The Book of Daniel The Complete Series
December 2006 Reviewed by: Rad Bennett Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

Again, DVD provides an opportunity to view a television show that NBC dropped before it ever got going. Yes, they canceled Homicide and Boomtown, but at least those shows had a season or more to establish success. The Book of Daniel aired for only three episodes! There were four in the can, so the DVD set provides us with a total of seven.

Why so hasty a withdrawal? Here is the story. The show would involve an Episcopal priest who has a gay son, a daughter dealing pot, an adopted Asian son who is a womanizer -- a family that often strays from the path. Moreover the priest sees and talks to Jesus (Garret Dillahunt), who is a recurring character. When word about the content of the show got out, several NBC affiliates, pressured by viewers, dropped it. Finally, enough refused to show it that advertisers pulled out, leaving NBC the choice of swallowing an enormous financial loss or pulling out. It chose the latter course of action.

So, it was really those noisy potential viewers who pulled the plug. I say potential, because they scarcely had time to see an episode, much less two or three. This sort of thing happened with The Da Vinci Code, which was picketed by the so-called Christian audience who proclaimed it evil. They did so without ever having seen the movie, and that is the case here. Without seeing the show, these people proclaimed it "anti-Christian." How myopic. For in fact, there has seldom been such a pro Christian show on the air.

Sure, Daniel Webster (Aidan Quinn) has to deal with all the problems mentioned above. In the first episode his daughter Grace (Alison Pill) has been caught dealing pot, but we discover she doesn’t use it herself and was trying to raise money to get computer programs to further her talent as a animé artist. Peter, a med student, is gay, but looks and acts just like the kid next door, and Adam (Ivan Shaw) turns out to be monogamous. The point is that all of these characters are flawed, but lovable for that. They seem very real and very loving. They deal with each serio-comic situation by using faith in their higher powers, which in their case are God and Jesus Christ. That Jesus appears to Webster seems entirely appropriate because in the Christian mythos, Jesus became a man to better carry God’s message to humankind. His appearances are never treated irreverently or as a sideshow. The closest to humor that Jesus comes is this: when asked for help with a sermon he says, "I was better with one liners. But you can quote me." The show overall is warm, witty, and on the mark regarding contemporary issues and how they might be handled with love.

The DVD picture is like a window to the world, with natural color and sharp focus. The sound is very good. The show is mostly comprised of witty dialogue and the soundtrack serves it well. There is a little atmospheric surround but it never calls attention to itself, enhancing the action on screen rather than distracting from it. The only extras are deleted scenes from five episodes, but at least we have the whole series, which is more than NBC gave us.

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