Bill Reilly, recently left his creative post at the multi-faith production group Odyssey Networks after a successful 12-year stint , is now busier than ever.<\/p>\n
I caught up with the creative producer on the phone the other day and, I must say, his roster of current projects is both interesting and impressive.<\/p>\n
For instance, he\u2019s working with Holland\u2019s Eye2Eye Media on a U.S. adaptation of The Passion.<\/em>\u00a0 Reilly notes that a Dutch version of the musical modern-day retelling of the final days of Jesus (utilizing popular contemporary mainstream music and artists to tell the story) scored surprisingly strong ratings in a country not particularly known for religiosity.\u00a0 The Dutch program itself was inspired by a previous Passion <\/em>production staged in Manchester, England. It\u2019s hoped that the U.S. version will be shot on the streets of New York City.<\/p>\n Reilly, who says he likes to deal with issues of faith in a mainstream way, is also working with a couple of U.S. companies that are looking to create positive, meaningful television.<\/p>\n He\u2019s teaming with Minnesota-based Tremendous! Entertainment, makers of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern<\/em> \u00a0on The Travel Channel, to produce a documentary for PBS stations about how 12 Step recovery programs (which he calls possibly the greatest spiritual discovery of the 20th<\/sup> century) have helped countless people overcome life-threatening addiction to drugs, alcohol and other debilitating inclinations.\u00a0 Zimmern, who has openly discussed his earlier bouts with drug and alcohol addiction, will take part in the program which, Reilly says, will focus on the positive stories of those who have overcome their problems \u2013 and won\u2019t, as some so-called reality shows have been known to do, exploit those currently caught in the grip of addiction. The documentary\u2019s message of hope is a personal one for Reilly since a member of his own family has successfully battled addiction using the 12 Steps.<\/p>\n With New Dominion Pictures, Reilly is teaming with Mythbusters<\/em> creator\/producer Peter Rees on Evidence of the Supernatural?!<\/em> , a proposed series that will submit apparent miracles to the rigors of scientific evaluation. Given the subject matter, the Rees-Reilly partnership is an interesting one since Rees is a self-proclaimed atheist and Reilly is a believing Christian.<\/p>\n On the dramatic front, Reilly is also teaming with New Dominion on The Devil\u2019s Advocate<\/em>, a historical anthology series focusing on Vatican canon lawyers charged with arguing the case against candidates for canonization \u2013 often by attempting to prove that miracles attributed to them were false and, perhaps,\u00a0 fraudulent.<\/p>\n While both Evidence of the Supernatural?!<\/em> and The Devil’s Advocate<\/em> feature investigations aimed at debunking miraculous claims, Reilly, the believer, believes they’ll actually serve to validate faith. He says he’s virtually certain that some of the cases investigated on Evidence<\/em> will be shown to be unexplainable by science. For believers (like me), that leaves a God-given miracle as the most logical explanation.<\/p>\n Regarding Devil’s Advocate<\/em>, he notes that the Vatican’s Office of the “Devil’s Advocate” took on over 3000 cases between its establishment in about 1588 and its official closure in 1983.\u00a0 The “DA” lost somewhere north of 270 cases — some of which will be featured on the series.\u00a0 In both series, the dramatic tension will come from viewers not knowing until the end whether the miracle in question was disproven by scientific investigation.\u00a0 But the fact that some can’t be should bolster faith in believers and give non-believers cause to think.<\/p>\n It should be noted that, though the official Vatican position of a “devil’s advocate” no longer exists, the Church still submits miraculous claims to rigorous investigation<\/a>.<\/p>\n Reilly says he\u2019s particularly drawn to dramatic programming that has something to positive to say \u2013 whether that programming is specifically faith-themed or not.\u00a0 He also sees the TV tide turning away from exploitive reality programming (though he admits there\u2019s always likely to be some of that) toward more uplifting, positive fare. Viewers, he suggests, are getting tired of\u00a0 shows built on exploitation and cynicism and the networks are realizing that.<\/p>\n