Getting religion

Hollywood is planning a raft of new series built around religious themes, but many of them are controversial | The Editors

Last year Joan of Arcadia was a surprise hit for CBS. The drama about a teenage girl who sees God in different guises stops short of Christianity, but it is well done and takes both teenagers and theology seriously. Now, after only the second season, the audience has dropped dramatically, and the show's fans are fighting the prospect of its cancellation.

Still, Hollywood is planning a raft of new series built around religious themes. Unfortunately, Hollywood's notion of religion—and how profitable it can be—is conditioned not only by The Passion of the Christ but also by The Da Vinci Code.

On April 13, NBC premiers Revelations, a six-episode mini-series about a secular scientist and a nun who realize that the events described in the book of Revelation are taking place. Sort of a nonevangelical version of Left Behind.