![\"Will-Laurie-Davidson-Kevin-Reilly-TNT-TBS\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/524\/2017\/08\/Will-Laurie-Davidson-Kevin-Reilly-TNT-TBS.jpg\")
<\/a>Maybe the only thing more unusual than a show dealing honestly with questions of faith is a network that picks up such shows \u2014 and TNT sure bucked a trend picking up\u00a0\u201cWill.\u201d\u00a0<\/a>And the man responsible for that is TNT and TBS president\u00a0Kevin Reilly.<\/p>\nTo see a longer piece where I examine \u201cWill\u201d, which airs on Mondays at 11 p.m. ET\/PT, more closely, click here<\/a>, but in short, it\u2019s a period drama with contemporary touches that examines the life of the young William Shakespeare in Elizabethan London.<\/p>\n What sets it apart is that it holds forth that, as some scholars believe, Shakespeare was a secret Catholic, who struggles with both the Faith and the real danger it represents from Elizabeth I\u2019s persecution. \u201cWill\u201d also casts rival playwright Christopher Marlowe as not just a libertine (which he was), but a spiritual seeker.<\/p>\n I\u2019m currently at the biannual Television Critics Press Tour, taking place in Beverly Hills, California. Last week, the cable networks presented their news shows. Included in that was a press conference with Reilly (which featured low-rider bikes and Snoop Dogg, host of TBS\u2019 reboot of \u201cJoker\u2019s Wild,\u201d but that\u2019s another story.)<\/p>\n At the session, I asked Reilly about taking the Catholic angle on Shakespeare:<\/p>\n It was really backing Craig\u2019s [series creator Craig Pearce] vision. He himself had been very, very passionate and studied on [Shakespeare\u2019s]\u00a0life.. There\u2019s a lot that\u2019s unknown about his life, maybe more unknown. And it is one of the extraordinary things in history for a singular man to have left a footprint \u2014 I don\u2019t know if anybody\u2019s seen this thing that\u2019s been online and it goes around of, like, the phrases from Shakespeare that we still use today. I mean, come on. There\u2019s nobody in contemporary history ever that has had \u2014 will have ever have had \u2014 it\u2019s not phrases like, \u201cI think I\u2019ve heard of that.\u201d You\u2019re like, \u201cOh, my God, I use that every week.\u201d It came from one of his works. And yet we know so little.<\/p>\n So Craig looked and researched certain markers, like the religious angle, and then leaned into what was known and what he felt he could create and leverage off of that. He had a really clear vision of it from the get-go. So we didn\u2019t guide him anywhere on that.<\/p>\n We said, \u201cThe show sounds compelling and interesting.\u201d We bought it in our very, very first wave when we were trying to throw the net out wide and say, \u201cWe\u2019re going to do different things, and we\u2019re going to really reach for things.\u201d It was a reach. It\u2019s performing, I\u2019d say, as good as \u2014 better than most dramas on television.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In addition, TBS has \u201cPeople of Earth,\u201d a comedy about alien abductees who meet at a Catholic church. The creation of Catholic writer David Jenkins \u2014 click here <\/a>to read my interview with him \u2014 it features the church\u2019s priest, Father Doug (Oscar Nunez), as a positive regular character.<\/p>\n Morgan, who survived a terrible car wreck in 2014, made several references to his gratitude to God during the session \u2014 click\u00a0here\u00a0<\/a>for my story on it.<\/p>\n So I asked whether that aspect would continue in his new show.<\/p>\n Kevin Reilly said:<\/p>\n Well, you know what? I\u2019m gonna make a note, and if it takes that angle, I\u2019ll attribute it to this session, I\u2019m glad you\u2019re raising it because I haven\u2019t had a chance to revisit it. From the get-go we talked about this character\u2019s connection to his soul and some larger meaning. And that\u2019s really part of Tracy.<\/p>\n People have seen the crazy part of Tracy, the impetuous, over-grown child part of him, but what\u2019s coming out now, particularly given, not a near-death, being dead, is he comes at life with a whole other thing now.<\/p>\n I definitely want to go back in and revisit and make sure that it doesn\u2019t get lost.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I then asked him about doing more shows where faith. especially Christianity, is taken seriously and treated with respect.<\/p>\n What sparked it in my mind is that, I would say, in this day and age, and with so much television, \u00a0I\u2019m always looking for the white space. What\u2019s not on? Where do you want to go? And really an exploration of faith is not on there.<\/p>\n If you go too [aggressively] at it then people feel like it\u2019s medicine. But I mean something that really owns that as a thing. That\u2019s on my mind lately.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Let\u2019s see what he comes up with. And if you\u2019re a great writer\/producer with a faith-positive show in your back pocket, might be time to pay Reilly a visit.<\/p>\n Images: Courtesy TNT,\u00a0Buchan\/Variety\/REX\/Shutterstock, TBS<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Don\u2019t miss a thing: head over to my other home, as Social Media Manager at\u00a0Family Theater Productions<\/a>; and check out FTP\u2019s\u00a0Faith & Family Media Blog<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Kevin Reilly talks about TNT’s “Will,” TBS’ “People of Earth’ and ‘The Last O.G.,” and how he’s interested in showing faith on TV.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2174,"featured_media":4180,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,21,4,3],"tags":[1012,20,1013,1007,1014,1006],"class_list":["post-4179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-interview","category-media","category-television","tag-kevin-reilly","tag-shakespeare","tag-tbs","tag-tnt","tag-tracy-morgan","tag-will"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"Mandatory](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/524\/2017\/08\/kevin-reilly.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"Tracy-Morgan\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/524\/2017\/08\/Tracy-Morgan-300x192.png\")
<\/a>There was also a session on \u201cThe Last O.G.,\u201d a new TBS comedy coming out on Oct. 24, starring Tracy Morgan as a ex-con who returns to his old Brooklyn neighborhood and the woman he left behind \u2014 and the twins he never knew he had.<\/p>\n