The CW is pivoting to Jesus
Under its new ownership, The CW is betting on three-season Christian crowdfunding success story The Chosen
Aux News The CW
Announcing that it’s getting involved in “the biggest IP of all time”—in much the same way that very boring people are always trying to lure you into religion by promising that it’s “The Greatest Story Ever Told,” even though it doesn’t feature even a single monster truck—The CW has decided to get into the Christ business. Specifically, the network—which has spent the last year ruthlessly killing off pretty much all of its shows after being sold to a new owner—has announced that it’s picked up three seasons’ worth of The Chosen, a TV drama about the life of Jesus Christ, a notorious carpenter who created a great deal of hubbub in the Middle East some two millennia or so ago.
The pedigree on the show, which stars Jonathan Roumie as Jesus, is actually pretty interesting: It was created by Dallas Jenkins, son of one half of the writing team behind the Left Behind books, out of a desire to create “bingeable” content about Jesus. (Real quote from Jenkins, courtesy of Fox News: “I was binge-watching some shows at the time and I thought, ‘There’s never actually been a multi-season show about the life of Christ.’”) Jenkins crowdfounded the show to record-breaking success, and then partnered with Christian company VidAngel—best known for its service that filters nudity and profanity out of DVDs, and then for getting into a massive lawsuit with the studios over said service—to broadcast the series. Viewership was slow at first, but then picked up when, during the early days of COVID-19, Jenkins and his team made the show free to watch for the masses. (Jenkins refers to this as—actual quote—“God’s impossible math,” drawing direct parallels to the parable of the loaves and fishes.)
Having steadily picked up steam since, the show has become a genuine streaming success, and now appears on multiple services, including Netflix and Peacock. (It doesn’t hurt that, by all accounts, The Chosen is pretty well-made by the standards of TV drama—which means it’s exceptionally well made by the usual standards of Christian entertainment, with much praise being pointed toward its acting, production values, and its efforts to spin a compelling drama out of the lives of Christ and his disciples.) It even got some novelizations, courtesy of Jenkins’ dad, Jerry B. Jenkins, which are screwing with our head because they’re novel-style adaptations of a TV show that draws its inspiration directly from The Bible. (That’s weird, right? It’s sort of the non-secular version of someone doing novelizations of everything that happened on HBO’s Game Of Thrones.)
All of which leads up to today, when The CW—which is, among other things, facing the crunch of the WGA writers strike, which makes pre-made scripted content extremely appealing—announced that it was picking up all three extant seasons of the show for network broadcast. The show will begin running on July 16, and then will just sort of keep running, culminating in the network airing the third season finale on Christmas Eve. No word yet on whether Jenkins’ other four currently planned seasons are likely to get a similar treatment.
263 Comments
Christy Ex-Girlfriend
That trailer was hilarious! Well-made, is it?
Gonna be hard to top my favorite Christploitation of all time:
runner up:
In conclusion…
“Christianity is stupid. Communism is good. Give up.”
Humans can outrun horses in endurance races so I’m not even sure what this is trying to say.
Both are good.
“A true story that is yet to happen” is an incredible tag line.
The Cinema Snob’s review of this movie is great. He actually does all the Estus Pirkle films, yes, that’s a real person. So much unintentional comedy.
Even in my younger days when I was actively religious I never understood the appeal of the story of Jesus as a story. Who is interested in watching a perfect person go around being perfect with everyone? Sounds dull as hell no matter how well made. But there’s actually a lot of Bible stories that would make for pretty good TV. The life story of David would be amazing. Why there hasn’t been more movies or TV done with him, I don’t know.
The musical “Children of Eden” has a fun/interesting take on Genesis. The first act is the Garden of Eden and the second act is Noah’s Ark. But it’s not a bunch of proselytizing dross like Kirk Cameron produces, it really does treat it like a story and it’s quite affecting (IMO).
Sucks how many stupid, lazy, illiterates get out of the greys on this trash site. I know you are likely too stupid to read a book or know anything about art but some of the greatest books, movies, etc. in world history are written about Jesus. Do you know what a “Christ figure” is?
lol triggered
You mean Gandalf?
Oh the irony…
Not defending the show, but there are hundreds of stories about perfect people being perfect and changing the world.
Hell that’s what Paddington is about, if you think about it.
Paddington is Jesus.
I didn’t like this joke, but I guess I will just have to grin and bear it.
So is Superman. Boring
They honest to god had promotional material made for ministries showing the parallel between Superman and Jesus for Man of Steel.
I think I’ve seen those. I find all of this disturbing. CW isn’t the only one pivoting to Jesus. I see more “prayer hands” emoji than anything else on facebook these days and I’m wondering how the whole country is turning into Tennessee (highest percent of evangelicals).
It’s not the whole country, it’s that Facebook’s demographics are skewing older and conservative.
Except J doesn’t have Kryptonite to make him more interesting. J’s pink Kryptonite would be particularly interesting.
I had to look that up. A kryptonite that changes one’s gender? Wow, Siegel and Shuster thought of everything:/
Finally, a savior I can believe in
F.U.! Winnie-the-Pooh is Jesus/Adoshem/Bhudda/Mohamed rolled into one. I will fight anybody on this!
No, Paddington’s the angel of death
Now I want a live action Paddington where the short bear man sitting on the corner (because the homeless guy is always Jesus) is just trying to acquire a jar of marmalade after losing his suitcase at the shelter…
I’d join that religion. When do we meet and does the Eucharist come with marmalade now?
Paddington is a bear not a person. checkmate atheists.
There was a short-lived show called “Kings” that was the story of David in an alt-history present. Ian McShane was the King Saul. Sebastian Stan was the Jonathan. Goliath was a literal tank.
NBC really botched the hell out of the promotion for that one, which is especially sad because it felt like they were trying to do an HBO-style show that would still clear FCC-style rules and regulations. I think AV Clubbers where the only ones who watched it all the way through.
Television Without Pity would like some words with you
Indeed. I really enjoyed it. I thought I was the only one. Well except for some people around here.
That show was so good, and looked expensive as hell. Although I think I remember reading at the time that one of the episodes they dumped on Saturday night had the lowest number of viewers of any first run show episode of any show on NBC ever.
I largely watched it because I love McShane. I didn’t regret it. Great show.
I greatly enjoyed that show but it was pretty much the trash tv
It was kinda fun, honestly. I wish it hadn’t been cancelled prematurely.
I remember Kings. I watched the first few episodes and remember thinking “there is no way this show is getting a return on investment here” and ditched out, fearing it would be cancelled just as I got into it. One of the few times I was right about a series.
I was obsessed with Kings. I was so sad when it got cancelled.
Kings was really, really good, too!
I loved Kings. Stupid NBC kept moving it to different days then wondered why no one was watching then cancelled it after one season. Horrible.
I actually think an adaptation based on Reza Aslan’s book Zealot: the Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth would be super interesting (and that book is also really interesting, even to someone like me, who is destined to burn forever in the lake of fire).
My brother/sister “burner”—I will leave room for you in my unburnable raft, I’m going prepared!
The problem with media based on the Bible is that it’s usually made by Christians, and Christians are more interested in telling you (what they think) the Bible’s trying to teach you rather than the story the Bible’s actually telling.There’s some great potential stories that could be made about stories in the Bible, even about Jesus (consider The Last Temptation of Christ), you just need to approach it as a storyteller rather than as a preacher… but very rarely does anyone actually bother, because the preachers aren’t interested in that and the storytellers don’t want to wade into the religious minefield that the preachers made.
As tacky as it can sound, it’s why some Japanese media that taps into biblical mythos works so well; there’s some good shit in there, you just have to not be precious about it, and unfortunately a lot of western media comes from a culture that IS way too precious about it.
Yeah, this, and the Bible’s not really a story in the modern literary sense, certainly not in a way that seems likely to work as a multi-season drama. There are long pauses for genealogy, history, philosophy, and theology, and most of the characters only have the traits needed to prove whatever moral or social point that book or anecdote is trying to make. It’s a homework book because so much of Western society is based on it and people enjoy a challenge, but almost no one reads it just because the text itself is fun. I’m almost curious enough to watch the show because it seems like it’d be really difficult to make these characters three dimensional without veering into potentially blasphemous territory, but apparently they’re walking that line?
(As a sidebar, the first quote on IMDB is:
Pharisee: Jesus, if you do not renounce your words, we will have no choice but to follow the law of Moses.Jesus: I am the law of Moses.
With has some pretty amusing Judge Dredd energy, at least in text form.)
People did wonder about the religious significance of Neon Genesis Evangelion which things like Angels and both shots fired and things blowing up into giant fiery crosses but apparently it was just that the Japanese creators thought it looked cool.
There was a 1985 movie, King David, with Richard Gere in the lead. Which I guess means it’s reboot time.
This time with the gerbil playing King David.
It could be interesting if they added the parts of the Bible where Jesus wasn’t perfect. After all, he was human and he had human frailty at times. He doesn’t have to be one-dimensional.But I bet they’re not going to do that.
A story based around Jesus’ life is not only interesting, but fucking funny too.https://www.amazon.com/Lamb-Gospel-According-Christs-Childhood/dp/0380813815
I read that last month and it is very very good.Also not the atheist style pisstake I was imagining.I’d love to see a TV show of it
I mean, that’s basically also Superman.Nothing is for everybody, but clearly stories about perfect people going around being perfect have their appeal to at least some of us.
I also think Superman is boring. But at least Superman has Kryptonite.
I mean, Jesus literally gets crucified at one point if we’re going there.
Christ, you know it ain’t easy…
Could be worse; he could have been John Lennon.
According to The Book, I think, John got to be a little older than The J-Man.
I don’t want to watch the show, but there are a few moments that Jesus has that kick ass.
Lazarus, for example.
Check back in on that dude.
I read a great short story where, sure, Jesus brings ol’ Lazarus back from the dead, but as the Bible specifically mentions, one doesn’t go around bringing folks back from the dead.
Why?
Because there’s a big divide between the living and dead, and never the twain shall meet.
After returning to life, in the story, Lazarus is whack. His vision, which has seen the land of the dead, drives people into suicidal crazinesses, until finally Alexander the great visits him, survives, and has Lazarus blinded.
Good times.
But anyway, that wasn’t the story I was thinking of, no, it’s the moment when Jesus drives the demons into the ocean.
That’s a good one.
That’s not really telling the story of Jesus. That’s like saying Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter told the story of Lincoln.
Oh, I dunno.Given the way the Southern Baptist Convention treats women and acts in general, I don’t think they pay much attention to the ‘teachings’ of Jesus Christ, what with all ‘be kind to each other,’ and ‘forgiveness,’ and ‘humbleness,’ and ‘charity,’ and how churches shouldn’t be the centers of massive money schemes.
So, instead?
Maybe they’ll pay attention to the dramatization of those demon pigs.
Will that spread the other values as well?
I doubt it.
But still.
They’re too busy freaking out because someone said on AVClub that they thought the story of Jesus was boring to do all that love your neighbor stuff.
Seriously, some of the replies I’ve left grey are quite disturbing.
Great example of the difference between being religious and being a Christian.
Pretty sure there’s no part in the Bible that says you can’t find the story of Jesus to be a snooze.
Except when he was having a bad day and tells a fig tree to fuck off. Grumpy Jesus is awesome.
The evangelicals got it wrong. God hates FIGS.For real though, I love that story. It’s kind of the easiest bit of the gospel to believe, because why would anyone make that up?
This series is actually different and you will find yourself among Jesus and his disciples where you will relate to them in ways that have not happened in other religious shows. It is a true phenomena!
Not to get too deep into the woods but “perfect people acting perfectly” is a pretty standard trope. Be they superheroes or just really pretty, it’s a money maker.
There’s a reason “Jesus Christ Superstar” is told mostly from the perspective of Judas.
Tell us you fundamentally misunderstand the story of Christ and storying telling in general, without telling us 😂
You don’t understand because you are not saved. Obviously millions of people find Jesus interesting. Maybe you should stick to watching monster truck ralleys cool guy.
I’m pretty sure demographically speaking, it’s the Jesus crowd who are more likely to overlap with the monster truck crowd.And as I said, I was “saved.”
Is that sanctimony I smell?
I think there’s a compelling story in the waves he (supposedly) made around him. He’s basically rolling into a powder-keg situation, where people are occupied by a powerful empire and waiting for a hero, and instead here comes this hippie pacifist who doesn’t seem to give a fuck, and is also challenging the traditional social order in ways that are progressive by even today’s standards. That’s some pretty potent stuff, before you even touch on the supernatural elements. Hell, Monty Python’s Life of Brian – a farcical comedy – tapped into that effectively.
Which is exactly what Pasolini’s The Gospel According to Matthew depicts so well, and why it is widely considered the best film ever made about Jesus.
Basically you’re arguing for Jesus’ story not being boring by arguing for a Jesus story that doesn’t focus on Jesus himself.
He’s more suited to an ensemble piece
“Who is interested in watching a perfect person go around being perfect with everyone?”I’m not religious, but that is not the story of Jesus.
Jesus is being an example of how we should live. And the entire purpose is that in the end, he suffered and died for us so that we can live in Heaven. Sounds pretty appealing to me. If everyone was more like Jesus, we’d be in a MUCH better place. Now of course some churches pervert that idea for their own personal gain, but that’s another story.
When I saw the show, I realized that it’s not at all about “a perfect person going around being perfect with everyone” It’s actually more about Jesus’ followers than it is about Jesus himself; a story with complex characters, conflict, and a fair dose of humor. You definitely don’t need to be a Christian to find it appealing, and, in fact, as the seasons progress it just gets better and better. #TeamMatthewAndGaius
Your logic doesn’t add up.There’s plenty of stories of “perfect protagonists” or flawless characters. Its called a “Mary Sue” in writing/story terms, look it up.Examples: Zach snyder’s Superman. Rey in the Star wars sequel trilogy. Plenty of Isekai/Harem anime, which the whole point of them is a nerdy dude getting transported to a another dimension, he ends up being king and getting all the hot chicks, and takes no Ls whatsoever unlike his past life.
Adam Warlock in the original Marvel comics, Iron Man. Etc. I could go on and on. Atleast with “Jesus”, he’s getting divine help and it’s not off his own ability and he does indeed die at the end of the story.
Maybe it was to give more impact to all the whipping and the beating and the scourging and the torturing near the end.
2 Broke Girls, A Savior and a Falafel Wagon
They’ll probably kill this show too. It’ll be back a couple days later.
Booooo LOL
Yup… probably nail it to a cross or something similar.
There’s actually a solid (and very dumb) basis for why this ridiculous idea was considered.So, the CW’s average audience is in its late 50’s. This is baffling to network executives because why would old people want to watch shows about millenials (ignoring that these shows frequently had deeply written baby boomers and Gen Xers in lead roles)? Since Discovery was a bad network run by bad people and now runs Warner Bros., they’ve decided to get rid of all of the shows those 50-somethings watch and replace them with shows that they think 50-somethings will want to watch instead but cost them no money to shoot.This, of course, is based on the idea that 50-somethings are actually just babies who don’t know how television works and had no idea they were watching the CW for a decade or so.
“the CW’s average audience is in its late 50’s”I still don’t understand this. Were people in their late 50s watching The Flash and Supernatural?
Get ready for your favorite show, Boomers: VeggieTales!
That weird show.As someone who comes from a culture where quoting from the bible is a ‘ we don’t do that here’ topic, finding my kids watching that when they were young was weird . For a few seconds I knew exactly how US Parents during the 80s satanic panic felt .
I’m happy you said this! I’ve been confused about what CW is trying to for awhile. Yes your demographic is older – but they are watching the shows you have on air! Granny enjoys the Riverdale sex! Why would you get rid of all those shows and replace them with things you “think” 50+ year olds want to watch?
That’s median age, though, and it’s based on live or live+7 data, and it’s broadly true for all the main broadcast networks by those same metrics. CW’s strategy seems to be take it as given that the average live viewer of all broadcast TV is a young baby boomer or old gen xer and they’re currently a distant last, so why not target that group more aggressively? I have no idea if it will work, but it’s not inherently crazy.
Total purges are television industry tradition, but you’d think they would be pivoting to try to appeal to younger people, except of course younger people don’t network TV by tuning into shows at the allotted time so “Olds are watching our shows. Quick, replace them with shows for olds” it is.
Total purges are television industry tradition,
Yeah, it’s like ancient Rome up in there! Anybody you think you might be having a problem with? Cleanse them with fire! And their families as well! And their slaves…rape them before you disembowel them!
I want to work in the television industry. Mostly for the purges.
There is no hope for humanity. Thanks for confirming it.
They’re trying to hit the same demographic with cheaper content.
I liked prime-time soaps in the 80’s and CW had
shows that appealed to me. Riverdale is Knots Landing set in Twin Peaks.
The show had actors I liked in 80’s and 90’s shows or films. Not too much violence, perfect to watch and sleep afterwards (that cliché is true!). But CW’s sex scenes were always too tame to bait me. No one looks for that on network TV.
I
watch Superman & Lois because it’s relatable as a
multi-generational family drama – which is a genre you don’t find among
other network’s crime or life-savers procedurals (except on Blue Bloods
which is just too uncreative and pro cop PR for me). I don’t like
superhero films because they don’t have enough character developments.
But in S&L Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch act their family
stuff as good as Succession’s ensemble and the teenage relationship dramas are not cringe-worthy to watch.
I agree CW doesn’t understand what 50+ year olds want. My generation stopped watching MTV (basically for most a background media as radio) when
they pushed their “reality” show dreck. I think after 1991 or 92’s no
one I knew mentioned MTV ever again. I want to see actors in dramas and
no narcissistic IG “influencers” who have more experience in plastic
surgery or STDs than language skills. The CW seems to target the 50+ year old lunatics
who are addicted to Faux “News”, it will fail and in one year their low ratings are halved.
As a 50+ year old myself, the only thing I was watching on the CW was Supernatural and the DC shows. Now I am down to just Superman and Lois. So, their strategy is certainly not catering to me.
You have some weird ideas about people in their fifties. Gen X made the internet relevant and part of people’s daily lives so, yeah, they know how a tv and other ‘stuff’ works, lol. Now I’m waiting to hear some Millenial tell me that they invented televisions (and computers) – like they invented everything else. I doubt the majoirty of people in their fifties watch the CW – or nearly as much tv as younger people do.
That’s what I was thinking. People in their 50s didn’t start watching TV when The Ed Sullivan Show was on the air.
I think you misunderstood the post.
Tf are you talking about? You’re getting worked up over something you and Bazzd both agree on it seems. I think you missed that.Also, while ”the majority of people in their 50s” don’t watch the CW, the majority of their audience is the 50 and up demographic. That’s how ratings demographics work.
It’s not that a majority of people in their fifties watch the CW. A majority of the people that watch the CW are in their fifties. Unless your point was about the follies of presuming what the majority of people in their fifties want to watch… but that’s exactly what the person you were replying to was criticizing the CW’s owners for doing. Source: https://deadline.com/2022/08/cw-average-viewer-age-58-nexstar-1235092697/amp/
Younger people don’t watch TV. That’s what old people do. Young people watch TikTok. That’s not an old man yelling at a cloud, it’s just a fact.
‘”Younger people don’t watch TV. That’s what old people do. Young people watch TikTok. That’s not an old man yelling at a cloud, it’s just a fact.”’To which I say why not consider both possibilities.Why not both…Look I know some day I will be in my 50s as well but I also know what I like to watch and it’s a shame that what I like will be dictated to me instead of allowing me to choose what I want to watch. Then again if there are any 50 somethings with the same disposition to being force fed what other people think they like to watch they could (and should) change the channel to something they do want to watch.If the CW sees the drop in ratings among their presumed majority viewership for said shows I’m sure they’ll pivot to something else hopefully something more in line with what was being watched(among the shows that they killed).
Yup. My kids, 20 and 18, primarily watch YouTube, TikTok, and Crunchyroll.
You have some weird ideas about what Bazzd was saying.
There’s still time to delete this re*****d comment
(1) I believe you missed the irony in that statement(2) People in their 50’s definitely watch way more television than younger people.
Yep, that’s exactly what’s happening here. Studies found that the average age of people who watched the CW is 58. The internet had a lot of fun with this when it was revealed, but that’s live viewers. I’d be surprised if that’s not close to the average age for all the broadcast networks now. Seriously, who do you know under the age of 35, that actually sits down and watches live TV? Teens and young adults definitely were watching the typical CW fare, they were just not watching it live. They were streaming it at a later date. But Nexstar, the new owners of the CW, have decided that despite being the least profitable demographic, they want to go after more of those 58 year old viewers. Totally ignoring that apparently 58 year olds were watching something on the CW that they liked. Of course, I get the feeling they are trying to court a different type of 50s viewer. The FOX news set.
I think what the network doesn’t understand is that people in their 40s and 50s aren’t the same as previous generations. They’re not looking for reruns of something like Andy Griffith from their childhood because that wasn’t their childhood. The teen genre on television only really showed up in the past 30-40 something years and watching more modern CW shows like Riverdale fills that niche for someone who may have watched a lot of Beverly Hills 90210 or Saved By The Bell. The CW is shooting themselves in the foot unless Jesus is laying on the camp and really getting into slaying demons and working with Satan to defeat a worse enemy in season 2.
I agree with your general point, but the change in programming has nothing to do with WBD. They people running the CW are not WBD people, nor do they care much about WBD.
The CW is also pulling in “Children Ruin Everything” from The Roku Channel.AVClubbers can rally around this one, for sure!
“Tonight on The Christ Watchers network…”
It looks like the CW has found their own personal Jesus.
It’s a strangelove.
How I Learned To Stop Having Shpilkes and Love The Word.
He was in His own private Idaho.
Good lord
CW = Christ WatchingNew network tagline – “Dare to Deify”
Must-See Deity
“The More You Sow.”
“Dare to Deify”, ok ok take your star dammit
Well, as to the tagline, hasn’t Oprah been doing that for some time now?
Reading is fundamental. Unless you’re one of these religious fundamentalist types. In that case they prefer to keep you illiterate and stupid. Go in peace.
Jesus is oneJesus is alllllJesus lift me up WHEN I FALLBrilliant.
Doesn’t bother me, I’m not the one going to hell.
I’m hoping to go there someday; I hear it’s quite lovely.You are talking about the Norwegian village, right?
Nobody is because >>> there is no HELL !
Feels like an Arby’s night.
Given how central that tenet is to his teachings, it’s almost kind of amazing how thoroughly most modern evangelicals have renounced it, in actions if not in words (though I’ve seen plenty renounce it in words as well).
I think you confused evangelicals with democrats
you mispelled republicans
No, no, no, screaming yourself hoarse at LGBT+ folks is a gesture of love. How else are they going to learn they’re sinful degenerates whose very existence is an offense to God?
Except Pat Robertson died during Pride Month. So I guess God loves a good joke. Your move, Evangelicals.
From you alright?! I learned it by watching you!
Ain’t the truth. Ever since I figured out the far right feels that empathy is a weakness, I don’t bother to try to understand how and why they think.
“I was binge-watching some shows at the time and I thought, ‘There’s
never actually been a multi-season show about the life of Christ.’”)
I never got around to watching it, but isn’t that what Ted Lasso is?
From one kind of super hero to another kind. What’s next? The Life of the Donald?On a related note: Lon Milo Duquette’s ‘An Accidental Christ’ was republished this week.
I can’t wait to see how they integrate him into the Arrow-verseI read the original novel but they sorta end on a cliffhanger where they promise Jesus will come back one day but the lazy author has never finished the book, so I expect this to end very similar to Game of Thrones. Plus the end of the second act has an out of no where betrayal and then a total lazy fake out where they kill the main character but you can tell he’s coming back right away.
I just wanna know who the first spinoff show is gonna be about in the Yahweh-verse.
Yahwehlowstone
A Mary & Joseph & God prequel would be some hot love triangle drama for sure.
Imagine telling your new husband “Hey, you know how we’ve never had sex? Well, I’m pregnant. God did it.” And actually convincing him of that.
I’m pretty sure when an angel shows up in your house one day and tells you that God gave you a kid, you listen. Old Testament made it abundantly clear that not listening to God is tantamount to threatening the world with an extinction-level event. That, or some extremely petty and inarguably evil “revenge”.
Yaweh never brought an extinction level event on people not listening in the OT. The Flood happened because of people being evil and out of control, also because of nephlim/and or giants. My personal head canon also says this was partly due to dinosaurs, maybe even other mythical creatures or angelic beings. Not that this is biblical canon or if I know any of this, just my 2 cents on the situation.
Blasphemer! Thou hath faketh the news!
“Aurora Borealis? At this time of year? At this time of day? In this part of the country? Localized entirely within your kitchen?”
“Yes.”
“Can I see it?”
“No.”
Well, sounds legit. I mean, how many bastards did Zeus father? If anything, it sounds like Yaweh needed some spectral Viagra if all he could mange is a measly one.
In one version of events an angel did the actual convincing. I’ve heard they can be quite persuasive.
It would not be until Otis perfected the hoist car brake that what the angel told Mary would finally make sense: Joseph’s elevator doesn’t go to the top floor.
Greek Mythology tells stories of Zues literally and sexually impregnation women and I don’t see anyone say anything about that. In fact multiple religions contain similar stories.
Imagine having at least two more kids, and being forever known as “The Virgin”!
Or a Three’s Company sitcom type of thing
. . . and Don Knotts as God
Saint Joseph: The First CuckRomans: The Judas ContractMaryVision
rofl
Lazarus RisingSaint Peter: A New Pope
GodTheFather: Can young Jesus navigate His way through the “family business”, or does He have a . . . higher calling?
How was St Joseph a cuck? If you don’t like the story, fine. But don’t make up stuff.
Pilate & The Fat CenturionMy Mother The Virgin Saint Joseph and God in My Two DadsJudea’s Got Talent!
If only Marilyn Bergman were here to write the theme song!
I hated that they white-washed the characters in the movie.
The prequel stuff has way better stories, crazy shit like bears eating a bunch of kids and a dude getting swallowed by a whale because he won’t preach where god wants him to preach.
Jesus fucking slays.
*spoiler* They’re going to kill of the main character.
Big SPOILER : He lives again like Jon Snow, Superman, Neo …is there any other movie spoiler teritory that I miss? Oh and his follower commit genocide.
You’re confusing his followers with communists, fascists, nazis, democrats and other left wing ideologies.
What’s it like knowing no one loves you?
Jesus loves him! Its why he’s a fan!
so are just that much of a moron or do you genuinely not know the story of christ?
Succession In Nazareth
An Apostle: “How many times should we forgive our transgressors, O Lord?”
Another Apostle: “Teach how to pray, Lord!”
Jesus: “Oh fucketh off!”
Good luck avoiding spoilers on this one.
Plot twist, Jesus was Jewish the whole time!!!
Meh. It’s a decent show but season 3 really jumped the shark when they added a new disciple, Jesus’ cousin Oliver.
Scrappy-Christ
Another classic Oliver twist.
Thank you for this pun, and for sacrificing yourself on the cross of same.
St Peter: Oh! It’s You! *shuffles papers* Yeah, here it is! We want to talk to you about this pun, or rather, we don’t.
I deserve to be pun-ished.
You know what they say: “Sun’s out, puns out!”
They do say that, don’t they?
are you saying Jesus couldn’t jump a shark on water skis!?!??!?!?! HERETIC!!!!!
Alright, Fonzie, let’s not have a holy war!
Jesus doesn’t need water skis
That’s nothing, I once read the novelisation of the first DOOM game.It may even be the worst book I’ve ever read.
There was a what now
I’d rather a Sci Fi (syfy?) one . Modern Doctor Josh Christian goes back in time and accidently kills Jesus at age 30 , and has to take his place .Hijinks ensue as he uses his modern knowledge to perform miracles (“hey if we use boiling water and clean cloth to clean and bind these wounds , maybe Ezekial here might stand a chance of walking again”, “If I take this spring water you have saved for this wedding , and add a little wine ..hey I call it a spritzer!” ,”Hey dont bury him! ,Lazerus here isnt dead , he’s just in what we call a COMA, if you take care of him and feed him this gruel he might wake..oh hey he’s up!”. Watch! as he builds his posse of 12 cool guys (and gals) , Gasp !at the will they wont they romance with Mary Magdalene.Wonder! exactly how he’s going to survive getting nailed to the cross(it’ll be cancelled long before season 3 so the writers wont need to worry about that one).*(* there was actually a more serious/darkly comic novel that was pretty much this called ‘Behold the man’ by Michael Morcock )
As someone who follows Jesus, I find that premise very amusing.
Stop it! You know he has a restraining order against you. Stay at least 500 feet from Jesus at all times!
Nah, I follow other people on Facebook who are more interesting.
Thanks! I mean I’m probably going to hell for writing it, but I intend to be the most polite of the damned!
LMAO dude I’m in tears
I seem to remember A Canticle for Liebowitz (could be wrong… maybe I’m thinking about Behold the Man?). Time traveler goes back to year 6 or so, finds Jesus, but he’s developmentally disabled. The time traveler ends up doing the things that are written as Jesus’ deeds. Very moving story.
Starred for the reference to A Canticle for Leibowitz, but I think you are referring to Behold the Man.
Starred for the reference to A Canticle for Leibowitz, but I think you are referring to Behold the Man.
Martin Sheen IS
The Forth Wise Man
You really thought this through.
…Modern Doctor Josh Christian never returned home…
A Riverdale-style teenage Jesus show would be the tits.
An HBO one would have literal tits, though.
Hey, why walk on water when you can motorboat instead.
“Get thee from my class and unto Detention!”“THOU DICK!!!”
I just started watching “Shiny Happy People”, the expose on the Duggars and their Christian cult. Seeing how the Christian message has been perverted (pun intended) to go from a message of love and hope, to a message of fear, control and sexual perversion is quite horrifying.Seeing the story of Jesus slightly dramatized is rather pale in comparison. I wonder how many Evangelicals watch this and engage in some self-reflection.
That would be zero. They’ll somehow come out of this even more convinced that Jesus wants us all to have assault weapons.
So basically the CW is going to broadcast a series that has already been a success on multiple streaming services, and they are adding in commercials.
I am sure they will get some viewers, but it seems as if their intended audience (dedicate Christians) would have already seen this via streaming. Another odd move for a broadcaster with limited distribution, to present a series that has been available for some time via streaming from the producers own app, plus YouTube. I am never going to understand how “business” works, like the new owners of the CW do!
Jesus is coming.
Jizz us, Christ!
Jesus is coming….so everyone look busy Got to admit , much as I love Ghost , I think I prefer the Genesis original slightly better , as the cover misses the “If you want to get closer to him , get on your knees and start paying” (the Ghost version has “praying” ..or maybe given who they are ‘preying’).
I wonder how many of the target demographic will suffer cognitive dissonance due to the Main Guy being played by a Semitic-looking actor, rather than a blue-eyed blond?
It’s not only him. I worked a day on that show and it was the brownest cast I’d ever been a part of. I was taken aback by how noticeable it was in contrast with other productions. It also ran like a well-oiled machine and everyone was treated well. Say what you will about the content, but it’s a rare thing to work on a set where everyone seems legitimately happy doing their job.
They missed a huge opportunity for a new and exciting arrowverse crossover…
Fucking trash to brainwash and indoctrinate the dumb.
I’m mostly happy CW picked this up so this article exists and AV Club commenters can get all their Bible/Jesus jokes out of their systems.
hard pass
Oh, ‘weird tie-in book to a story already found in a book called The Bible’ is a well-trod path for these shows. My favorite has to be “A Story of God and All of Us: A Novel based on the Epic TV Show: The Bible” which was basically just a bad bad bad paraphrase of, well, the Bible.
The Chosen, at least, is trying to actually dramatize things – they’re willing to actually add characters like Peter’s wife or give some backstory/tension to things. I can see where a book might be able to further expand on that.
As someone says elsewhere in the comments, it would be interesting to see an adaptation of Reza Aslan’s The Zealot. I’ve seen a bunch of The Chosen. I’m not a bit religious and have a low tolerance for Jesus-pushing entertainment… And The Chosen isn’t that. It’s a well written, well acted, and human take on what the heck Jesus and all his pals were up to. There’s no proselytizing and it deals a lot with just the practical aspects of Jews living in a Roman ruled society. It’s surprisingly funny too.
Hahaha. You know even Jesus thought lying was a sin.
To be clear, the show does get preachy at times but that shouldn’t be a shock. What is surprising though is what you pointed out: it’s surprisingly well done and compelling outside of that. This is especially true in season one. Jesus is warm, funny and human in a way you never see in film
And the show does have laugh out loud moments, mostly involving Matthew or Peter.
I wanna see someone do a deep dive on this show, since it seems to be huge with evangelicals. If they’re a big part of right-wing politics in the United States right now, then it seems like there should be more analysis of the current dominant evangelical pop culture depiction of Jesus. I only ever hear Christians talking about this show, but it seems crazy successful.
“The biggest IP of all time,” god that’s depressing.
No, I like the implicit acknowledgement that men just made it all up.
That’s a good point.
Oh Lord . . .
In thy Name…do we pivot…!
a TV drama about the life of Jesus Christ, a notorious carpenter who
created a great deal of hubbub in the Middle East some two millennia or so ago.
Nicely done, William! Nicely done.Also: if only somebody would knock at my door (at an inopportune time, of course) to tell more about this “Jesus Christ” guy. Like: who was he and why should I care today?
Awful lot of white guys in there…
Religion is a mental illness.
Replace the word GOD with Aliens and/or Ghost and see how crazy you sound.?.?Mental illness should not be encouraged on any level.Reality is not a phobia of your mental illness.
Stop lying to yourself and to the world.Reality does not need you to “believe in it” for it to exist.At no time will a group of “scientist” go to “a gathering” and sing about gravity, because ->>> gravity will always be here.
Your GOD(s) will not.
Gravity is just a consequence of space and time though, whilst God dwells in the Eternal #andthemthefacts
You don’t know or understand gravity, obviously. Religion is a mental illness.
You don’t know or understand God obviously, which is why you still believe in gravity and mental illness!
I wonder if they’re going to keep that batshit plot shift from the book when that banquet scene goes full cannibalism.Damnit, now I’m having Catholic school flashbacks to when a particularly adamant nun insisted to me and my horrified 4th grade classmates that the Eucharistic wasn’t symbolic but that the bread wafer actually turned into the flesh of Jesus the second it hit your tongue.Communion at the pre-school mass the next morning was pretty intense, I must say…
Are they changing the network name to CZW:
As an Atheist, gotta say a big ol’ series about Jesus sounds long-shot potentially fantastic. Epic period pieces are fun, by most accounts Jesus sounds like a really cool dude and interesting character, and there’s plenty of dramatic stories to draw on. I mean, if he’s just a sorta exceptional heart-of-gold type guy (like Goku!) facing lots of persecution while trying to teach people to forgive, I’d wear the dang Jesus-Show t-shirts… If it’s evangelical-style Jesus-TV, then #BarfEmoji
This article is written in the cringiest style
I’m waiting for a hot fire season finale cliffhanger where the Winchesters show up and Jesus locks and loads.
Or the sequel series called Jesus’s Revenge. With the tag line He’s back and he’s pissed.
And lo, He righteously smote the blaspheners…in the face.
The Christian god couldn’t even wipe out an entire planet.Thanos wiped out TRILLIONS.
One day, maybe, Hollywood will be able to find a Jewish person to play Jesus.
Saw a clip where a guy was talking to Jesus and he said something to the effect of “Well, no one’s perfect…except you” delivered with a truly 80’s sitcom amount of cheese (no canned laugh track but worthy of one) and immediately thought “nope”.
Delivered with a truly 2000’s sitcom amount of cheese:
“Well, no one’s perfect…except literally you”
what the hell is this
Anyone that would write an article and call Jesus notorious is a complete waste of a human being and utterly incompetent. Wonder what community you belong to???
Why not? The Notorious S.O.N.?
You’re not doing Jesus any favors here.
From teen shower sex scenes to Jesus. The CW is the American social fabric in TV form.
Euphoria, Ecclesiastic-ah!
All snarking aside, this show is actually really good. I don’t understand why the CW is crossing over to airing it, but it’s a legit prestige TV series. First couple of episodes it is a bit wobbly, but by episode 3, it gets its footing and becomes something that is at least shooting for something special. Regardless of your feelings about organized religion, the actor playing Jesus makes you get why this man inspired billions of people. This performance is so good, I predict Emmy nominations are on the way, especially when it gets to the Crucifixion in a couple of seasons. Even if you think it’s all hooey, just watch the show as a pure fantasy like Game of Thrones. This show totally works entirely as prestige TV.
100% correct.
Bah, give me a Bible Jesus story that the MAGA Christians believe in for real entertainment.Can you imagine an AR15 carrying anti-communist racist Jesus in the Middle East? It’d be like the Boys, with the Homelander but more violent and debauched.I’d probably end up rooting for the Romans to win…sort of like a doomed pyrrhic victory.
Not just no monster truck, no-one cuts loose with a Pancor Jackhammer, either.
Laaaaame!
Well, unless they decide to show what the most realistic version of Jesus was really like (if any such person ever existed). You know the type. We’ve seen plenty of them. The kind of person who nearly all cult-following figures are like: high-functioning psychopaths with a pathological need to be the center of attention, the gift of gab, and the love of grift. Yeah, I said it. Jesus was most likely a ‘successful’ scam artist, conning his flunkies and the people, until he pissed off the Roman leadership enough to get piked for his troubles. Just throw in a good PR campaign from Emperor Constantine, who saw Judaism as the weapon for control and power that it’s been used as for thousands of years now, and the rest, as they say, is history.I’d love to have *THAT* kind of ‘Jesus’ show hit the world. The tears and howls of rage would be glorious….
Republican extremists screaming about indoctrination that doesn’t exist, but sure let’s throw hour long episodes about Jesus in between reruns of Arrow and Supernatural. Fuck all the way off.
I see they’re going with White Jesus. How factual.
Not surprising at all. Go for the easy money and demographic that still watches scheduled network tv.
Three seasons of The Chosen equals two seasons of a typical CW drama. So, it is weird that the CW is just airing all of it.
Not my cup of tea. Even if you are religious, Christian, whatever, this would be considered blasphemous anyways. First his name is not “Jesus” that’s what western civilization calls him because we don’t know his actual Hebrew name. 2nd he was not a white man as the series portrays. 3rd, we have no idea of his appearance and this seems based off his mainstream image of the white man with long hair which was thought to be a whole other person such Cesar Bougare, the son of Pope Alexander VI, Augustus, Emperor of Rome during the same time as “Jesus” or I could see it being a rip off of Greek/Roman mythical characters such as Hercules, Neptune, etc. That said, the comments are puzzling. This comment section has turned into salty Atheists roasting The Bible and making silly jokes. Atleast focus on the show at hand and talk about why you like or dislike it, it seems odd to me that everytime biblical or religious topics are brought up, people diverge into trolling. No one is actually commenting about the article or show. When Muhammed or Buddha is brought up, I don’t see the same energy. What’s so funny about “Jesus”? He was a good man, rather you believe in the divine part of the story or not, he was real and he did die for what he believed in, that’s respectable. Don’t confuse the weird Christians you grew up with, with him/his disciples, there’s a difference
About a year ago I started chatting with a woman walking her dog while I was taking a walk. I thought we were just going to talk about our love of dogs and next thing I know this woman, in 2022, an adult woman with grown children and a husband was telling me she was a “Bride of Christ” (not a nun) and it had something to do with this “The Chosen” series/movie whatever it is. This conversation took a left turn into batshit crazy so fast I didn’t know what was going on. Next thing I knew she’s trying to recruit me into this cult of insanity. “I’m happier than I’ve ever been, I feel like Jesus loves me more than anyone and I can’t wait to meet him when he returns to Earth” (exact quote).I have no idea how said husband feels about this open marriage situation he got into with his actual human wife and Jesus. Love Jesus, don’t love Jesus, do whatever you want but you are not, in any way shape or form married to someone who died 2,000 years ago.
About a year ago I started chatting with a woman walking her dog while I was taking a walk. I thought we were just going to talk about our love of dogs and next thing I know this woman, in 2022, an adult woman with grown children and a husband was telling me she was a “Bride of Christ” (not a nun) and it had something to do with this “The Chosen” series/movie whatever it is.This conversation took a left turn into batshit crazy so fast I didn’t know what was going on. Next thing I knew she’s trying to recruit me into this cult of insanity. “I’m happier than I’ve ever been, I feel like Jesus loves me more than anyone and I can’t wait to meet him when he returns to Earth” (exact quote).I have no idea how said husband feels about this open marriage situation he got into with his actual human wife and Jesus. Love Jesus, don’t love Jesus, do whatever you want but you are not, in any way shape or form married to someone who died 2,000 years ago.
we’re banging! FTFY
And the Devil tooketh Jesus to the highest mountain and showed unto Him all the viewers in the world. And he saith “All these shall subscribe and tune in to watch You, if You just bend Your knee to me!”
And Jesus said “Get thee behind me networks! For knoweth I, that your promises are empty! Many of these are sharing their words of pass and thereby laying waste utterly to thy bottom line!”
Jenkins crowdfounded the show to record-breaking success, and then partnered with Christian company VidAngel—best known for its service that filters nudity and profanity out of DVDs, and then for getting into a massive lawsuit with the studios over said service—to broadcast the series.Ah, OK, got it. So VidAngel is like the weird aunt and uncle who you discover are way more strict than your parents that one time you spend the night at their house.
Jesus? Is he part of the Arrowverse?