Treading on sacred ground

NBC gives its blessing to the irreverent 'Book of Daniel,' about a troubled priest who talks to Jesus, but will viewers flock to it?

BY DIANE WERTS | STAFF WRITER

January 1, 2006

Garrett Dillahunt as Jesus, Aidan Quinn as Daniel in NBC's "Book of Daniel." (NBC)

Jesus wears a seat belt.

He's cruising down the street of a leafy suburb north of New York City in the car of an Episcopal priest who'd otherwise be talking to himself. But no, this driver shares his gripes about modern life with the passenger beside him - a kindly, white, berobed Jesus with the flowing locks of a Renaissance painting and a beatific smile. And a sly sense of humor. Jesus listens patiently, and responds with irony, to the woes of this good but troubled man, Daniel Webster. (Yes, descended from those Websters.)

Daniel's bored upper-class wife has a taste for noontime martinis. His medical-student eldest has come out as gay. His comics-obsessed daughter is dealing drugs for dollars. His adopted Asian son can't keep his pants zipped. Did we mention his strict bishop father, the missing church funds, the AWOL (absent without leave) brother-in-law, the dead twin or Daniel's own dependence on painkillers?

Welcome to "The Book of Daniel" (premiering Friday at 9 p.m. on NBC/4), the new family drama-comedy hour with a difference.

Inspired casting

Did we mention Jesus?

Kind of unavoidable when Jesus is a series regular. Some viewers may deplore him, or at least this depiction of him. Some will adore his warmth. Almost everybody will wonder what the heck he's doing here.

"Jesus is a small part of it, really," series creator Jack Kenny says between takes on the "Daniel" soundstage at Silvercup Studios in Long Island City, a stone's throw from the Queens Plaza stop. (Does Jesus take the subway?) "Jesus embodies Daniel's faith," Kenny says of this devoted pastor of a seemingly upstate parish. "He's the best part of Daniel." Their conversations become "a place where we can hear about what's going on in Daniel's head."

Which is plenty, of course, considering this priest is overwhelmed with more trials than Job. The anxieties of the modern American family are storytelling meat for Kenny, who combined the serious with the silly in Fox's adult familycom "Titus." That sort of richly topical treatment attracted "Daniel's" Aidan Quinn, who's starring in his first series after acclaim on the New York stage ("A Lie of the Mind," "A Streetcar Named Desire") and in movies made for theaters ("The Mission," "Legends of the Fall") and television ("An Early Frost," "Benedict Arnold: A Question of Honor").

"It seemed to be able to mine the craziness of everyday living in this busy world," Quinn says of the series' pilot script during a quick break in his dressing room. "I loved the way it flip-flopped from almost farce-like comedy to something very sweet and serious. It made me laugh."

Coming under attack

There's the rub. It isn't just the unusual tone of "Daniel" - a whimsical mix of tragedy, humor and soap opera echoing "Six Feet Under" - that can be hard to get a handle on. It's also having a member of the Holy Trinity in the thick of this stew. Is Daniel's Jesus real? Imagined? Are we laughing at him? With him? Because of or in spite of him?

"There's nothing shocking or controversial about what we're doing with Jesus," contends Kenny's producing partner, Flody Suarez. He's a wise and kindly character who's Daniel's best friend. "It's his inner monologue," Suarez says. Yet at a time when cultural interpretations of religion are a third rail in American society, "Daniel's" eclectic attitude seems to beg trouble from every angle -- most noisily from those religious activists always raring to denounce those "heathens" in Hollywood.

The American Family Association, a conservative Christian media watchdog group, has already attacked NBC's series for its "very unconventional" Jesus character. The AFA web site claims the show "mocks Christianity."

That may be a handy rallying cry. But it misses the mark here.

"Jack made sure to tell the writers, we never want to make fun of Jesus," says Kenny's fellow writer and executive producer John Tinker. "We never want to make fun of faith. 'It's not "I Dream of Jesus"' is Jack's quote. It's sincere on all of our parts."

Especially for Tinker, a producer of "Chicago Hope" and "The Practice" who created "Judging Amy." Though Kenny and Suarez were raised Catholic, they might not be considered devout now. "We've got writers who are born again, Jewish, agnostic, atheist," counts Suarez, indicating that Tinker is the most faithful among them. "Jack never had a religious agenda," says Tinker, recalling how "I outed myself" as a committed Christian before joining the show.

Tinker speaks a bit hesitantly between scenes, clearly uneasy that his personal faith might be played as a calling card. He sees the show as portraying not religion as such, but the way a man of God with a desire to do good maintains "a sincere quest to have a relationship with a higher power" to guide him through life's crises.

A diety like us

To Daniel, Jesus serves as a confidant, with a similar sense of humor and a heightened capacity for the understanding Daniel would like to see in himself. Jesus is also a conscience, reminding Daniel of the parameters of morality and primacy of compassion. He doesn't do miracles on screen. He isn't a magical figure, actually reminding Daniel, "I'm not a fortune teller." He tops off his comfort to the distressed priest with a lime LifeSaver.