At 9 a.m. ET on Sunday, April 12, NBC.com premieres the first episode of “Beyond A.D.,” the Web companion series to the hit Sunday-night drama “A.D.: The Bible Continues,” airing at 9 p.m. ET/PT (preceded by an 8 p.m. ET/PT repeat of the previous week’s episode). Filmed in a talk-show format at Real Life Church just north of Los Angeles, the talk-show-style series features host Jason Kennedy (“E! News”) chatting with people involved with the production of “A.D.,” along with special... Read more
From my other home over at the venerable entertainment-industry trade publication Variety … It’s a long way from the Alamo, but the Lone Star will be shining on the French Riviera, as History channel’s miniseries “Texas Rising” makes its world premiere April 13 at the Mip TV Media Market in Cannes. Presented by ITV Studios (which co-produced with A+E Studios and Thinkfactory Media) at the Grand Auditorium in Palais 1, the event begins with a Q&A panel featuring cast members Bill Paxton,... Read more
Claire Temple: “… On top of that, he can take an unbelievable amount of punishment without one damn complaint.” Matt Murdock/Daredevil: “That last part’s the Catholicism.” From “Marvel’s Daredevil” on Netflix On Friday, April 10, streaming service Netflix premieres its 13-part adaptation of “Marvel’s Daredevil,” based on the comic-book character. Without going too deeply into the series’ comic past — as that may or may not play into the series as it goes on — I did find conflicting views... Read more
Although I’m more of a Marvel Comics girl — watch this space for my review of Netflix’s “Marvel’s Daredevil,” premiering tomorrow — but thanks to a couple of Catholic friends who insisted we watch it together, I’ve become a fan of The CW’s adaptation of the DC Comics character “The Flash.” In the drama, which airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT, Grant Gustin stars as Barry Allen, a boy who lost his mother to a mysterious force, which he described as... Read more
The attempt by one Catholic woman to bring the life of another to the big screen has been derailed by, well, you name it. Originally, the film was supposed to come out at during the 2013 Christmas season, but, not so much. From Variety: Nicole Kidman’s troubled Grace Kelly biopic “Grace of Monaco” is skipping a theatrical release and will be airing on Lifetime on May 25, the network announced on Tuesday. The drama opened the Cannes Film Festival in May to mostly... Read more
Sadly, some doctors end unborn children’s lives, but it’s heartening to know that there are many more doctors out there dedicated to saving children’s lives even before they’re born. On Tuesday, March 31, PBS premiered the three-part documentary series “Twice Born: Stories from the Special Delivery Unit” — as outlined here in an earlier post from Pax Culturati — which profiles several sets of moms and dads dealing with the rollercoaster of emotions that happens when their unborn children must undergo... Read more
From TVLine.com: The premiere of NBC’s A.D. The Bible Continues on Sunday drew 9.5 million total viewers and a 2.3 demo rating, topping all broadcast competition in both measures. That marks the Peacock network’s highest-rated drama debut sans a Voice lead-in since The Cape in January 2011. And even though it’s from 1956, “The Ten Commandments” saw an uptick in the ratings (yet another reason it’s epic, along with the 10 I wrote about here earlier today). Also from TVLine … ABC |The Ten Commandments (6.8 mil/1.4) was up 19 and... Read more
The U.K.-produced historical drama “Wolf Hall” premiered on Easter Sunday, April 5, on PBS’ “Masterpiece.” One has to wonder if PBS’ scheduling was coincidental, or if the network meant to make some point about religion. Based on novels by Hilary Mantel, “Wolf Hall” focuses on Thomas Cromwell (Mark Rylance), an English lawyer who served Henry VIII (Damian Lewis, in a genius bit of casting), whose desire to divorce himself from Catherine of Aragon ultimately split what is now the Church of... Read more
These days, when Hollywood attempts a Biblical epic for the big screen, the results are as likely to be embarrassing as edifying. Rather than rehashing the shortcomings of “Noah” (“Galaxy Quest” called, and they want their rock people back) or “Exodus: Gods and Kings” (nothing like God as a sulky kid), let’s look at one time when the movie stars truly aligned. A few years before his death, Cecil B. DeMille made the 1956 Old Testament drama “The Ten Commandments”... Read more
During this Holy Week, we’ve had competing versions of the trial and Crucifixion of Jesus — NatGeo Channel’s “Killing Jesus” (which repeated on Good Friday and on Easter Sunday, April 5, on Fox News Channel), and the Easter premiere of NBC’s 12-part “A.D.’: The Bible Continues.” As I outlined in my review of “Killing Jesus,” it takes out all the supernatural parts of the story of Christ, supposedly focusing on the sociopolitical forces surrounding Christ’s ministry and death. “A.D.,” produced... Read more
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