A lawyer who sees visions

Eli Stone

ABC, Thursdays, 10/9 p.m.


Eli Stone (Jonny Lee Miller) is a lawyer who may be a prophet. Photo courtesy of ABC-TV.Turn on your lap tops. ABC’s hour-long drama Eli Stone has the feel of one of those quality shows destined to need saving by a letter-writing campaign of a passionate fan base.

Eli Stone (Jonny Lee Miller) is a lawyer, a rainmaker in a successful San Francisco practice, brimming with promise and engaged to the boss’s daughter. At least this is the Eli we meet initially. In the first episode, however, Eli begins to see visions thematically tied to hits by pop singer George Michael. He learns that he suffers from a brain aneurysm and is told by his acupuncturist that he just may be a modern-day prophet.

Each week Eli must choose between being who he understands he should be and who he believes he is called to be. The sensible choice would be to stay on track to be the wildly successful corporate lawyer he has worked so hard to become. But, as Eli discovers, his sense of call is hard, if not impossible to shake.

Adding to the appeal of this drama is a winning cast of characters that includes Eli’s cagey administrative assistant, an idealistic young attorney in the firm with a penchant for tilting at windmills, and Eli’s late father (Thomas Cavanagh, star of Ed, another off-beat drama that had to fight for an audience). It is to his father that Eli directs the words that set the framework for his future: “I’m not the person you said I’d be. I’m going to change that.”

The show is religious in the generic way that television shows manage to be. Yet it raises an important dilemma: sensible shoes versus Jesus-following shoes? Society’s expectations versus God’s call? The question is raised in such a compelling and ultimately entertaining way that people of faith will be intrigued.

Among the post-writers-strike offerings of reality shows and procedural drama franchises on television today, there needs to be a place for a quirky drama with fresh characters exploring questions of call and purpose. As George Michael sings it, “You gotta have faith.”

—George Love, Hebron Presbyterian Church, Shepherdsville, Ky.

Life, love and loss

Pushing Daisies

ABC-TV, Wednesdays, 8 ET/7 CT

Ned can bring dead things back to life with just one touch. There’s a catch, though. If he ever touches the resurrected person again, that person will die for good.

Even though its title is taken from a euphemism for death, Pushing Daisies is about life, redemption, love and how it’s never too late to rejoin the world again, no matter what your age, or in the case of his dead loved ones, your pulse. The unique premise, excellent writing and high quality look of this show has won a lot of viewers and garnered three Golden Globe nominations as well as a nomination from the Writers Guild of America.

With a touch, Ned brings those like his girlfriend and dog back to life. But he cannot ever touch either of them again. Watching Ned use his “gift,” one can imagine it’s like the process Jesus went through as he explored his powers of healing and how to use them wisely. In the episode “Bitter Sweets,” Molly Shannon plays a candy shop owner (Dilly Balsam) who is determined to put Ned’s Pie Hole out of business. The waitress and girlfriend want vengeance, but Ned refuses to fight back. “Don’t go to the dark side; vengeance never works,” Ned advises. Viewers can taste the retribution that Dilly deserves (as much as you can almost taste the beautiful pies that Ned bakes). The release of rats in the candy shop backfires, but in the end, we learn Dilly isn’t so bad after all.

Watching the scenes between Ned and his deceased girlfriend Chuck in their bedroom are beautiful and heart-breaking. They sleep in twin beds, with Digby (the resurrected dog) lying on the floor between them. As they review the events of the day, their eyes linger over one another, perhaps begging God, wishing they could touch one another, even just to hold hands, to seal their love with the sensation of touching each other.

Ned’s friend Olive (who works at his pie shop) asks a customer about this: “If you loved me, and knew we could never touch, wouldn’t you eventually let it go?” The customer replies, “I’d love you in any way I could. I would draw strength from your beauty. The sound of your voice would carry me until the last spark of life has left my body.”

To which Olive says, “Nah, it’d never work anyway.”

The show is a beautiful lesson about love, loss and learning to appreciate the happiness you have.

—Katie Murphy-O’Brien, Calvary Presbyterian Church, San Francisco, Calif.

For One More Day

Ellen Burstyn and Michael Imperoli star as Posey Benetto and her son, Chick, in ABC TV’s “Oprah Winfrey Presents: Mitch Albom’s For One More Day .”  (© 2007 ABC Television)Directed by Lloyd Kramer. ABC Television.  Not Rated (Adult relational themes) Running time: 2 hours (including commercials)

The full title of this ABC movie, due to premier from 9 to 11 p.m. (EST) Sunday, Dec. 9, on ABC TV, is “Oprah Winfrey Presents: Mitch Albom’s For One More Time.” Those who enjoyed the other two television films based on Mitch Albom’s books — Tuesdays With Morrie and The Five People You Meet in Heaven — should also find plenty of inspiration, as well as entertainment, in this new film. It demands the full attention of viewers in that it frequently switches time and places as the alcoholic Chick Benetto (played by Emmy Award-winning actor Michael Imperoli), a former professional baseball player, tells his amazing story of meeting and spending a day with his dead mother, Posey Benetto, played by Oscar winner Ellen Burstyn.

As a boy Chick enjoys watching his mother put on makeup, but his disapproving father, Len Benetto (Scott Cohen), tells him that he has to decide whether he wants to be a “momma’s boy” or his father’s son. Len coaches the boy in baseball, relentlessly telling him that he must practice and never strike out if he wants to be a winner. Wanting desperately to please his father, Chick often hurts his mother’s feelings through his choices. When the father finally walks out on them, Chick thinks that either it is his failure or his mother’s that drove him away.

Chick strives hard to perfect his game and earns a partial scholarship. Combined with the money his mother earns from cleaning houses, he is able to attend a college. His father shows up to watch him play, soon bringing with him a talent scout. Chick breaks his mother's heart by dropping out of school to play on a New York Mets farm team. Called up by the Mets to replace an injured player, he gets a chance to play in a World Series game.  Fate then intervenes to spoil his career, and his father disappears again.

We see all of the above, and more, in snatches of flashbacks during the dark night when Chick is involved in an auto crash and hovers between life and death. This is when his mother appears to him and he is granted the “one more day” of the title to spend with her. She reveals a family secret that changes how Chick looks at her, himself and his father, and which might lead him to break with his addiction to alcohol.

Like the other two films based on Mitch Albom books, this one offers insights into human nature and relationships. It reminds me a bit of my favorite “baseball picture,” Field of Dreams;  both suggest that ours is a universe of grace, one in which we are given a second chance to redeem past mistakes. It concludes with a nice surprise, revealing the identity of the female reporter to whom Chick tells his “sort of a ghost story.”

The Wisdom of American Idol

American Idol

Fox Television (check local listings for airtime)

I have succumbed to the guilty pleasure that is American Idol.  For the first several years it was easy to resist. Last year the rest of the family started to watch, and I was the lone holdout, the only killjoy.  Finally, I could no longer cling to my isolated position. I wanted the warmth and camaraderie of the family hearth, and so I watched.

Once 33 million people start checking something out, even I have enough curiosity to crawl forth from the curmudgeonly cold and have a look. Possibly like you. Not all of you can be among the pure; some of you who are reading this must be among the 33 million. And it is to you I turn and ask: Who would you most like to find as the newest member of your church’s session — Randy, Paula or Simon?

Randy, Paula and Simon are, of course, the three judges on American Idol, the folks who speak their opinions before the rest of us vote ours.  One night as the show went to commercial break, I found myself mulling over the very question I’ve posed here. Suddenly, the three of them weren’t just personalities on a faraway soundstage — they were flesh-and-blood people who make up the Worship Committee and the Evangelism Committee and so on.

You might quickly say give us Paula, the one who typically is nice to the contestants.  Supportive.  Encouraging.  Always looking for the positive thing to say.  If the best Paula can come up with is that the song was “good” and the singing was “okay,” this undoubtedly means that the song was atrocious and the singing wasn’t actually singing at all.

I suspect that Randy would be most folks’ second choice. Not as much the Pollyanna as Paula, but still usually seeking the kinder, gentler path. Randy will try to encourage you. He leaves you holding on to the possibility that rather than lack of singing ability your primary drawback was song selection.  Perhaps a hint of the hard truth might slip through as Randy tells you, “I don’t know, dog, you were a little pitchy in places.” Randy can break the bad news to you, but you may not realize the depth of what he’s said until later on that evening.

Then there is Simon, whose role is to be the person the 33 million viewers love to hate. Simon spares no one’s feelings, perhaps isn’t even aware that people have feelings, is quite possibly not even human himself.  Simon will tell you that not only was the song you just sang bad, but that it is very likely every song you ever sing will be bad and that your dancing is awkward, too. 

So who do you want?  Maybe all three types.

What church session can’t use a Paula? Someone to see the light, no matter how severe the darkness, to provide a word of encouragement when the walls seem to be crumbling around you. Paula could be a welcome face on a good day and a lifeline on a bad one. Feeling discouraged because everyone missed the point in the long-range planning meeting?  Paula will compliment you on your excellent taste in wall calendars.

A Randy is essential as well. Randy can talk to everyone.  When folks start moving into two camps, it’s Randy who can moderate the conversation. Randy can take the unbearable message of one side and speak to the unfathomable message of the other. “I don’t know, dog,” Randy might say, “the stewardship campaign just seems a little pitchy.”

But I think the one we may really need is Simon. What Simon is ultimately about is truth. What Paula might not tell you and what Randy might sugar-coat, Simon will simply lay out for you in all its glory.  And do we church people not need a healthy dose of truth?

Love, support, compassion, moderation, communication, negotiation — and cold, hard truth-telling (with a bit of snarkiness). Paula, Randy and Simon. It’d make for an interesting session meeting.

—George Love, pastor of Hebron Presbyterian Church, in Bullitt County, Ky

Detective touched by an angel
Saving Grace
TNT, 10 p.m. ET /9 p.m. CT

Police detective Grace Hanadarko (Holly Hunter) is visited by an unorthodox angel (Leon Rippy) in Saving Grace. Photo by Frank Ockenfels.

An atheist police detective in Oklahoma City has a life-changing experience when she hits a pedestrian while driving drunk. At least she thinks that is what happened. In this new TNT drama Grace Hanadarko, played by Academy Award–winning actress Holly Hunter (The Piano), asks God for help as she holds the body of the man she just hit. Then along comes Earl the Angel (Leon Rippy of Deadwood fame) to whisk her away to a high place and convince her that God is real. After that he returns her to earth and she discovers the accident never happened. This is the miracle that “saved Grace,” so to speak.

Combining a crime drama with elements from shows like Touched by an Angel, Highway to Heaven and Joan of Arcadia, this new series aims to reach an adult audience that will enjoy both peering into the lives of detectives and exploring the characters’ mystical connection with God. But will Presbyterians appreciate an angel that pokes fun at Grace’s serious attempt to understand why evil exists in a world created by a God of love? Earl notes that if humans were given the answers to questions like why evil exists, then there would be no room for faith — a flippant answer to an important question. And will progressive Christians enjoy Earl’s pronouncement that “a lot of people are headed for hell these days” and that Earl is their “last chance”?

While the theology in Saving Grace is the usual scaled-back-for-TV hodgepodge, the show contains a sweet, lingering invitation to a deeper spirituality. Grace’s brother, a Catholic priest, urges her to pray. Earl cuddles Grace in his angel-wings to give her a taste of what it’s like to be blanketed by God’s love, prompting her spontaneous response that “this is almost better than sex.” (And she would know — she seems to have a lot of sex on this show.)

Grace demonstrates what it is like to explore spirituality for the first time, exhibiting a longing for God mixed with anger at why God didn’t prevent her from being abused by a priest when she was young. This show has some depth and brings up interesting questions, much like other programs that openly discuss God and mysticism. But be aware that this show (unlike the other angel shows of the past) is not for children, since Grace drinks, swears and beds down men rather casually and excessively at times.

—Teresa Blythe