{"id":5489,"date":"2014-09-12T12:48:49","date_gmt":"2014-09-12T16:48:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/?p=5489"},"modified":"2014-09-12T14:17:09","modified_gmt":"2014-09-12T18:17:09","slug":"mayberry-meets-friends-at-ups-coffee-shop-for-producerdirector-dave-alan-johnson-heart-beats-edge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2014\/09\/mayberry-meets-friends-at-ups-coffee-shop-for-producerdirector-dave-alan-johnson-heart-beats-edge.html","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Mayberry&#8221; meets &#8220;Friends&#8221; at UP&#8217;s &#8220;Coffee Shop&#8221; + For Producer\/Director Dave Alan Johnson &#8220;heart&#8221; beats &#8220;edge&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Here\u2019s today\u2019s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture.<\/p>\n<iframe title=\"Coffee Shop\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VVCicgwmJjA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1410510219129_5933\" class=\"yiv5747809440MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong><em>Coffee Shop<\/em> is a warm, tasty blend of humor and romance.\u00a0 The film airs <span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt\"><strong>this Sunday (\/9\/14) @ 8:00 PM (ET) on UP TV.<\/strong> <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"yiv5747809440MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Synopsis (per UP): <\/strong><i><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt;color: black\">Coffee Shop<\/span><\/i><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1410510219129_5932\" style=\"font-size: 10.0pt;color: black\"> is the story of Donavan Turner (Laura Vandervoort), a smart, independent, twenty-something woman looking for just the right blend of happiness in her life.\u00a0 She owns a hip neighborhood coffee shop in a quaint, scenic beach town and her\u00a0specialty is matching people to their perfect, new brew.\u00a0\u00a0While she\u2019s been less than successful fixing her love life, Donavan enjoys her work\u00a0and has the robust support of her sister Becky (Rachel Hendrix), Becky\u2019s boyfriend Kevin (Jason Burkey)\u00a0and the wonderful, eclectic family of her coffee shop regulars.\u00a0 Unfortunately, she\u2019s keeping a secret from them all.\u00a0 The new bank owner, Frank Miller (Jon Lovitz), won\u2019t extend her loan and she\u2019s facing immediate foreclosure.\u00a0 Things get further complicated when Donovan\u2019s ex-boyfriend Patrick (Josh Ventura) returns to declare his love just as her clashes with Broadway playwright &#8212; and tea-drinker \u2013 Ben Carson (Cory M. Grant) get interesting.\u00a0 Ben is in town writing his new play for his producer (Kevin Sorbo).\u00a0 With love brewing and financial ruin bubbling around her, Donovan realizes that her identity and self-worth are not defined by what she can accomplish alone.\u00a0 Instead, Donovan \u2013 and her community \u2013 can accomplish more together, which leads her to make choices she may not have before.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"yiv5747809440MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt\"><strong>Mini-Review<\/strong>: Imagine, if you will, that Central Perk (the main hangout in<em> Friends<\/em>) <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt\">opened its doors in Mayberry, N.C. (home of <em>The Andy Griffith <\/em><\/span><em><span style=\"font-size: 10pt\">Sh<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt\"><em>ow<\/em>) and you&#8217;ll have <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt\">some i<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt\">dea of the flavor of <em>Coffee Shop<\/em>. As in both of those classic shows, we are introduced to a cast of likable characters who we wouldn&#8217;t mind hanging out with &#8212; perhaps even on a weekly basis. There are, IMHO, good grounds for serving up a series version. The setting is strong, the youthful cast is attractive and then there&#8217;s Jon Lovitz (a favorite of mine) as the playwright-wannabe banker who holds the coffee shop&#8217;s mortgage. The song <em>Low Fat Latte<\/em> by\u00a0Michael O\u2019Brien and Danny Palmintier (featured in the closing credits) would even go down easy as cool theme song for the show. Plus, it&#8217;s interesting that the lead male character (played by Cory M. Grant) is named Ben Carson. If a certain other Ben Carson actually becomes president, that should provide a source of some humor. Take my word for it. I know. I&#8217;ve heard them all. But I digress. <strong><em>Coffee Shop<\/em> is Recommended.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1410510219129_5914\" class=\"yiv5747809440MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1410510219129_5937\" style=\"font-size: 10.0pt\">Filmed in Birmingham and Fairhope, AL, <i id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1410510219129_5940\"><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1410510219129_5939\" style=\"color: black\">Coffee Shop<\/span><\/i><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1410510219129_5955\" style=\"color: black\"> is <\/span>produced by <\/span><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1410510219129_5913\" style=\"font-size: 10.0pt\">Salt Entertainment in association with Erwin Brothers<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt\"> Entertainment and <\/span><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1410510219129_5931\" style=\"font-size: 10.0pt\">Foxfield Entertainment. It&#8217;s directed and produced by Dave Alan Johnson (<i><span style=\"color: #262626\">Doc, Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #262626\">, <i>High Incident<\/i>) <\/span>from a screenplay by <span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1410510219129_5936\" style=\"color: black\">Theresa Preston and Jon Erwin<\/span>.\u00a0 The <span style=\"color: black\">ensemble cast also <\/span>includes <span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1410510219129_5935\" style=\"color: black\"> Cory M. Grant (<em>Nashville, All My Children<\/em>), Rachel Hendrix (<i>October Baby<\/i>, <i>The Perfect Wave<\/i>) and Jason Burkey (<i>October Baby<\/i>, <i>A Long Way Off<\/i>), with Jon Lovitz (<em>New Girl, Saturday Night Live<\/em>), and Kevin Sorbo<\/span> (<i>God\u2019s Not Dead<\/i>, <em>Hercules: The Legendary Journeys<\/em>).\u00a0 <span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1410510219129_5930\" style=\"color: black\">Popular singer\/songwriter Mandi Mapes, originally from New Orleans and now based in Birmingham, contributes an original song, entitled <em>In Your Arms<\/em>.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"yiv5747809440MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt\"><strong>&#8212;-<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"yiv5747809440MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><span style=\"font-size: 10.0pt\"><strong>A conversation with veteran TV producer Dave Alan Johnson<\/strong><\/span><strong><span style=\"font-size: 10pt\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"yiv5747809440MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>JWK: How did <em>Coffee Shop<\/em> come about?<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>DAVID ALAN JOHNSON: <\/strong><em>Coffee Shop <\/em>was a script that Theresa Preston and Jon Erwin had written.\u00a0 They wrote <a href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2012\/03\/compelling-october-baby-arrives-in-movie-theaters-the-erwin-brothers-talk-about-bringing-the-story-of-a-child-who-survived-an-abortion-to-the-mainstream-movie-audiences.html\"><em>October Baby<\/em><\/a>. I had worked with them on that. This is kind of Theresa&#8217;s baby. As I was doing other work with them they gave me that script and said &#8220;We were thinking about maybe doing this.&#8221; So, I really, really liked it. We worked a lot on the script and, as we were doing it, they said &#8220;You know, maybe you should direct this&#8221; &#8212; because Jon and (his brother) Andy (directors of <em>October Baby<\/em>) were busy doing <em>Moms&#8217; Night Out<\/em>. I said &#8220;You know, I love this script! I would love to direct this!\u00a0 So, that&#8217;s how it all kinda came about. I ended up producing it and they (the Erwin Brothers) are the executive producers. \u00a0 <em><strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>JWK: While the film is debuting this Sunday on UP, I understand it&#8217;s actually already found success on the festival circuit.<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"yiv5747809440MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>DAJ: <\/strong>Yeah. The former CFO of Paramount he is a mutual of somebody. They had a copy of an early cut of the movie and he saw it and he loved it. He said &#8220;Hey I have a film festival in Florida called <a href=\"http:\/\/www.movievillefilmfestival.com\/\">Movieville<\/a> in the Bradenton\/Sarasota area. He said &#8220;I&#8217;d love to have this in the festival!&#8221; So, we said &#8220;Sure! Why not?!&#8221; So, we entered. So, wended up having a standing ovation at our screening. Laura Vandervoort won for Best Actress. I won for Best Director. We were the Audience Favorite and a finalist for the Best Movie. It just kinda happened. I thought &#8220;Oh, that&#8217;s great!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"yiv5747809440MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Then we also actually had a very limited release in Alabama because we shot it all in Alabama (with) with several crowds of like 600. So, maybe 1500 people total and the audience just loved the movie&#8230;There were a lot of laughs all the way through and sniffles and tears &#8212; not from sadness, tears from joy &#8212; and big applause. So, it&#8217;s very gratifying when that happens with an audience.<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><b id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1410510219129_5959\"><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1410510219129_5958\" style=\"font-size: 10.0pt\">\u00a0<strong>JWK: I read that you&#8217;re a big fan of old &#8220;Andy Griffith Show&#8221; &#8212; which is one of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/tv\/blog-post\/ultimate-tv-network-schedule-22854\/\">my all-time favorite shows<\/a> too.<\/strong><\/span><\/b><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1410510219129_5916\" style=\"font-size: 10.0pt\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>DAJ: <\/strong>I am.<\/p>\n<p><b id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1410510219129_5959\"><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1410510219129_5958\" style=\"font-size: 10.0pt\">\u00a0<strong>JWK: <em>Coffee Shop<\/em> seems to share some elements with that &#8212; at least in terms of celebrating small town America.<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p><strong>DAJ:<\/strong> For me <em>The Andy Griffith Show<\/em> is like the greatest show ever made. I&#8217;m always trying to do some of <em>Andy Griffith<\/em> in everything I do. I did a series called <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Doc_%28TV_series%29\"><em>Doc<\/em><\/a> which was on <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ion_Television\">PAX<\/a> with Billy Ray Cyrus. That was very much like <em>Andy Griffith<\/em> goes to the city &#8212; but he&#8217;s a doctor. So, there&#8217;s always elements of those kinds of home spun qualities and characters.<\/p>\n<p>This one is a little less of that although it does take place in a small town and has its own set of quirky characters. But they&#8217;re all young. What we&#8217;re trying to do with Coffee Shop is have it be young and modern and relevant. Something that you never see in culture today &#8212; I mean NEVER see in culture &#8212; is a young, stylish &#8212; in this case &#8212; beautiful, attractive female (who is) strong and independent who also says &#8220;I believe in God.&#8221; You just never get that message.<\/p>\n<p>I have a 27&#8211;year-old daughter. She was born and raised in California by somebody in the movie and TV business. She&#8217;s as hip as the next person but she also happens to love and believe in God &#8212; and it&#8217;s not out of the ordinary. There are many people like that but if you watch most TV (shows) and movies, and culture in general in the US, you never see that combination.\u00a0 We wanted to make sure that we had that in there and people are really responding to that.<\/p>\n<p><b id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1410510219129_5959\"><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1410510219129_5958\" style=\"font-size: 10.0pt\"><strong>JWK: The characters are definitely appealing and I could see them going on in different stories. Is there any chance that a TV series could result?<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p><strong>DAJ:<\/strong> There could be. Laura Vandervoort is the lead&#8230;She&#8217;s just phenomenal in it. She&#8217;s got a series now (<em><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Bitten_%28TV_series%29\">Bitten<\/a>)<\/em> that is actually all over the world.\u00a0 She shoots it in Canada. It plays on Syfy down here. She plays a werewolf &#8212; the last remaining female werewolf. It&#8217;s very different than our movie but Laura is just one of the most delightful people I&#8217;ve ever met and worked with. She&#8217;s just fabulous. So, if she ever became available I would certainly &#8212; and I think the network would &#8212; be open to it. Right now, she&#8217;s not available for another series. She is available for some other movies so if this one does well &#8212; as we hope and believe it will &#8212; I think we&#8217;d all be up for doing a version of <em>Coffee Shop<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><b id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1410510219129_5959\"><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1410510219129_5958\" style=\"font-size: 10.0pt\"><strong>JWK: Speaking of the network &#8212; which is UP &#8212; it sort of reminds me of the old PAX Network on which you produced shows like <em>Doc<\/em> and <em><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sue_Thomas:_F.B.Eye\">Sue Thomas F.B.Eye<\/a><\/em>. Like UP, PAX sought to produce uplifting entertainment programming. PAX, of course, is no longer around. Do you think today&#8217;s market will support a channel that actively goes against the tide of dark programming? It seems to me that the broadcast networks are deep in to dark programming and have all-but-abandoned the idea of uplifting storytelling.<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p><strong>DAJ:<\/strong> The networks have absolutely abandoned it &#8212; for the most part. I think there is definitely a huge place for this. I think UP has just scratched the surface of where they can go. You see Hallmark. They&#8217;ve had great success too over the last few years. UP is even a little bit more sort of not shying away from faith. I really believe that there&#8217;s a big market out there for it.<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;ve seen it with this movie. If you&#8217;re a woman who has beliefs &#8212; you know, believes in God &#8212; and think that&#8217;s a good thing in your life and believe that that matters you never see yourself (on TV). So, to see yourself on this network and have your values not only respected but embraced, it&#8217;s just a no-brainer. I mean there&#8217;s a huge, huge audience there for this. I think, as UP gets known more, people stay. That&#8217;s what we keep finding &#8212; is that people go&#8230;&#8221;Gee, I don&#8217;t (know) that network&#8221; and, as they discover it, then you hear &#8220;Oh, now it&#8217;s one of my favorites! It&#8217;s on my favorites list! I&#8217;m on it all the time!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>I think as they can grow bigger, the programming will continue to (grow even more in quality).\u00a0 On <em>Coffee Shop<\/em> they spent a little bit more money than on some of their other stuff and I think it looks that way. The movie has a fabulous look and feel to it. Success begets success in our world. I think there&#8217;s a chance that we&#8217;ve just seen the very beginning &#8212; the tip of the iceberg &#8212; on UP.<\/p>\n<p><b id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1410510219129_5959\"><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1410510219129_5958\" style=\"font-size: 10.0pt\"><strong>JWK: I&#8217;ve been doing this blog for quite some time now and I think most of the other networks aren&#8217;t understanding how much the young audience wants to see uplifting programming. They&#8217;re tired of being dragged down.<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p><strong>DAJ:<\/strong> Absolutely! The data says that. They do research and polls. Faith is very strong among young people. Now, it may not be the same kind of organized church or religion that other generations have had but the idea of (other) believers and faith and God in their lives is very important to this generation. I know it anecdotally. I have a 25-year-old son and a 27-year-old daughter. So, I know them. I know their friends. I know the world they live in&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><b id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1410510219129_5959\"><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1410510219129_5958\" style=\"font-size: 10.0pt\"><strong>JWK: Speaking of Hallmark, you did a film for them <a href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2013\/11\/mini-review-christmas-with-tucker-tonight-on-hallmark-movie-channel-tucker-star-james-brolin-reflects-on-dogs-family-politics-and-an-eclectic-career.html\">that I enjoyed<\/a> called<em> Christmas with Tucker<\/em>. What was that experience like?<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<iframe title=\"Christmas with Tucker\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/sLkYwQZ32rI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p><strong>DAJ:<\/strong> That was for last Christmas. It was actually on just a year ago. It was a great experience. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Christmas-Tucker-Greg-Kincaid\/dp\/0307589633\">It came from Greg Kincaid&#8217;s book<\/a> &#8212; a sort of small, Christmassy book. He knew my work. He and his agent called and said &#8220;Hey, would you like to do this?&#8221; I said &#8220;Yeah, I like this book and I understand this world. I think this could be a great, kind of classic, Christmas movie. So, I sent it over to Hallmark and they said &#8220;Yeah, we like it&#8221; So, we did it. James Brolin came on board. He had never really done anything like this. He just loved it and had a great experience. How can you go wrong with dogs and Christmas and cute kids?<\/p>\n<p><b id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1410510219129_5959\"><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1410510219129_5958\" style=\"font-size: 10.0pt\"><strong>JWK: It reminded me of classic family shows like <em>Lassie<\/em>. <\/strong><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p><strong>DAJ:<\/strong> Absolutely!<\/p>\n<p><b id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1410510219129_5959\"><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1410510219129_5958\" style=\"font-size: 10.0pt\"><strong>JWK: You don&#8217;t see those kinds of shows anymore.<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p><strong>DAJ:<\/strong> No &#8212; and it&#8217;s too bad. Because every thinks that programming has to be edgy and it has to push the boundaries. That&#8217;s really just not the case.<\/p>\n<p><em>Sue Thomas F.B.Eye<\/em> is an example&#8230;I meet families all the time &#8212; and we get emails from people &#8212; (saying) &#8220;We loved this series! It was our favorite series!&#8221; We have people watching it who weren&#8217;t even alive when it was made&#8230;These are time-tested principles and characters and relationships.\u00a0 If you do quality work with likable characters and humor and heart, there&#8217;s a huge audience out there for it. You don&#8217;t have to push the envelope. There&#8217;s an audience out there for <em>Game of Thrones<\/em> too. Nobody&#8217;s gonna deny it. There&#8217;s an audience out there for things that push other boundaries.\u00a0 No one&#8217;s denying that.\u00a0 But, at the same time, you shouldn&#8217;t deny that there&#8217;s a huge audience out there for stuff that has a bit more &#8212; I guess I would call them &#8212; classic values.<\/p>\n<iframe title=\"Title Scene \/ Theme Song - Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/oSA-rjH-1Xo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p><b id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1410510219129_5959\"><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1410510219129_5958\" style=\"font-size: 10.0pt\"><strong>JWK<\/strong><\/span><\/b><strong><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1410510219129_5958\" style=\"font-size: 10pt\">: <\/span><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1410510219129_5958\" style=\"font-size: 10pt\">Those v<\/span><\/strong><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1410510219129_5958\" style=\"font-size: 10.0pt\"><strong>alues were definitely on view in your other PAX show <em>Doc<\/em> which I watched regularly. I know you were inspired by <em>The Andy Griffith Show<\/em> but I always thought of it as sort<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/McCloud_%28TV_series%29\"><em>McCloud<\/em><\/a> as a doctor.<\/strong> <\/span><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1410510219129_5958\" style=\"font-size: 10.0pt\"><\/span><b id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1410510219129_5959\"><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1410510219129_5958\" style=\"font-size: 10.0pt\"><strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p><strong>DAJ:<\/strong> It was an exact combination of the both of them. I sat down with Jeff Sagansky who was running PAX then. I knew Jeff from CBS. I had done some projects with him and I had written a couple of episodes of Brooklyn Bridge and things&#8230;So, Jeff said &#8220;What do you want to do?&#8221; I said &#8220;Well, I want to do <em>The Andy Griffith Show<\/em> which is what I always want to do.&#8221; He said &#8220;Well, I kinda need it set in a big city.&#8221; I said &#8220;Okay. Well, McCloud&#8217;s kinda been done &#8212; the country sheriff who goes to the big city.&#8221; He sat there for a minute and said &#8220;What about a country doctor?&#8221; I said &#8220;A country doctor who goes to work at a big corporate HMO! I get it! I know how to do that show!&#8221; That was the entire development process for<em> Doc<\/em>.<\/p>\n<iframe title=\"Doc intro\/theme billy ray cyrus doc Stand Still\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7uoTNvV5yvo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p><b id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1410510219129_5959\"><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1410510219129_5958\" style=\"font-size: 10.0pt\"><strong>JWK: <\/strong><\/span><\/b><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1410510219129_5958\" style=\"font-size: 10.0pt\">Why do you think the broadcast networks have pretty much given up on uplifting shows with likable characters &#8212; despite the evidence that people like those shows?<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>DAJ:<\/strong> Because it&#8217;s not where they live. That&#8217;s really the answer. It&#8217;s about &#8220;How does this affect my standing in the club?&#8221; They&#8217;re always sort of trying to make shows that other people will think are cool. So, they&#8217;re always thinking &#8220;Gee! HBO or <em>House of Cards<\/em> is nominated for all these Emmys so we have to push the envelope and we have to go there.&#8221; Yet, when you look, CBS is the one that doesn&#8217;t do that (as much) and they&#8217;re the ones who are doing the best. You look at their big hits, they&#8217;re pretty standard &#8212; kind of classic shows. The <em>NCIS<\/em>es of the world, even <em>CSI<\/em> to some extent. So, you watch what they&#8217;re succeeding with and you look at shows like <em>American Idol<\/em> or <em>The Voice<\/em>. Those shows are just classic Americana shows. They don&#8217;t push any envelopes&#8230;<em>American Ido<\/em>l tried to push the envelope a few seasons ago and then their viewership dropped.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s kind of one of those baffling things in life. They sort of refuse to look at what&#8217;s right in front of them &#8212; but it&#8217;s what gives a place like UP the chance to come in and own that audience and they are starting to do that.<\/p>\n<p><span id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1410510219129_5946\" style=\"font-size: 10.0pt\"><\/span><em>Encourage one another and build each other up \u2013 <\/em><strong>1 Thessalonians 5:11<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here\u2019s today\u2019s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture. Coffee Shop is a warm, tasty blend of humor and romance.\u00a0 The film airs this Sunday (\/9\/14) @ 8:00 PM (ET) on UP TV. Synopsis (per UP): Coffee Shop is the story of Donavan Turner (Laura Vandervoort), a smart, independent, twenty-something woman looking for&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":225,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,13,16,24,31,1],"tags":[35,7354,7350,7228,7339,7338,7349,7345,7334,7343,7344,6143,7347,2529,7353,7336,7337,3661,7357,7335,7341,7358,7355,2437,7351,7342,7356,7346,7340,7352,7348,7333],"class_list":["post-5489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-family-matters","category-humor","category-movies","category-television","category-uncategorized","tag-1-thessalonians-511","tag-a-long-way-off","tag-all-my-children","tag-ben-carson","tag-central-perk-the-main-hangout-in-friends","tag-cory-m-grant","tag-cory-m-grant-nashville","tag-dave-alan-johnson-doc","tag-directorproducer-dave-alan-johnson","tag-erwin-brothers-entertainment","tag-foxfield-entertainment","tag-hercules-the-legendary-journeys","tag-high-incident","tag-jason-burkey","tag-jason-burkey-october-baby","tag-jon-lovitz","tag-josh-ventura","tag-kevin-sorbo","tag-kevin-sorbo-gods-not-dead","tag-laura-vandervoort","tag-low-fat-latte-by-michael-obrien-and-danny-palmintier","tag-mandi-mapes-in-your-arms","tag-on-lovitz-new-girl","tag-rachel-hendrix","tag-rachel-hendrix-october-baby","tag-salt-entertainment","tag-saturday-night-live","tag-sue-thomas-f-b-eye","tag-the-andy-griffith-show","tag-the-perfect-wave","tag-theresa-preston-and-jon-erwin","tag-ups-coffee-shop"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>&quot;Mayberry&quot; meets &quot;Friends&quot; at UP&#039;s &quot;Coffee Shop&quot; + For Producer\/Director Dave Alan Johnson &quot;heart&quot; beats &quot;edge&quot;<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2014\/09\/mayberry-meets-friends-at-ups-coffee-shop-for-producerdirector-dave-alan-johnson-heart-beats-edge.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"&quot;Mayberry&quot; meets &quot;Friends&quot; at UP&#039;s &quot;Coffee Shop&quot; + For Producer\/Director Dave Alan Johnson &quot;heart&quot; beats &quot;edge&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here\u2019s today\u2019s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture. Coffee Shop is a warm, tasty blend of humor and romance.\u00a0 The film airs this Sunday (\/9\/14) @ 8:00 PM (ET) on UP TV. Synopsis (per UP): Coffee Shop is the story of Donavan Turner (Laura Vandervoort), a smart, independent, twenty-something woman looking for&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2014\/09\/mayberry-meets-friends-at-ups-coffee-shop-for-producerdirector-dave-alan-johnson-heart-beats-edge.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Faith, Media &amp; Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-09-12T16:48:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-09-12T18:17:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John W. Kennedy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\"Mayberry\" meets \"Friends\" at UP's \"Coffee Shop\" + For Producer\/Director Dave Alan Johnson \"heart\" beats \"edge\"","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2014\/09\/mayberry-meets-friends-at-ups-coffee-shop-for-producerdirector-dave-alan-johnson-heart-beats-edge.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\"Mayberry\" meets \"Friends\" at UP's \"Coffee Shop\" + For Producer\/Director Dave Alan Johnson \"heart\" beats \"edge\"","og_description":"Here\u2019s today\u2019s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture. Coffee Shop is a warm, tasty blend of humor and romance.\u00a0 The film airs this Sunday (\/9\/14) @ 8:00 PM (ET) on UP TV. Synopsis (per UP): Coffee Shop is the story of Donavan Turner (Laura Vandervoort), a smart, independent, twenty-something woman looking for&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2014\/09\/mayberry-meets-friends-at-ups-coffee-shop-for-producerdirector-dave-alan-johnson-heart-beats-edge.html","og_site_name":"Faith, Media &amp; Culture","article_published_time":"2014-09-12T16:48:49+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-09-12T18:17:09+00:00","author":"John W. Kennedy","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2014\/09\/mayberry-meets-friends-at-ups-coffee-shop-for-producerdirector-dave-alan-johnson-heart-beats-edge.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2014\/09\/mayberry-meets-friends-at-ups-coffee-shop-for-producerdirector-dave-alan-johnson-heart-beats-edge.html","name":"\"Mayberry\" meets \"Friends\" at UP's \"Coffee Shop\" + For Producer\/Director Dave Alan Johnson \"heart\" beats \"edge\"","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-09-12T16:48:49+00:00","dateModified":"2014-09-12T18:17:09+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/e5d5ef9caeb6b01bcbf08ca6de6591c2"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2014\/09\/mayberry-meets-friends-at-ups-coffee-shop-for-producerdirector-dave-alan-johnson-heart-beats-edge.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2014\/09\/mayberry-meets-friends-at-ups-coffee-shop-for-producerdirector-dave-alan-johnson-heart-beats-edge.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2014\/09\/mayberry-meets-friends-at-ups-coffee-shop-for-producerdirector-dave-alan-johnson-heart-beats-edge.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"&#8220;Mayberry&#8221; meets &#8220;Friends&#8221; at UP&#8217;s &#8220;Coffee Shop&#8221; + For Producer\/Director Dave Alan Johnson &#8220;heart&#8221; beats &#8220;edge&#8221;"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/","name":"Faith, Media &amp; Culture","description":"Beliefnet Voices - John W. Kennedy","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/e5d5ef9caeb6b01bcbf08ca6de6591c2","name":"John W. Kennedy","description":"John W. Kennedy is the founder and Dir. of Development of The Creative Universe Entertainment\u2122, a media consultation and development company focusing on the creation, development and support of high-quality mainstream entertainment that upholds positive timeless values, including trust in God. Current projects include \"Bryant Park\" (an uplifting romantic-comedy) and \"Photo Finish\" (an award-winning sci-fi TV pilot). He has written over 100 children's novels based on episodes of the Cartoon Network series \"Ben 10\", \"Ben 10: Alien Force\", \"Ben 10: Ultimate Alien\", \"Ben 10: Omniverse\" and \"Generator Rex\" among others. He also writes Beliefnet\u2019s \"Faith, Media &amp; Culture\" blog. Previously, he has produced successful news and talk programming for CNN, Fox News, Pax TV and SiriusXM. Specialties: Script Writing, Movie\/TV Novelizations &amp; Adaptations, TV Content Creation and Development, Creative Consultation, Producing and Booking News and Talk shows. He can be reached for writing, producing and consulting services at 516-640-1182.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/author\/jkennedy"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/225"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5489"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5500,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5489\/revisions\/5500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}