jesus

(S10E11) Just because a place is big doesn't mean it's bad. The Pentagon's good. --Hank Hill

I wouldn't have though I could ever become nostalgic for those days when I was forced to wake up early, don uncomfortable garments and too-tight shoes, get shuttled off to church, and then try to stay awake through some boring sermon. I don't recall ever actually enjoying church, but it was part of our routine, and last night's episode managed to touch on all the ups and downs of attending church in a small town.

The opportunity was there, and I missed it. You see, the most recent episode of South Park focused on an episode of Family Guy which (didn't) show an image of the Prophet Muhammed. In the episode, Family Guy, at least on one level, became a kind of symbolic representation of South Park. By the end of the show the question wasn't whether Family Guy would show an image of Muhammed, but whether South Park would (as many people pointed out, this was made clear in the last line of the episode: "If Comedy Central doesn't puss out").

I didn't focus much on that aspect in my review of the episode, choosing instead to examine the episode's negative assessment of Family Guy. My prerogative, of course, but by doing so I missed the chance to mention something that was staring me in the face the whole time: South Park already has shown an image of Muhammed, and they did it almost five years ago. The episode was called "The Super Best Friends" and featured Jesus and all of his religious super hero pals, one of which just happened to be Muhammed. So yeah, I could have sounded smart, but I didn't. My only consolation is that this will only happen about twenty more times today.

Note: I went back and read the comments on my previous post and noticed Elliott alluded to this, as well. Nice job, E.

Update: YouTube has the relevant portion of the episode available, embedded below.

Shut up, Jesus. -Orel, while on crack

I'd like to kick off this episode recap by recalling, again, some of the funny products shown during last night's episode of Moral Orel:

KLUM-Z Caucasian Band-Aids

Hard Milk (spiked milk that Orel's dad drinks before church)

HIV Away (a doctor sprays it on a needle before drawing blood from Orel's arm)

These people are starting to make Christians look like they don't have a sense of humor. The same group that yelled and screamed about The Book of Daniel's pill-popping priest who conversed with Jesus is now hollering about Will and Grace. It's not the homosexual characters on the show that they're taking issue with, or the constant feeling-up of characters, or the references to alcoholism and pill-popping. They're all upset over the plans for a Britney Spears cameo in which she plays a Christian chef. They don't like that her character has a cooking segment called Cruci-fixins. The group, called The American Family Association, accuses NBC of mocking Christ's crucifixion and says the network will "further denegrate Christianity" by airing the episode the night before Good Friday. On its website, this group is urging NBC affiliates to boycott the episode, just like it got some affiliates to do for Daniel. NBC has already started back-peddling, saying that the episode isn't even written yet so the name of the cooking segment isn't exactly set in stone.

God, I'd love to see NBC stick to its guns and stay with Cruci-fixins. That's funny, y'all. Plus, it'll probably help the floundering show's ratings as it ends its run on NBC this spring.

Orel: It's only track, not church.

 

Dad: Only track? Young man, track is very important for your future. What happens when you grow up and need to sprint thirty meters to the unemployment office?

Orel: I never thought about it that way.

Dad: Kids your age seldom do. It's called "stupidity" and it's a very natural thing.

Oh, joyous rapture. The Adult Swim series I've been waiting for, Moral Orel, will finally have it's debut this Sunday at midnight. According to Adult Swim's Web page for the show, it looks like there are ten episodes of the series in the can. If you didn't catch Moral Orel: The Best Christmas Ever and aren't up to speed, Moral Orel is a clay-animated series that imagines what Davey and Goliath would be like if Davey constantly misinterpreted the word of God and wound up doing unspeakably blasphemous things. Also, Orel doesn't have a talking dog that I'm aware of. It'll be great pre-apocalypse viewing.

 

In the middle of his sermon, Reverend Daniel Webster (Aidan Quinn) poses this question to the congregation:

"If there were no temptation, how can there be redemption?"

The Book of Daniel made its much anticipated debut Friday night on NBC with a two-hour episode. If you saw it, you know there were so many subplots that trying to recap them here will make your (and my) head spin.

In a nutshell, Daniel's life is a complicated one, to say the least. This Episcopalian man of the cloth has to deal with his teenage daughter (Grace) being arrested for dealing pot, to having a gay son (Peter) that causes confusion for him, to having an adopted son from China (Adam) who pokes fun at his Asian features and heritage, to having a neurotic wife taken to having martinis as soon as noon passes, to having a female bishop critiquing his Sunday sermons, to finding out his brother-in-law has embezzled $3.2 million from the church, to dealing with a stiff and wooden father who happens to be a bishop, to his mother suffering from Alzheimer's, to interacting with a Mafia-connected Catholic priest. (I could go further but I think you get the general idea.)

A television station in Indiana is refusing to air the new NBC series, The Book of Daniel, which features an Episcopalian priest who regularly talks to Jesus. The general manager of WTWO in Terre Haute posted a statement about his decision on his station's website. It doesn't give an explanation about why he's opting out of programming, except to say, "If my action causes people in our community to pay more attention to what they watch on television, I have accomplished my mission." In the statement, he also criticizes the cable industry for being "the worst offenders of indecency on television..." and calls for FCC oversight. Not sure if this guy has even seen the show or if he's just jumping on the bandwagon.

This, quite frankly, pisses me off. Who is this guy to decide what shows are right for the town of Terre Haute? Don't his viewers have the right not to watch? Can't they make that decision for themselves? If he wants to protect his town from crap, he should take Joey off the air.

Who didn't see this one coming from about twelve million miles away? The Book of Daniel, the new series about a pill-popping priest who hangs out with Jesus and has a son who is gay and a daughter who sells pot has come under fire from the American Family Association. The AFA's favorite targets are shows or companies which they see as "gay friendly." The group most recently went after the Ford Motor Company for advertising in LGBT mags. They're urging a boycott of the show and its advertisers. I'm sure they have a few words for Jesus, too, and his decision to appear on this show.