Here’s what Catholic League president Bill Donohue said today about NBC-TV’s decision to cancel “The Book of Daniel”:
“A story posted on worldnetdaily.com earlier in the day said that the NBC-TV show, ‘The Book of Daniel,’ has been cancelled. We have since confirmed the veracity of this story with an NBC affiliate producer; an internal memo has been released to that effect.
“This is good news for Christians, and bad news for those who get their jollies trying to disparage them. As I said in a news release on January 4, the decision to air this show about a totally dysfunctional Christian family was another example of Hollywood’s agenda. That was two days before the show premiered. But the very next day, we changed our tune: Kiera McCaffrey, the league’s director of communications, had an opportunity to preview the first two episodes, and after having done so she told ‘Entertainment Tonight’ that she ‘couldn’t be offended by it because it’s more moronic than anything else.’
“Our take on the show was not shared by many TV critics. Salt Lake City’s Deseret Morning News called it ‘the best thing to hit TV this season.’ The Chicago Sun-Timesfound it to be ‘well written and well-cast.’ People labeled it ‘more entertaining than offensive.’ USA Today branded it ‘wildly entertaining and superbly cast.’ The Detroit Free Press bragged about the ‘fine cast [and] clever writing.’ Entertainment Weekly said it was ‘refreshingly intelligent.’ And we said it was moronic.
“In a recent interview with Broadcasting & Cable, Jack Kenny, the show’s writer and producer, was asked whether NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly was going to stand by the show. ‘He [Reilly] has expressed to me complete faith in the show,’ said Kenny. Just yesterday, the website scifi.com ran a story saying that Reilly ‘told reporters that the network stands behind its decision to air’ the show. So much for loyalty.
“Hollywood could save itself a lot of money if they simply asked us to vet their shows. Our fee is high—obscenely high—but we’re worth it.”
