The Passion Rotterdam

No, not about Mel Gibson's movie. It's about a local production, The Passion, provided by the Dutch Evangelical Broadcasting Community with some support from the Roman Catholic Church and the Dutch Protestant Church. It was huge and spectacular. 1.7 million people watched it on television, more than 10% of the total Dutch population. I read nothing but praise about the technical aspect and the delivery. The artists were all local celebrities. Personally, this is an instance where two loves meet for not only am I fascinated by popular expressions of religious sentiment, I do have a weak spot for Dutch local artists too. There is something pathetic and familiar about it that strangely warms my heart just as much as Christian sentiment is able to. If Christ doesn't feel strangely familiar to me then at least the Dutch artists certainly do. And here they are, celebrating the story of my buddy Jesus!

But what do I see? In 2012? Nothing but criticism from both the secular and the religious sides it seems. Most striking is that the secular side is complaining about this story being portrayed irreverently. What! If anyone the secular side should be able to recognize that the idea of religious integrity is suspect at the very least. Either the non-religious have not yet completely emancipated themselves from religious sentiment or they abuse an idea of religious integrity to bash a type of popular entertainment that they can't stand, for of course it is the intellectuals that complain about this. Most likely a combination of both.

But even from the theological side I hear complaints. Really? Well go ahead and dig your own grave with complaints for shovels then! If popular culture is seen as something that can only corrupt religion then pretty soon that religion will be over and done with. I would like to see how someone from the United States would react to this European type of criticism. "Are they crazy?" My fictional evangelical American friend might ask. "The Gospel should be told and made heard, whatever it takes," he would argue. I guess the US has more of a tradition of catering to popular sentiment, making use of popular entertainment and modern media. Also in the US the religious emphasis seems to be more on experiencing religion than subscribing to a set of beliefs. The reasons for things growing differently in the US and in Europe are many but the bottom line is, if the EU clergy isn't going to wise up they might keep an eye on the classifieds ads printed next to their angry letters in the newspapers.

Trailer of the show.

The whole thing can be seen on the website: http://www.eo.nl/evenementen/thepassion/

Highway to Heaven

Another chapter in the Michael Landon book. This time he's an angel trying to get his creds. From Wiki: "The series stars Michael Landon as Jonathan Smith, an angel sent down to earth "on probation", and his human companion Mark Gordon, played by Victor French, Landon's co-star from Little House on the Prairie. Jonathan and Mark are given "assignments" by "The Boss" (God) where they are required to use their humanity (and sometimes a little bit of "The Stuff") in order to help various troubled souls to overcome their problems." (wiki). I thought Landon had to do with this, the intro very much reminds me of Father Murphy, in which he had a hand as well, although he didn't star in that one.

Father Dowling Mysteries

Another series that I used to watch in the 80s/90s. "Father Frank Dowling is a Catholic priest who continually stumbles over murders, abductions, and other high crimes in his hometown, Chicago, Illinois." (wiki). A lot of mistery solving and not a whole lot of religion going on in Chicago then it seems. Some might argue that this is an improvement and that for once a Catholic figure was actually doing something useful? But let's not talk about that. Let's talk in stead about how hot Sister Stephanie was! There is something proto-Sarah Michelle Gellar about her. The casting of the series was good, there was just something... believable... about the Father Dowling character. By the way, I like the VHS effects in this YouTube video.

Osho

This man was always on the local Amsterdam TV network. It was quite fascinating stuff. I think I've heard him utter more silences than words. You just have to love his rhythm. "consciousneszzzz.... ... ... iszzzz... ... ... ... very........" If you ever want to sound mysterious, just milk the pauses, get everybody nervous feeling like they are falling into a pit until you get to your next word. Except for this rhetorical style, he just seems... like a psychopath. It was either this cult or mass murder. Or well, who knows what is yet to come? And why not combine, isn't that what our economy stimulates? Well, Mr. Chandra Mohan Jain might be a bit too late for that, he died in 1990. Whether he was a mystic or tax fraudeur extraordinaire, a remarkable man was he. Watching the footage of his teaching is like watching Bob Ross!

 He sort of looks like a mix between Santa Claus and Charles Manson.

The example is just a random one, there are many many clips to be found. Also, Osho foundation has a website but... it kinda sucks. http://www.osho.com/

Amen

"Amen is an American television sitcom produced by Carson Productions that ran from September 27, 1986 to May 11, 1991 on NBC. Set in Sherman Hemsley's real-life hometown of Philadelphia, Amen was starring Hemsley as the deacon of a church and was part of a wave of successful sitcoms on NBC in the 1980s which featured entirely or almost-entirely black casts." (wiki)

In The Beginning

Some days I don't like myself. Like on the days where you read "in the beginning" as a note you made months ago and now you can't remember for the life of you what that refers to anymore. Okay, let me rephrase my first statement, some days I don't like my former self. He's such a mindless jerk. Anyway, I think I was talking about this pre-animé super cheaply produced animation series that I now found bearing this title. It takes me back to watching sucky animated TV series. It was cheap, stupid, whatever, it moved (even if barely) and it was on my screen, that's pretty much all it takes to satisfy an eight year old.

Helltown

A series from the 1980s, that didn't get to live very long. I thought the intro tune was cool, but all the more so if it is from the 1980s and not from the 1970s, being smart enough to steer clear of synth drums, synth bass and synth everything. It's about a rough priest and his parish in a rough neighboorhood, a priest wise to the ways of the streets next to being wise to the wishes of the Lord. The intro is great, but unfortunately I could only find a low-res short.

Father Murphy

This was a TV series from the 1980s. Wiki sums up the plot thus: "It starred [...] actor Merlin Olsen as an 1870s frontiersman named John Michael Murphy who teams up with prospector Moses Gage (Moses Gunn) to shelter a group of orphans who are being threatened with a workhouse." This would actually disqualify it as a religious series. I have to admit, upon watching the first few minutes of the trailer, I was thinking "this is too professional to be Christian." There seem to be though, if not explicit Christian messages, at the very least some hints. The Amazon description reads "Burly drifter John Murphy (Merlin Olsen) becomes the unlikely caretaker of a group of orphaned children growing up in America[']s Wild West. Touched by their plight, he poses as a priest with lovely local school teacher Mae Woodward (Katherine Cannon) and his miner buddy (Moses Gunn) assisting with the children. Together this makeshift family gets involved in a series of adventures, encountering unscrupulous businessmen, gamblers, horse rustlers, bank robbers and much more!" Not to say Satan himself! It reminds me too of the themes of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, that also explores the idea of redeeming the unruly West in the late nineteenth postbellum era.

The Flying Nun

The Flying Nun is an American TV series from the 1960s. The series "centered on the adventures of a community of nuns in the Convent San Tanco in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The comic elements of the storyline were provided by the flying ability of a novice nun, Sister Bertrille, played by Sally Field" (wiki). I remember watching this on rerun on TV as a kid and thinking this was weird but probably it made sense in the universe of grown-ups or something. I'm not sure if I'm part of that universe quite yet today, but at the very least this series still seems weird to me. It's one of those things where you wonder who the hell approved the proposal for this show at the time and what the hell was he smoking? I am able to see now, as opposed to then, some of the sweet 1960s what you might call innocence in television production. The bright smiles, the saccharine music, the clumsy jokes (catch that dog, Sister Bertrille!). What marvel! I wonder if all too many religious communities actually got up on their hind legs about this series. Because of nuns flying around mind you, not because of its innocence.

7th Heaven

I remember this series being on TV. From Wiki: "7th Heaven is an American family drama television series, created and produced by Brenda Hampton. The series premiered on August 26, 1996 [...]. The series tells the story of the Camden family, a Protestant minister's family living in the fictional town of Glen Oak, California."