Friday, January 06, 2006

Book of Daniel: None of the Above

Having watched the last 5/6 of the premiere episode of Book of Daniel, SWNID is ready to pronounce.

Q: Is it blasphemy, joke or conversation starter?

A: None of the above. The show is just too uninteresting to be any of those.

We found it predictable, pedestrian, filled with largely uninteresting characters. There's barely a laugh in the show. More often than going for laughs, Daniel goes for the "human moment," something that shows its dysfunctional family members trying to connect with each other. Oddly enough, it turns out to be more Seventh Heaven than Desperate Housewives. But it neither warms the heart nor tickles the funnybone.

Daniel's conversations with Jesus were utterly unremarkable. Jesus prevents Daniel from indulging his dependency on prescription meds, but otherwise he talks to him like a mildly cynical, disengaged buddy. He is Daniel's imaginary friend, and Daniel's imagination is not very fertile.

SWNID found the only interesting parts to be the chance to admire the very tasteful decorating, architecture and landscaping in the upper-middle-class suburb of Long Island or Connecticut or wherever it is in the "tristate area" near the "city" that the show is set. We like white woodwork, red brick facades and weeping cherry trees.

The show did successfully frame NBC's music-video promotions for Winter Olympic coverage.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, I don't know. It held my attention for over two-and-a-half minutes. And my mind didn't wander even once.

steve-o said...

I jotted down my thoughts after watching the show as well.

All I know is that there went two hours of my life that I'll never be able to get back.