Question: First, congrats on your great column. My weeks always start and end with you. I wanted to get your feeling on the representation of homosexuality on TV shows lately, because I feel that we've reached a turning point. I think that after a short period of (needed?) overexposure, with every show having a gay character and shows like Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and Queer as Folk, we are actually moving toward equality between gay and straight characters. For instance, I know that a lot of gay people have ground their teeth at Andrew being gay and evil on Desperate Housewives, but I actually believe that this is a good thing: We've got past the dichotomy of, on the one hand, the political correctness of the gay guy who's a great guy with no sexuality (Will & Grace) and, on the other hand, the cliché of the gay guy with nothing but his sexuality (Queer as Folk). Finally gay characters get to be something else than "just gay." They are handled the same way as straight characters ...
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I'm pretty sure I'm still dreaming. As far as I can tell, this dream started a year and a half ago, so it's actually still June 2004, it's 3:30 in the morning, and I "wake up" with the first scene vividly playing out in my head: His daughter's been arrested. This guy (I hadn't even come up with names yet) has to go pick up his teenage daughter at a police station, way down in Riverdale, in the middle of the night. What the heck was she doing in Riverdale?! He's worried to death. He's angry. He's scared. But more than anything... he's uncomfortable. He is a WASP, after all — they don't go to police stations. And certainly not in the middle of the night! By the time he gets her and his wife home, it's dawn; they have to get ready for church. As he sits alone in his car, he reaches for the biggest obstacle in his life right now — his Vicodin. Then... Smash Cut to: the Pulpit. He's a priest! That's it. That's my way in. I finally found my way into a world that's bee
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Aidan Quinn's Daniel Webster sees and talks to Jesus in NBC's new (and controversial) The Book of Daniel (premiering Jan. 6 at 9 pm/ET, before settling into its Fridays-at-10 time slot). Then again, maybe the good reverend is simply stoned on all the Vicodin he's taking on the sly. Or stressed out about having a gay son or a pot-dealing daughter. Yes, it's that kind of "religious" series.
But as opposed to the most obvious comparison, CBS' God-seeing Joan of Arcadia, Daniel's sit-downs with J.C. (played by Deadwood's Garret Dillahunt) aren't presented as "the grand gimmick." "If someone wants to make it the hook, they could, but I think it's very much just a by-product," Quinn tells TVGuide.com. "The
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Question: The show that you said you liked, The Book of Daniel, is saved! What is it about exactly and when do you think it will debut?
Answer: The Book of Daniel will premiere on NBC sometime midseason, but the real questions will be on what night and at what time. The show will need to be protected, which may be tough for NBC if the network continues to slip this fall, which is entirely possible. For instance, it would be disastrous if it were scheduled Fridays at 10 pm/ET, replacing the unbearable new drama Inconceivable. This show needs to air where people might actually find it. Daniel is a darkly comic drama starring Aidan Quinn as an Episcopal minister juggling domestic and professional problems, with scandals erupting at every turn and a skeptical bishop (Ellen Burstyn) watching his every move. The cast in the pilot includes Once and Again's terrific Susanna Thompson as his wife, Christian Campbell as his gay son, and as Jesus — who appears to Daniel frequently — Garret Dillahunt
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