I recently read in ...
Question: I recently read in TVGuide.com's "Entertainment News" that NBC had trimmed its 13-episode order of
The Book of Daniel to seven. I have been eagerly awaiting this new
Susanna Thompson series and was not pleased to hear this latest development. Do you know if NBC plans to air this series at all? I thought once one of their new shows bit the dust this fall that
BOD would take its place, since NBC had seemed to be so high on the show. What's your take on this? Do you think
BOD will ever see the light of day, or will it be like Susanna's last venture (
Still Life), which Fox filmed and never bothered to air?
Answer: To be honest, I think NBC is scared of this show. Not so much entertainment president
Kevin Reilly, who came to NBC from FX, because
The Book of Daniel is a show that reflects that sensibility: risk taking, exciting, controversial, original, extremely well acted and written. But his bosses, I'm sure, are worried about the show's commercial potential, in part because it isn't the latest version of
Law & Order and instead is a show that's difficult to pigeonhole. (A funky family comedy-drama anchored by a likable but troubled minister, played by
Aidan Quinn, who pops pain pills in between conversations with a laid-back Jesus. Not exactly
7th Heaven.) I first worried when NBC didn't announce the show for its backup lineup during up-fronts last May. Not a great show of faith. And yet I wasn't that worried when
Daniel wasn't put into play after the quick demise of
Inconceivable. The Friday time period would have been equally fatal to
Daniel. I can almost believe the corporate logic that because of a glut of mid-season product, and because the show may not premiere until after the February Olympics (with all of the heavy promotion that entails), a full order of 13 episodes wasn't required. Again, not a great show of faith, and a creative setback for a show expecting to tell its story over a longer arc. But I do think NBC will eventually air
Daniel — it's a much more viable project than
Still Life ever was — and I hope the network gives it a halfway decent time slot (hard to find on NBC) or at least the sort of advance buildup that will allow the media to debate and appreciate the show in the hopes that the public might get a chance to sample it.
