'God's Available to All of Us'

Barbara Hall, creator of the new CBS drama 'Joan of Arcadia,' talks about her most dangerous idea

BY: Interview by Paul O'Donnell

Continued from page 2

Is Hollywood becoming more open to spirituality?
It's part of the dialogue more than it used to be. That's true in the country right now. I'm not sure why it is. There are a lot of theories-9/11 is one of them-but these things come in waves, and right now it's allowed. I don't think I could have sold this show even three years ago.

So are you making the network nervous?
Not yet! Every now and then there are nerves about getting too deeply into theological discussion. [I tell them] we can't do the show halfway. You cannot do a show about God and avoid talking about religion. The show won't have the courage of its convictions if it can't do that.

What about the audience? God is by nature a challenging subject. Can a TV show be successful if it challenges the status quo?
That begs a huge question, first of all that there is a status quo on religion. I reject the notion that there is a single perspective on God. Will I offend anybody? Well, there are people who spend their lives waiting to be offended, so of course they will be offended. I'm not worried about that. I'm worried about being honest about how I see these things and posing the questions. The thing that may offend the most people is my saying that God is available to everyone all the time.

How about the commercial television community? A television show that tells people to take off the iPod isn't going to be popular with advertisers.
That's someone else's job. I won't say that won't happen. But we'll do the show until we can't anymore. When I did "Judging Amy," which showed a single mother who was a little abrasive and sarcastic who forgot to pick her daughter up from karate class, there was a lot of jitters about making her a bad mother. I don't care about that. I can't do a show and not make it look the way it looks to me.