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Why Christians should love Studio 60
First off, let me just state that I'm with Bob Sassone: I absolutely love Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. The acting, the writing, the production value...I could go on but suffice it to say that I agree with Bob on just about everything. Let me also state that I am a practicing Christian (Lutheran, specifically) and have been all my life. I mention this because I want you all to know from what position I'm speaking as you read this post.
One of the major plot points of the first two episodes of the show has been a skit, cut by network executives just before airtime, called "Crazy Christians." We've never been shown the skit but, as many characters stated in the pilot episode, it "killed at dress" and was actually written four years previous by the Matt Albie character just before he was fired from the show. You could guess what the skit was about since it used a very tired tactic of using "Crazy" to telegraph the joke was going to be.
The skit was cut because of concerns it would outrage religious people in America which makes th fact that cast member Harriet Hayes, a devout Christian, was proud of the skit and was willing to fight for it more than a little ironic.
It's the Harriet character that I want to focus on here. Christians on television are often portrayed as zealots, wingnuts and generally crazy people. There are a few positive examples but I feel Harriet Hayes trumps them all. That's because she's an actual adult who is able to hold fast to her faith and, at the same time, poke fun at it a little bit. This is a character trait that Christians on TV, movies and other forms of pop culture often lack. If you're a Christian, we're often shown, you must be deadly serious at all times whenever someone discusses your beliefs and righteously smack-down those who would speak even mildly against it.
But Harriet knows that to truly love something, as she obviously truly loves her faith, you have to be willing to acknowledge its faults. Christianity does have its faults (it was created by humans and everything we create is, by definition, imperfect) but very few people can admit that and even fewer people who can do so are on TV. Even if the skit "Crazy Christians" might have satirized her religion she was willing to go along with it because humor is 1) sometimes needed to keep things in perspective and 2) a gift God gave to her that she would be irresponsible to waste. So when she saw something funny she made a judgment call as to whether to participate in the skit or not and decided to do so. She's a human being, a Christian that reaffirms her faith whenever and wherever she can but also one that is approachable and not intimidating, as cultural portrayals of Christians often are.
So Christians should embrace Studio 60 as being one of the few shows to portray a devoutly religious person in a positive light. She shows all the best traits of Christianity while not bleeding over into being, as the title suggests, a "Crazy Christian." I'm not offended by anything her character has done (of course it's only been two shows) and hope the Chrisitan community embraces her as a positive representation of their faith.
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