The Book of Daniel (TV series)
Encyclopedia
The Book of Daniel is a television series broadcast on NBC
. The network promoted it as a serious drama about Christians and the Christian faith, but it was controversial with some Christians. The show had been proposed for NBC's 2005 fall line-up, but was rescheduled as a 2006 midseason replacement. The program premiered on January 6, 2006 in the US and was scheduled to air in thirteen episodes on Friday nights. NBC called the show "edgy", "challenging", and "courageous" in its promotional material. On January 24, 2006, a spokeswoman for NBC announced the show had been dropped.
, the main character is the Reverend Daniel Webster (Aidan Quinn
), an unconventional Episcopal priest
who is addicted to narcotic painkillers while his wife Judith (Susanna Thompson
) fights her dependence on mid-day martinis.
Struggling to be a good husband, father, and minister, Webster regularly sees and talks with a traditional western, white-skinned, white-robed and bearded Jesus
(Garret Dillahunt), who nonetheless is rather unconventional. Daniel's Jesus appears only to him and openly questions modern interpretations of church teachings, reminding Daniel of his own strengths and weaknesses.
The Webster family is rounded out by a 23-year-old gay son Peter (Christian Campbell
), a 16-year-old daughter Grace (Alison Pill
), who is arrested for drug possession in the pilot, and Adam (Ivan Shaw
), a 16-year-old adopted Chinese son who dates the daughter of one of Daniel's parishioners, the latter who harbor anti-Asian prejudices. Peter's twin brother, Jimmy, had died of leukemia
two years prior to the beginning of the series; Christian Campbell also played the role of Jimmy in flashback scenes in one of the episodes never aired on television, but included in the DVD release.
When Daniel's brother-in-law, Charlie (last name unknown), absconds with church funds and abandons his family, his sister-in-law enters a lesbian relationship with Charlie's bisexual secretary. Bishop Beatrice Congreve (Ellen Burstyn
) is involved with Daniel's married father (James Rebhorn
) a retired bishop who, despite his gruff exterior, is troubled by dealing with his wife's Alzheimer's disease
.
in Terre Haute, Indiana
(owned by Nexstar Broadcasting Group
); KARK in Little Rock, Arkansas
(also owned by Nexstar); KFTA-TV
/KNWA-TV
in Fayetteville
-Fort Smith, Arkansas
(also owned by Nexstar); KBTV
in Beaumont, Texas
(also owned by Nexstar, now affiliated with Fox); WGBC
in Meridian, Mississippi
; WTVA
in Tupelo, Mississippi
; WSMV in Nashville, Tennessee
(owned by the Meredith Corporation
); and KAMR in Amarillo, Texas
(also owned by Nexstar). Most of the affiliates refusing to air the program are located in the Bible Belt
, a region known for evangelical Christian activity.
After KARK refused to air the series, what was then WB station KWBF (now myNetworkTV
affiliate KARZ-TV
) picked up the series. The company stated that it was excited to offer an outlet for viewers in the central Arkansas area who wanted to watch the show. However, the station soon received a number of threats which required it to hire extra security. On an ironic note, both KARK and KARZ are now owned by Nexstar since 2009, three years after the Book of Daniel was cancelled.
Several stations in Michigan
, including WDIV in Detroit (owned by Post-Newsweek), WOOD-TV
in Grand Rapids
(owned by LIN
), WILX in Lansing
(owned by Gray Television
), WPBN and WTOM in Traverse City
and Sault Ste. Marie
(owned by Barrington Broadcasting
), and WLUC in Marquette
(also owned by Barrington), did not air The Book of Daniels second episode, although this was due to a live broadcast of the 2006 North American International Auto Show
Charity Preview and not necessarily the controversy.
NBC's Salt Lake City affiliate, KSL-TV
, did carry The Book of Daniel, despite the station's past history of preempting shows claiming that they would offend the religious. The station's recent preemption is The Playboy Club
, which, after airing 3 episodes, was the first show of the 2011-12 television season to be cancelled.
announced the show had been dropped from the schedule. The last airing of the show was on January 20, 2006. The January 20 episode was the fourth in the series, drawing 5.8 million viewers. NBC
gave no official explanation for the cancellation.
Episodes continued to be streamed, one a week, for the next three weeks. New episodes were initially made available at around 8pm on Friday night and were viewable until the next episode replaced it on the following Friday. The final episode was streamed on February 10, 2006.
With that streaming, NBC had aired (either on TV or the Web) every episode of the show's initial order (and consequently, every episode that had been produced up to that point).
That led many to believe that NBC had aired the show out of order and that the episode with production number 104, entitled “Revelations”, had been skipped.
This theory seemed to be confirmed by the Book of Daniel Web Site which featured a section titled “Catch up with the unaired episode, “Revelations””. When viewers followed the link, it led to a photo recap of an episode entitled “Episode 3” that contained a sub plot (notably featuring actress Marin Hinkle
) where Daniel meets a young girl who speaks to Jesus at a time when he had chosen not to. These scenes were consistent with the recap that aired in “Withdrawal (Production #105).
“Revelations” did eventually air as the very last episode of the series but, contrary to earlier speculation, events that took place in the episode verify it aired in the proper order. The scenes recapped in “Withdrawal” and featured on the web were not present while scenes that could not have predated earlier episodes were.
This has led to speculation that this episode was repositioned as the final episode and that it consisted of newer scenes that were combined with previous material (perhaps replacing those scenes that were recapped earlier on).
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
. The network promoted it as a serious drama about Christians and the Christian faith, but it was controversial with some Christians. The show had been proposed for NBC's 2005 fall line-up, but was rescheduled as a 2006 midseason replacement. The program premiered on January 6, 2006 in the US and was scheduled to air in thirteen episodes on Friday nights. NBC called the show "edgy", "challenging", and "courageous" in its promotional material. On January 24, 2006, a spokeswoman for NBC announced the show had been dropped.
Synopsis
Set in the fictional town of Newbury in Westchester County, New YorkWestchester County, New York
Westchester County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. Westchester covers an area of and has a population of 949,113 according to the 2010 Census, residing in 45 municipalities...
, the main character is the Reverend Daniel Webster (Aidan Quinn
Aidan Quinn
-Early life:Quinn was born in Chicago, Illinois to Irish parents. He was brought up as a Roman Catholic and raised in Chicago and Rockford, Illinois, as well as in Dublin and Birr, County Offaly in Ireland. His mother, Teresa, was a homemaker, and his father, Michael Quinn, was a professor of...
), an unconventional Episcopal priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
who is addicted to narcotic painkillers while his wife Judith (Susanna Thompson
Susanna Thompson
Susanna Thompson is an American television and film actress. She is skilled in Aikido and stage combat. She is best known for her role as Karen Sammler on Once and Again.-Career:...
) fights her dependence on mid-day martinis.
Struggling to be a good husband, father, and minister, Webster regularly sees and talks with a traditional western, white-skinned, white-robed and bearded Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
(Garret Dillahunt), who nonetheless is rather unconventional. Daniel's Jesus appears only to him and openly questions modern interpretations of church teachings, reminding Daniel of his own strengths and weaknesses.
The Webster family is rounded out by a 23-year-old gay son Peter (Christian Campbell
Christian Campbell
Christian Bethune Campbell is a Canadian stage and screen actor. He is married to actress America Olivo.-Personal life:Campbell was born in Toronto, Ontario. Campbell's mother, Marnie , is a yoga instructor and psychologist from Amsterdam, Netherlands...
), a 16-year-old daughter Grace (Alison Pill
Alison Pill
Alison Courtney Pill is a Canadian actress best known from her roles in Milk, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Midnight in Paris.-Life and career:...
), who is arrested for drug possession in the pilot, and Adam (Ivan Shaw
Ivan Shaw
Ivan Shaw is a Taiwanese American actor who made his daytime debut in December 2002, playing young Henry Chen in the ABC daytime show All My Children....
), a 16-year-old adopted Chinese son who dates the daughter of one of Daniel's parishioners, the latter who harbor anti-Asian prejudices. Peter's twin brother, Jimmy, had died of leukemia
Leukemia
Leukemia or leukaemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts". Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases...
two years prior to the beginning of the series; Christian Campbell also played the role of Jimmy in flashback scenes in one of the episodes never aired on television, but included in the DVD release.
When Daniel's brother-in-law, Charlie (last name unknown), absconds with church funds and abandons his family, his sister-in-law enters a lesbian relationship with Charlie's bisexual secretary. Bishop Beatrice Congreve (Ellen Burstyn
Ellen Burstyn
Ellen Burstyn is a leading American actress of film, stage, and television. Burstyn's career began in theatre during the late 1950s, and over the next ten years she appeared in several films and television series before joining the Actors Studio in 1967...
) is involved with Daniel's married father (James Rebhorn
James Rebhorn
James Robert Rebhorn is an American character actor who has appeared in over 100 television shows, feature films and plays.-Personal life:...
) a retired bishop who, despite his gruff exterior, is troubled by dealing with his wife's Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
.
Controversy
The New York Times reported NBC had difficulty selling advertising during the program, even after offering significant rate discounts, because of controversial content.Stations refuse to air
Eight of NBC's 232 affiliates refused to carry the program due to consumer complaints: WTWOWTWO
WTWO, virtual channel 2 , is the NBC-affiliated television station in Terre Haute, Indiana. The station is owned by Nexstar Broadcasting Group of Irving, Texas, which operates local ABC affiliate WAWV , through a joint sales agreement with owner Mission Broadcasting...
in Terre Haute, Indiana
Terre Haute, Indiana
Terre Haute is a city and the county seat of Vigo County, Indiana, United States, near the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 60,785 and its metropolitan area had a population of 170,943. The city is the county seat of Vigo County and...
(owned by Nexstar Broadcasting Group
Nexstar Broadcasting Group
Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Inc., is an entity of broadcast television stations headquartered in Irving, Texas. The company consists of 50 television stations across the U.S., ranging from market sizes 9 to 201 . 43 of the stations are broadcasting at full power, with the other 4 broadcasting at...
); KARK in Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...
(also owned by Nexstar); KFTA-TV
KFTA-TV
KFTA-TV, virtual channel 24, is the Fox-affiliated television station for the Arkansas River Valley and Northwest Arkansas that is licensed to Fort Smith. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 27 from a transmitter south of Artist Point...
/KNWA-TV
KNWA-TV
KNWA-TV, virtual channel 51, is the NBC-affiliated television station for Northwest Arkansas and the Arkansas River Valley. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 50 from a transmitter southeast of Garfield...
in Fayetteville
Fayetteville, Arkansas
Fayetteville is the county seat of Washington County, and the third largest city in Arkansas. The city is centrally located within the county and is home to the University of Arkansas. Fayetteville is also deep in the Boston Mountains, a subset of The Ozarks...
-Fort Smith, Arkansas
Fort Smith, Arkansas
Fort Smith is the second-largest city in Arkansas and one of the two county seats of Sebastian County. With a population of 86,209 in 2010, it is the principal city of the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area, a region of 298,592 residents which encompasses the Arkansas...
(also owned by Nexstar); KBTV
KBTV-TV
KBTV-TV, channel 4, is the Fox affiliated television station serving the Beaumont/Port Arthur, Texas designated market area, and is licensed to Port Arthur. The station is owned by Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Inc., and its studios are located at Parkdale Mall in Beaumont...
in Beaumont, Texas
Beaumont, Texas
Beaumont is a city in and county seat of Jefferson County, Texas, United States, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city's population was 118,296 at the 2010 census. With Port Arthur and Orange, it forms the Golden Triangle, a major industrial area on the...
(also owned by Nexstar, now affiliated with Fox); WGBC
WGBC
WGBC is the Fox-affiliated television station for Meridian, Mississippi. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 31 from a transmitter at studios on Crestview Drive south of downtown. The station can also be seen on Comcast channel 7 and in high definition on digital channel 432...
in Meridian, Mississippi
Meridian, Mississippi
Meridian is the county seat of Lauderdale County, Mississippi. It is the sixth largest city in the state and the principal city of the Meridian, Mississippi Micropolitan Statistical Area...
; WTVA
WTVA
WTVA is the NBC-affiliated television station for Northern Mississippi and Northwestern Alabama licensed to Tupelo, Mississippi. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 8 from a transmitter on County Road 70 in Woodland, Mississippi. The station can also be seen on Cable One...
in Tupelo, Mississippi
Tupelo, Mississippi
Tupelo is the largest city in and the county seat of Lee County, Mississippi, United States. It is the seventh largest city in the state of Mississippi, smaller than Meridian, and larger than Greenville. As of the 2000 United States Census, the city's population was 34,211...
; WSMV in Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
(owned by the Meredith Corporation
Meredith Corporation
The Meredith Corporation is a media conglomerate based in Des Moines, Iowa, USA. The company has two divisions, National Media and Local Media.-History:...
); and KAMR in Amarillo, Texas
Amarillo, Texas
Amarillo is the 14th-largest city, by population, in the state of Texas, the largest in the Texas Panhandle, and the seat of Potter County. A portion of the city extends into Randall County. The population was 190,695 at the 2010 census...
(also owned by Nexstar). Most of the affiliates refusing to air the program are located in the Bible Belt
Bible Belt
Bible Belt is an informal term for a region in the southeastern and south-central United States in which socially conservative evangelical Protestantism is a significant part of the culture and Christian church attendance across the denominations is generally higher than the nation's average.The...
, a region known for evangelical Christian activity.
After KARK refused to air the series, what was then WB station KWBF (now myNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
affiliate KARZ-TV
KARZ-TV
KARZ-TV is the MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station for Central Arkansas. It is licensed to Little Rock. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 42 from a transmitter on Shinall Mountain near the Chenal Valley section of Little Rock...
) picked up the series. The company stated that it was excited to offer an outlet for viewers in the central Arkansas area who wanted to watch the show. However, the station soon received a number of threats which required it to hire extra security. On an ironic note, both KARK and KARZ are now owned by Nexstar since 2009, three years after the Book of Daniel was cancelled.
Several stations in Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, including WDIV in Detroit (owned by Post-Newsweek), WOOD-TV
WOOD-TV
WOOD-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station for Southwestern Michigan licensed to Grand Rapids. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 7 from a transmitter in Middleville near the Barry and Allegan County line. The station can also be seen on Comcast and Charter channel...
in Grand Rapids
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Grand Rapids is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The city is located on the Grand River about 40 miles east of Lake Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 188,040. In 2010, the Grand Rapids metropolitan area had a population of 774,160 and a combined statistical area, Grand...
(owned by LIN
LIN TV
LIN TV Corporation is an American holding company that operates 31 television stations.-History:LIN TV's roots trace back to the founding of its former parent, LIN Broadcasting Corporation, in 1961. LIN Broadcasting was engaged in radio, television, direct marketing, information and learning, music...
), WILX in Lansing
Lansing, Michigan
Lansing is the capital of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located mostly in Ingham County, although small portions of the city extend into Eaton County. The 2010 Census places the city's population at 114,297, making it the fifth largest city in Michigan...
(owned by Gray Television
Gray Television
Gray Television, Inc. is a communications company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with administrative offices in Albany, Georgia.Established in 1946 by James H...
), WPBN and WTOM in Traverse City
Traverse City, Michigan
Traverse City is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Grand Traverse County, although a small portion extends into Leelanau County. It is the largest city in the 21-county Northern Michigan region. The population was 14,674 at the 2010 census, with 143,372 in the Traverse...
and Sault Ste. Marie
Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan
Sault Ste. Marie is a city in and the county seat of Chippewa County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is in the north-eastern end of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, on the Canadian border, separated from its twin city of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, by the St. Marys River...
(owned by Barrington Broadcasting
Barrington Broadcasting
Barrington Broadcasting Company, LLC , headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois is an entity wholly focused on broadcast television. The company's assets mainly consist of television stations in middle and small sized markets...
), and WLUC in Marquette
Marquette, Michigan
Marquette is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Marquette County. The population was 21,355 at the 2010 census, making it the most populated city of the Upper Peninsula. Marquette is a major port on Lake Superior, primarily for shipping iron ore and is the home of Northern...
(also owned by Barrington), did not air The Book of Daniels second episode, although this was due to a live broadcast of the 2006 North American International Auto Show
North American International Auto Show
The North American International Auto Show is an annual auto show held in Detroit, Michigan at Cobo Center, usually in January. It is among the largest auto shows in North America.-History:...
Charity Preview and not necessarily the controversy.
NBC's Salt Lake City affiliate, KSL-TV
KSL-TV
KSL-TV, virtual channel 5, is an NBC-affiliated television station located in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. KSL-TV is owned by Bonneville International Corporation, which is in turn owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
, did carry The Book of Daniel, despite the station's past history of preempting shows claiming that they would offend the religious. The station's recent preemption is The Playboy Club
The Playboy Club
The Playboy Club is an American television series that ran on NBC from September 19, 2011 to October 3, 2011. Set in 1961, the series centers around the employees of the original Playboy Club operating in Chicago....
, which, after airing 3 episodes, was the first show of the 2011-12 television season to be cancelled.
Network cancels program mid-season
On January 24, 2006, NBCNBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
announced the show had been dropped from the schedule. The last airing of the show was on January 20, 2006. The January 20 episode was the fourth in the series, drawing 5.8 million viewers. NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
gave no official explanation for the cancellation.
Airings on the web
The show held the distinction of being one of the first shows to be streamed on the web after its cancellation. On January 27, 2006 at 8:10pm/ET, NBC.com streamed the first of the unaired episodes.Episodes continued to be streamed, one a week, for the next three weeks. New episodes were initially made available at around 8pm on Friday night and were viewable until the next episode replaced it on the following Friday. The final episode was streamed on February 10, 2006.
With that streaming, NBC had aired (either on TV or the Web) every episode of the show's initial order (and consequently, every episode that had been produced up to that point).
Revelations - Last episode or series finale
The last episode to air on television was titled “Assignation” and was marked as production number 103 while the first episode to air online was titled “Withdrawal” and was marked as production number 105. This disparity became obvious in the “Previously on…” sequence of “Withdrawal” which contained scenes that had never aired either on television or online.That led many to believe that NBC had aired the show out of order and that the episode with production number 104, entitled “Revelations”, had been skipped.
This theory seemed to be confirmed by the Book of Daniel Web Site which featured a section titled “Catch up with the unaired episode, “Revelations””. When viewers followed the link, it led to a photo recap of an episode entitled “Episode 3” that contained a sub plot (notably featuring actress Marin Hinkle
Marin Hinkle
Marin Elizabeth Hinkle is an American actress, perhaps best known for playing the role of Judith Harper-Melnick, Alan Harper's ex-wife on the hit series Two and a Half Men and her role as Judy Brooks the sister of the series lead Lily Manning on Once and Again.-Career:Hinkle started her career on...
) where Daniel meets a young girl who speaks to Jesus at a time when he had chosen not to. These scenes were consistent with the recap that aired in “Withdrawal (Production #105).
“Revelations” did eventually air as the very last episode of the series but, contrary to earlier speculation, events that took place in the episode verify it aired in the proper order. The scenes recapped in “Withdrawal” and featured on the web were not present while scenes that could not have predated earlier episodes were.
This has led to speculation that this episode was repositioned as the final episode and that it consisted of newer scenes that were combined with previous material (perhaps replacing those scenes that were recapped earlier on).