{"id":1662,"date":"2008-01-30T11:00:52","date_gmt":"2008-01-30T11:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/idolchatter\/2008\/01\/abcs-eli-stone-makes-faith-loo.html"},"modified":"2008-01-30T11:00:52","modified_gmt":"2008-01-30T11:00:52","slug":"abcs-eli-stone-makes-faith-loo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2008\/01\/abcs-eli-stone-makes-faith-loo.html","title":{"rendered":"ABC’s Eli Stone Makes Faith Look Easy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"elistone.jpg\"In 2001\u2019s \u201cJoan of Arcadia<\/a>\u201d God appeared to a small-town teen disguised as a cute boy, a cafeteria lady and other random citizens. In \u201cSaving Grace<\/a>,\u201d a beer-sipping angel with a Nashville twang pops in on an Oklahoma City detective. In \u201cEli Stone,\u201d the new dramedy<\/a>that debuts Friday night on ABC, the messenger of the divine is George Michael. It\u2019s him, by George, standing on a coffee table, bleached by heavenly white light, crooning his tune \u201cFaith\u201d to nudge the hotshot corporate lawyer of the title into helping a poor autistic kid sue a drug company. The appearance of the slightly grizzled singer is funny in a postmodern, post-TV generation sort of way, and that pretty much describes this latest attempt to give God his own TV series.<\/p>\n


\nOn one level, \u201cEli Stone\u201d operates as a legal drama, with inspiring summations and surprise witnesses, but the title character, played by Jonny Lee Miller, has a problem: he\u2019s having visions. Whether you believe that his neurologist brother that his underlying problem is a medical condition or a tap from the divine, as Eli\u2019s acupuncturist tells him, the visions subside only when he takes on do-gooder cases. This scenario is a provocative answer to those who demand that God be a kink in our biology or a supernatural reality. Eli\u2019s visions, it seems, are both.
\nThe George Michael scene, however, spells trouble. If you\u2019re a religion-and-culture geek, you know that, try as you might to use it as a data point, the tune resists religious interpretations. (\u201cI guess it would be nice\/If I could touch your body\u201d is not a reference to St. Thomas encountering the risen Christ.) The fact that \u201cEli Stone\u201d plants it as the fulcrum of its premiere show indicates a lazy blurring that pervades the show\u2019s theological and social points. While we\u2019re supposed to understand that Eli is being called as a prophet, he\u2019s really only following his conscience.
\nAnd while Eli scores a big win for the autistic kid against the pharmaceutical company who made a bad vaccine, the jury is still out, so to speak, on what causes autism, and real-life pediatricians are protesting <\/a>that the show may cause parents to avoid needed vaccinations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 2001\u2019s \u201cJoan of Arcadia\u201d God appeared to a small-town teen disguised as a cute boy, a cafeteria lady and other random citizens. In \u201cSaving Grace,\u201d a beer-sipping angel with a Nashville twang pops in on an Oklahoma City detective. 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