a publicity stunt to get to people to start recognizing that NBC still existed. Because by this time they had lost all their key programming like Friends and Fraiser, and didn’t bother to plan ahead. Getting killed in the rating because of it, and if there’s one thing that boosts ratings it’s controversy.
Video:
(Presented in 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen)
For a show that was initially broadcast less than a year ago, it sure doesn’t look like it. There is a very noticeable problem with background images being a bit grainy in every shot, along with a few scenes that have some very slight posterization issues. Black tones tend to also be a bit too harsh, washing out detail in shadowed areas and on black clothing.
Audio:
(English Dolby Digital 2.0)
The shows bland 2.0 Stereo mix does the job its assigned and never acts up during playback.
Extras:
Deleted Scenes – There are alternate scenes available for five of the episodes and none are really worth mentioning to be honest.
The only other things being listed as extras are the episodes that never made it on the air, hardly something that should be considered “extras” if you ask me.
