{"id":55771,"date":"2017-06-12T11:38:09","date_gmt":"2017-06-12T18:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/?p=55771"},"modified":"2017-07-26T11:21:46","modified_gmt":"2017-07-26T18:21:46","slug":"newsbites-teen-jesus-series-developed-creator-orange-new-black","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2017\/06\/newsbites-teen-jesus-series-developed-creator-orange-new-black.html","title":{"rendered":"Newsbites: A “teen Jesus” series is being developed by the creator of Orange Is the New Black<\/i>, and more!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"teenjesus-jenjikohan\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Three quick news items with a TV-and-the-Bible twist.<\/p>\n

1. Jenji Kohan \u2014 creator of Weeds<\/i> and Orange Is the New Black<\/i>, the latter of which just released its fifth season on Netflix \u2014 has revealed that she had to get \u201cterrorist insurance<\/a>\u201d for her building because she\u2019s developing a \u201cteen Jesus\u201d<\/b> series. In a recent Hollywood Reporter<\/a><\/i> roundtable interview, she said that the project in question is \u201clike The Wonder Years<\/i>, but with Jesus,\u201d and it \u201cgot some people nervous.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was quick to point out, however, that religious viewers aren\u2019t the only ones that can get out of hand:<\/p>\n

There\u2019s always crazies out there. I mean, I remember Shonda [Rhimes] telling me a story of people camping out outside her house when she killed McDreamy [on Grey\u2019s Anatomy<\/i>]. Like, people get crazy because they live with\u2013 they bathe in these characters, and they take it personally. And, you know, you\u2019re always going to do something that someone doesn\u2019t like, and you don\u2019t know how crazy that someone is going to be. . . . There\u2019s all sorts of things where we cross lines and people get weird about it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Kohan did not give any more details about her \u201cteen Jesus\u201d series \u2014 she did not clarify, for example, whether it\u2019s a modernized version of the Jesus story or set in the first century \u2014 but it bears mentioning that this is just one of a few young-Jesus shows that have been floated in recent years. Fox had Nazareth<\/a><\/i> in development, and Lifetime had The One<\/a><\/i>, while the History Channel briefly considered a series called The Lost Years<\/a><\/i>. And of course, last year there was a theatrical film called The Young Messiah<\/a><\/i>. Time will tell whether Kohan\u2019s series ends up getting made, like the film, or whether it languishes in development hell, like the other TV shows.<\/p>\n

2. NBC has announced<\/a> that it will be airing a live version of Jesus Christ Superstar<\/b><\/i> next year on April 1. (That\u2019s Easter Sunday in the western churches, Palm Sunday in the eastern churches, and April Fool\u2019s Day no matter which<\/i> church you belong to.) This would not be the first biblical entry in the recent wave of live-musical productions \u2014 Fox aired The Passion<\/a><\/i> to so-so ratings last year \u2014 but it would be the first one based on an existing classic. Incidentally, what ever became of that Nativity musical<\/a> that Mark Burnett and Roma Downey were developing for NBC?<\/p>\n

3. CBS is going ahead<\/a> with a full series order for The Year of Living Biblically<\/a><\/i>, but they have changed the name of the show to By the Book<\/b><\/i>. The series is based on the 2007 book by A.J. Jacobs, who tried to follow the Bible \u201cas literally as possible\u201d for one year. Presumably the series is aiming to last a little longer than that.<\/p>\n

\u2014 The image above is of Jenji Kohan at the <\/i>Hollywood Reporter roundtable.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jenji Kohan says her new series is \u201clike The Wonder Years<\/i>, but with Jesus.\u201d Also: Jesus Christ Superstar<\/i> will get the live-musical treatment, and The Year of Living Biblically<\/i> has a new title.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":55797,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[4155,4153,345,678,4154,3583],"class_list":["post-55771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-by-the-book","tag-jenji-kohan","tag-jesus","tag-jesus-christ-superstar","tag-teen-jesus","tag-year-of-living-biblically"],"yoast_head":"\nNewsbites: A "teen Jesus" series is being developed by the creator of Orange Is the New Black, and more!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Jenji Kohan says her new series is \u201clike The Wonder Years, but with Jesus.\u201d Also: Jesus Christ Superstar will get the live-musical treatment, and The Year of Living Biblically has a new title.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2017\/06\/newsbites-teen-jesus-series-developed-creator-orange-new-black.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Newsbites: A "teen Jesus" series is being developed by the creator of Orange Is the New Black, and more!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jenji Kohan says her new series is \u201clike The Wonder Years, but with Jesus.\u201d Also: Jesus Christ Superstar will get the live-musical treatment, and The Year of Living Biblically has a new title.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2017\/06\/newsbites-teen-jesus-series-developed-creator-orange-new-black.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FilmChat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-06-12T18:38:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-07-26T18:21:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/227\/2017\/06\/teenjesus-jenjikohan.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"305\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter T. Chattaway\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Peter T. Chattaway\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2017\/06\/newsbites-teen-jesus-series-developed-creator-orange-new-black.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2017\/06\/newsbites-teen-jesus-series-developed-creator-orange-new-black.html\",\"name\":\"Newsbites: A \\\"teen Jesus\\\" series is being developed by the creator of Orange Is the New Black, and more!\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-06-12T18:38:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-07-26T18:21:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/5759ddf28b81af08b29eb15b4e071fde\"},\"description\":\"Jenji Kohan says her new series is \u201clike The Wonder Years, but with Jesus.\u201d Also: Jesus Christ Superstar will get the live-musical treatment, and The Year of Living Biblically has a new title.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2017\/06\/newsbites-teen-jesus-series-developed-creator-orange-new-black.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2017\/06\/newsbites-teen-jesus-series-developed-creator-orange-new-black.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2017\/06\/newsbites-teen-jesus-series-developed-creator-orange-new-black.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Newsbites: A “teen Jesus” series is being developed by the creator of Orange Is the New Black, and more!\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/\",\"name\":\"FilmChat\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/5759ddf28b81af08b29eb15b4e071fde\",\"name\":\"Peter T. Chattaway\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c4b809df092b410d749a6995bcf4f3e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c4b809df092b410d749a6995bcf4f3e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Peter T. Chattaway\"},\"description\":\"Peter T. Chattaway was the regular film critic for BC Christian News from 1992 to 2011. In addition to his award-winning film column for that paper, his news and opinion pieces have appeared in such publications as Books & Culture, Christianity Today, Bible Review and the Vancouver Sun. He has also contributed essays to the books Re-Viewing The Passion: Mel Gibson\u2019s Film and Its Critics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), Scandalizing Jesus?: Kazantzakis\u2019s The Last Temptation of Christ Fifty Years on (Continuum, 2005) and The Bible in Motion: A Handbook of the Bible and Its Reception in Film (De Gruyter, 2016).\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/author\/peterchattaway\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Newsbites: A \"teen Jesus\" series is being developed by the creator of Orange Is the New Black, and more!","description":"Jenji Kohan says her new series is \u201clike The Wonder Years, but with Jesus.\u201d Also: Jesus Christ Superstar will get the live-musical treatment, and The Year of Living Biblically has a new title.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2017\/06\/newsbites-teen-jesus-series-developed-creator-orange-new-black.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Newsbites: A \"teen Jesus\" series is being developed by the creator of Orange Is the New Black, and more!","og_description":"Jenji Kohan says her new series is \u201clike The Wonder Years, but with Jesus.\u201d Also: Jesus Christ Superstar will get the live-musical treatment, and The Year of Living Biblically has a new title.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2017\/06\/newsbites-teen-jesus-series-developed-creator-orange-new-black.html","og_site_name":"FilmChat","article_published_time":"2017-06-12T18:38:09+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-07-26T18:21:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":305,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/227\/2017\/06\/teenjesus-jenjikohan.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Peter T. Chattaway","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Peter T. Chattaway","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2017\/06\/newsbites-teen-jesus-series-developed-creator-orange-new-black.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2017\/06\/newsbites-teen-jesus-series-developed-creator-orange-new-black.html","name":"Newsbites: A \"teen Jesus\" series is being developed by the creator of Orange Is the New Black, and more!","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-06-12T18:38:09+00:00","dateModified":"2017-07-26T18:21:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/5759ddf28b81af08b29eb15b4e071fde"},"description":"Jenji Kohan says her new series is \u201clike The Wonder Years, but with Jesus.\u201d Also: Jesus Christ Superstar will get the live-musical treatment, and The Year of Living Biblically has a new title.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2017\/06\/newsbites-teen-jesus-series-developed-creator-orange-new-black.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2017\/06\/newsbites-teen-jesus-series-developed-creator-orange-new-black.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2017\/06\/newsbites-teen-jesus-series-developed-creator-orange-new-black.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Newsbites: A “teen Jesus” series is being developed by the creator of Orange Is the New Black, and more!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/","name":"FilmChat","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/5759ddf28b81af08b29eb15b4e071fde","name":"Peter T. Chattaway","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c4b809df092b410d749a6995bcf4f3e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c4b809df092b410d749a6995bcf4f3e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Peter T. Chattaway"},"description":"Peter T. Chattaway was the regular film critic for BC Christian News from 1992 to 2011. In addition to his award-winning film column for that paper, his news and opinion pieces have appeared in such publications as Books & Culture, Christianity Today, Bible Review and the Vancouver Sun. He has also contributed essays to the books Re-Viewing The Passion: Mel Gibson\u2019s Film and Its Critics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), Scandalizing Jesus?: Kazantzakis\u2019s The Last Temptation of Christ Fifty Years on (Continuum, 2005) and The Bible in Motion: A Handbook of the Bible and Its Reception in Film (De Gruyter, 2016).","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/author\/peterchattaway"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1116"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}