I didn’t watch everything in 2022, but I did watch a lot, especially if Christianity in general — and Catholicism in particular — was involved.
As a former full-time entertainment journalist (the former being why I don’t watch everything anymore), I also watch the industry.
Here’s some of what I saw in 2022, and what I had to say about it (just click on the purple links).
The Rise of The Chosen
After being the talk of Christian circles since its premiere on Christmas Eve 2017, the Gospels-inspired series The Chosen has become a verified hit and made Catholic actor Jonathan Roumie, who stars as Jesus, a major celebrity with Christian audiences.
The first two episodes of season three premiered in theaters as a Fathom Event in early December and made a big box-office splash. The third episode premiered on Christmas Day; all are available online.
Some or all of the show’s first two seasons now stream on Peacock, Amazon Prime Video and Netflix.
ICYMI, here’s my interview with Jordan Walker Ross, who plays Apostle Little James:
Like The Passion of the Christ in 2004, The Chosen‘s success proved impossible for legacy media outlets to ignore. The series also landed on more mainstream media platforms than most independent Christian productions can even dream of.
Along the way, it’s helped to pioneer a method for producers to bypass the usual funding and distribution models — and the gatekeepers that control them.
The Chosen launched through the crowdfunding efforts of Utah-based Angel Studios, which, as I wrote last February, …
… took advantage of a provision in the 2016 JOBS act, which allowed startup companies to sell ownership — a k a equity — stakes in their businesses.
Angel also created a free app that sent the show directly to the audience, which has lapped it up.
Late this year, The Chosen debuted a new app, along with the announcing the support of the new Come and See Foundation, which is looking to boost the show’s funding and reach a billion viewers worldwide.
The 2021 Christmas episode, The Messengers, which premiered in theaters, even aired on Friday, Dec. 23, on The CW broadcast network.
Speaking of The CW…
Known as the home of sexy vampire dramas and woke superhero shows, The CW — launched in 2006 as a co-venture of CBS Entertainment Group and Warner Bros. Entertainment — is now (since October) under the majority control of Nexstar, which owns local TV stations across the country.
This has resulted in most of the network’s shows being axed.
From TVLine.com:
[Nexstar CFO and EVP Lee Ann Gliha said:] “Over the course of the next year, we’re really working to develop our slate, which will come online in the 2023-2024 broadcast season.
“We will have some carryover commitment for the CBS (Paramount) and the WBD (Warner Bros. Discovery) programming in that year,” Gliha said, “but it’s minimal at that point.”
So, what’s next for The CW? Read on.
The CW and The Waltons
In November 2021, before all this, The CW aired The Waltons: Homecoming, a remake of the 1971 TV movie The Homecoming: A Christmas Story, which launched the series The Waltons.
With its squeaky-clean, faith-forward script, it was a weird fit for The CW at the time, but credit then-network-head Mark Pedowitz for greenlighting it (click here for our email conversation on the topic).
It did good ratings for the network, garnering the largest numbers The CW had seen for 2021 since the previous April.
The new management followed suit in November 2022 with a second offering, A Waltons Thanksgiving. I attended a screening and event for the film (read all about it here), where a rather amazing thing happened.
And I quote myself:
Before the screening, held at the Garland Hotel in Studio City, California (founded by My Three Sons star Beverly Garland), Channing Dungey, chairman of the Warner Bros. Television Group, said a few words.
Among her comments were congratulations to The Waltons: Homecoming on winning awards from both The Christophers and Movieguide, both of which honor uplifting — including faith-based — productions.
While these awards are considered prestigious among those who produce faith-based and family programming, it’s rare to see the head of a mainstream studio tout winning them as major accomplishments.
This movie didn’t quite hit the ratings of its predecessor, but The CW still seems to be pursuing that family audience.
Last Sunday, The CW aired the 25th Annual Family Film Awards (no, I haven’t heard of them, either), which was on cablenet REELZ last year.
So, what’s up with The CW? There’s been no big announcement of a definite new direction yet, but we could be seeing the birth of an actual family-friendly broadcast network. Stay tuned.
Cruising to Success With Top Gun: Maverick
Say what you like about Tom Cruise, the man is a bona fide movie star.
In a year that saw post-pandemic box-office numbers still lagging, and mergers and acquisitions shaking up showbiz executive ranks — not to mention a lot of media layoffs at all levels — Cruise delivered the biggest bright spot of 2022.
Top Gun: Maverick, the high-octane follow-up to Cruise’s 1986 hit Top Gun, barreled through the box office, with its rip-roaring tale of Navy aviators on a mission in an unnamed foreign land.
Now available to stream on Paramount+ (and for digital rental or purchase on other platforms), the film combined excellent, authentic filmmaking; a restrained, grown-up romance; enough rah-rah, nostalgic patriotism for original Top Gun fans; and the right mix of diversity and technical whizbang for the younger set — delivered with humor, zing and zero wokeness.
All this wrapped in a PG-13 package suitable for teens and up.
While the slap heard round the world may have jerked the 2021 Academy Awards back to relevance, if the 2022 edition (to air Sunday, March 12, 2023, on ABC) doesn’t give Top Gun top honors, Hollywood’s no-longer-that-big night may shrink even further than it already has.
Oh, Look, Catholics!
It’s always a mixed bag for Catholicism in mainstream entertainment. Why should 2022 be any different? Some quick takes …
Sister Boniface Mysteries
Streamer BritBox premiered Sister Boniface Mysteries, a spin-off of the hit British Father Brown series, loosely based on Catholic writer G.K. Chesterton’s tales of a crimesolving priest. Sister Boniface is a 1960s crimesolving nun, and while her theology is sometimes shaky, the show is charming.
Father Stu
Catholic actor/producer Mark Wahlberg’s outstanding, R-rated biopic Father Stu bothered some with its rough language and raw honesty about the pre-conversion life of Father Stuart Long (but it was later released in a cleaned-up-ish PG-13 version).
Nonetheless, it was one of the most Catholic movies I’ve ever seen (click here to know why), and the first of what I hope are many similar projects from Wahlberg — who told me that’s his plan.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
Season one of Amazon Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, inspired (however loosely) by the writings of Catholic author J.R.R. Tolkien, ground to its first-season finale, groaning under the weight of scrutiny, expectations and its own bad choices.
But, it looked pretty, so there’s that.
Catholic-Themed Fathom Events
Distributor Fathom Events found solid footing in 2022 with Catholic audiences, with a documentary on the Eucharist, and with The Saint Series, including movies about St. Anthony Claret, St. Michael the Archangel and Saint Teresa of Kolkata, a k a Mother Teresa.
Minions: The Rise of Gru
The latest installment in the hit Minions franchise committed an unforced error with an unnecessarily insulting character that looked like a Catholic nun.
Billy the Kid
EPIX brought us season one of Billy the Kid, who, as it turns out, was the son of Irish Catholic immigrants (and who, in real life, had an encounter with one tough nun).
From
Also from EPIX, the horror series From featured a Catholic priest as one of the heroic characters. Unfortunately, this mystery-box show failed to solve even one mystery at season’s end, so, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. I won’t be back if there’s a second season.
Becoming Elizabeth
Season one of Starz’s Becoming Elizabeth traced the teen years of Queen Elizabeth I. Most films and TV about the Protestant Tudor monarch portray the Catholics around her, especially her half-sister Mary, as villains.
Refreshingly, Becoming Elizabeth (reviewed here) was quite fair to Mary and surprisingly honest about the persecutions of Catholics instituted under Henry VIII’s short-lived son, vehemently Protestant young King Edward VI.
Sadly, there won’t be a second season, and that’s a shame.
Yellowstone and 1923
Lastly, Paramount Network’s hit modern Western Yellowstone has featured some surprise Catholic elements but nothing negative.
The same can’t be said for the latest prequel, Paramount +’s 1923, which. so far, portrays the nuns and priest running a residential school for Native Americans as universally cruel, perverse and sadistic.
In his treatment of the often violent Dutton family of Montana ranchers, creator Taylor Sheridan has managed to sympathize with, and humanize, people who do terrible things. The same can’t be said yet of how he’s treating Catholics in 1923.
Image: Adobe Stock
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