To 'Set the Record Straight'... really?

[ratzu]

oh, I'm DVRing this! Guarantied to be the funniest thing ever put on television.

[AxisMundi]

The bible is a boring goddamn book.

A poorly written fantasy novel edited by a committee with soaring self interests, yes.

[AxisMundi]

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/hollywood-couple-created-bible-mini-series-set-record/story?id=18610211

[ Image ]

Ever since Charlton Heston parted the Red Sea as Moses in the epic 1956 film, "The Ten Commandments," Hollywood has had a thirst for more, and now comes a husband-and-wife team who seek to do the Bible justice in a new, 10-hour series premiering on Sunday, March 3, on the History Channel.

Spanning Genesis to Revelation, the series producers may surprise many: First, the reality TV show guru Mark Burnett -- the man who made Donald Trump a TV star and "you're fired" a household catch-phrase, who changed the television landscape with "Survivor," which just debuted its 27th season, and created the ever-popular "Shark Tank" and "The Voice" -- is now taking on a project truly biblical in scale.

But he couldn't do it alone. Burnett asked for a little help from above: actress Roma Downey, the star of the TV classic, "Touched by an Angel," who is his wife.

"I'm married to an angel," Burnett said.

So why are the guy who created "Shark Tank" and "Survivor," and the woman who played an angel tackling "The Bible"?

"The Bible is the foundation of this nation, of our laws, of our society," Burnett said. "There wouldn't have been the Declaration of Independence. President Obama swore his allegiance to all of us not on one Bible, on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Bible and Abraham Lincoln's bible last month. It's on our money: 'In God We Trust.'"


They launched the project four years ago and say they were acutely aware of needing to make the special effects shine.

"We have three teenagers," Downey said. "One of the things they said to us [was], 'Oh please, whatever you do, don't make the special effects lame.'"

"We showed our kids, at the beginning of this project, a movie we had grown up on, 'Ten Commandments.' They were rolling their eyes," Burnett said. "That movie is beautiful, but it's 50 years old. So really, what we've done for 2013 is brought fresh visual life into the greatest story ever told."

Beyond the special effects, Burnett and Downey said this project was very personal to them. They said their faith is central to their lives and they took the responsibility of telling its stories seriously.

"We believe the Bible," Burnett said. "However, on this project, there's only one way to approach this. You have to take the Bible as a fact."

"We have run into people that have thought, believe it or not, that Joan of Arc was Noah's wife, or that Sodom and Gomorrah lived happily ever after," Downey said. "And [we] thought, if nothing else, just to set the record straight."

Burnett and Downey expect the series to have an enormous impact. They have recruited more than 40 theologians and academics to advise them on all aspects of the series.

How many people may watch?

"I'm telling you, a million will either open the Bible or reopen the Bible ... maybe a billion," Burnett said. "I think, to be honest with you, because I'm a very blunt person, I think a billion is a low number."

Burnett said it cost less than $22 million to produce the entire series, cheap by Hollywood standards, "although the bills are still coming in." Prayers, the couple said, were as important as the cash. Downey said that about four to six weeks before they were starting to shoot the principal photography, they had not yet cast the role of Jesus.

"To say that we were anxious about that would be an understatement," Downey said.

So she said she contacted various prayer circles and churches.

Firstly, I gave up on the "History" Channel long ago. I'd much rather watch Nova and Antiques Roadshow on PBS.

Secondly, every time I ask a bible nazi to list those laws and founding principles based in their bible, they flee the thread.

[NonXNonExX]

I can't wait to see the part where David proclaims that he loves Jonathon more than he loves any woman. And i hope they use some cool special effects to show when Jesus sends the demons into the pigs, which then jump into the sea.

[Colanth]

I can't wait to see the part where David proclaims that he loves Jonathon more than he loves any woman.

Don't hold your breath.  You either won't see it, or it'll be presented as something other than the same kind of love he could have for a woman.  People who can't accept a society that accepted homosexuality can't portray it accurately.

[commonsense822]

I gotta say, I'm less pissed at the obviously deranged couple than I am at the History Channel.  Bible thumpers are always gonna do fucked up shit, but come on History Channel...just....come on.

I remember when I used to watch things about space, the universe, actual history, and religion documentaries on that channel.  Now they have replaced all of that with Pawn Stars, alien conspiracy theories, Ax Men, and SWAMP PEOPLE!  SERIOUSLY?!?!  FUCKING SWAMP PEOPLE!

History Channel is to history, just like MTV is to music.  They have sold out.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

I gotta say, I'm less pissed at the obviously deranged couple than I am at the History Channel.  Bible thumpers are always gonna do fucked up shit, but come on History Channel...just....come on.

I remember when I used to watch things about space, the universe, actual history, and religion documentaries on that channel.  Now they have replaced all of that with Pawn Stars, alien conspiracy theories, Ax Men, and SWAMP PEOPLE!  SERIOUSLY?!?!  FUCKING SWAMP PEOPLE!

History Channel is to history, just like MTV is to music.  They have sold out.

The history channel is to history as a monster truck is to tomato soup.. :roll:

[AxisMundi]

I gotta say, I'm less pissed at the obviously deranged couple than I am at the History Channel.  Bible thumpers are always gonna do fucked up shit, but come on History Channel...just....come on.

I remember when I used to watch things about space, the universe, actual history, and religion documentaries on that channel.  Now they have replaced all of that with Pawn Stars, alien conspiracy theories, Ax Men, and SWAMP PEOPLE!  SERIOUSLY?!?!  FUCKING SWAMP PEOPLE!

History Channel is to history, just like MTV is to music.  They have sold out.

Just about every cable station has. News breaks on Fox "News". And weather on the eights on the weather channel. I'm getting ready for work trying to see what the weather will be, I don't really care about "space weather", or who the coast guard in Florida is rescuing.

But advertisers won't pay for commercials on television stations people don't watch, so they sell out.

[NonXNonExX]

I think an atheist director could make a much more interesting and commercially viable series by just telling the really good stories and including all the salacious bits. You don't have to believe the bible is the word of a supernatural being to find some parts interesting. Let's face it, those two religious nutters are going to do plenty of cherry picking for their production!

[SGOS]

I want to see Ezekiel 23 animated, particularly verses 19 and 20.

An interesting movie script would be one which lets us identify with some moral and upstanding family of some ancient city where everyone gets wiped out in one of God's great acts of vengence.