Best American TV Shows With a Religious or Spiritual Premise/SettingBy Raymond Lockley
While the U.S. is no longer necessarily a religious country, it is still
populated by a spiritual people (albeit with very diverse views). One of
the most comprehensive studies I've seen said that 92% of Americans believe
in some form of God or "higher power". Because there is no large bloc of
theological agreement, there has not been much of a viewing demographic
that has supported a long-term, blockbuster spiritually-oriented TV program
(the way some legal drama franchises have had), religion has been a
central premise and/or setting of many television productions.
What I found I was most most interested in was compiling a list of shows
that chose religion (broadly defined) as the dominant theme, which were
produced for the purpose of entertaining their viewers--that is, not a talk
show about religion (e.g.
"The 700 Club")
or a broadcasting of a religious service (e.g.
"The Hour of Power"),
though not necessarily fiction either.
And to be clear, the spiritual component needs to be the primary
premise, not just a show that often incorporates relgious themes or
questions (as
"The Simpsons"
often does),
or that just has as characters a pastor and a church-going family (like
"Little House on the Prairie").
It should also go without saying that I did not review (or watch) any
show which would be considered triumphalist or chauvinist with respect to
religion (although some of them perhaps presume a Christian audience).
Criteria:
My list includes only American shows; and unfortunately, it
includes only shows in English--a reflection of my own knowledge and
cultural biases, not a reflection on the quality of shows done in
languages other than English. Also, since I'm interested in shows
which have had something of an impact on American culture or conversation,
my list of the best shows includes only series which originally aired for
more than one season (and thus no Christmas specials).
[Unfortunately, that also means I'm leaving out the brilliant BBC hit,
"The Vicar of Dibley".]
So without further prelude, here's my arbitrary list of the best American
TV entertainment shows with a religious or spiritual premise:
Honorable mentionThere have been many other shows in which religiosity may have been somewhat less central, where the quality just was not that good, or which were only on for one season. Here is an alphabetical list of a few others which fit the theme of the list, but didn't qualify for the list of the "best":
Honourable mentionTwo of my favorite shows with a religious theme don't qualify because they are British, not American... but it's my list page; so here they are:
Dead people whisperersOkay, I know talking to dead people doesn't necessarily have anything to do with religion. But the premise cracks me up, and so I had to mention these shows somewhere:
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