"The Bible" Premieres Tonight on History

[GeoBQn]

The first part of a 10 hour miniseries of the entire Bible premieres tonight on the History Channel. The producer is Mark Burnett (of reality television fame) and his wife Roma Downey (of Touched By An Angel fame). Burnett is convinced that this will be the most successful thing he ever made. I'm not so convinced.

The most recognizable face to most in North America will be Downey herself, who stepped into the role of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Mary is portrayed in the series as a young woman at the Nativity, then later in life.

Roma Downey is 51 years old, but she'll be playing Mary when she is 14?

They took many artistic liberties to compress the story lines while hoping to remain true to the story. A public relations manager for the project described the liberties to me as “extra-biblical but not contra-biblical.†For instance, in the series opener, the Book of Genesis stories of Adam and Eve and Noah unfold together. Noah and his family are already on the ark while the flood waters batter their boat. To calm his family, Noah tells them the story of creation: “In the beginning! ... †Noah bellows as he runs around plugging leaks and comforting his family and the animals. Similarly, in the story of David and Goliath, when David heads out to face the giant Philistine foe, he clutches his sling and quietly begins to recite the 23rd Psalm, “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil.†David is considered the author of the psalm, but nowhere in the text of the David and Goliath story does it address what he said as he walked out to battle and slay Goliath. The dialogue in much of the story is similarly constructed along the lines of the bare-bones text. When Jesus calls Peter to be his disciple, Peter asks, “What are we going to do?†Jesus answers, “We’re going to change the world.†Those lines never appear in the Gospel accounts, but Burnett and Downey insist it is consistent with the text.

Just what the Bible needs--in media res storytelling. And the bolded part sounds entertaining for all the wrong reasons.

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/03/0 ... ?hpt=hp_c1

[lilwriter85]

I agree with you GeoBQQn, I also don't think it will get the success that Burnett is hoping for. I also think the History Channel will regret this. It won't have the success that their Hatfields and McCoys mini-series had.

[GeoBQn]

It's not that it's impossible to make a good movie based on the Bible, but I think it could only be through focusing on one story told with careful attention to character and emotion--like any great movie. When movies have tried to take on the entire Bible, the scope of it means that those elements are usually sacrificed.

[ladyaudley]

Roma Downey is 51 years old, but she'll be playing Mary when she is 14?

she looks amazing for 51!

[Anxious Girl]

I really wish that there was a documentary that explained the history of the Bible without a religious bias, explaining what was true, what was exagerrated, what was based on earlier myths and the real life people that were in/inspired the characters in the Bible and what was false. But I could only dream. :cry: History Channel is really hitting the fan.

[lilwriter85]

I really wish that there was a documentary that explained the history of the Bible without a religious bias, explaining what was true, what was exagerrated, what was based on earlier myths and the real life people that were in/inspired the characters in the Bible and what was false. But I could only dream. :cry: History Channel is really hitting the fan.

That is something I also wish for. I have watched a few religious biased documentaries about the Bible before. I think there is a chance some filmmakers would do a documentary like that.

[GeoBQn]

AV Club gives the first installment a C-.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-bible,92959/

[Buzzard]

The very first scream fails!

THIS PROGRAM IS AN ADAPTATION

OF BIBLE STORIES. IT ENDEAVORS

TO STAY TRUE TO THE SPIRIT OF THE BOOK

SOME SCENES CONTAIN VIOLENCE

VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED

Spacing and punctuation is as it was posted.

"Endeavors?" I guess its better than "purposed"...

eta - why does Noah have a scottish accent?

[ceg045]

More interested in "Vikings," which comes on after.

[VooDooChild]

The very first scream fails!

Spacing and punctuation is as it was posted.

"Endeavors?" I guess its better than "purposed"...

eta - why does Noah have a scottish accent?

:lol: Mr. VoodooChild wondered the same.

It's melodramatic and cheesy. Mr. VDC is hooked for the snark value. :lol:

[Full enough quiver]

What are we going to do tonight? The same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world! That's what I thought of when I saw the Peter/Jesus conversation. Haven't decided yet if I'm going to watch it. My husband is religious, so we probably will. My commentary will drive him as nuts as it did during the republican convention. There will be profanity, I'm sure.

[Bethella]

I turned it on in the middle but after about 5 minutes I just had to turn it off. Good God was that bad!

[Mom23Girls]

From Nathan Lawrensons facebook

Amazingly enough, there were more Biblical inaccuracies in that 30 second Catholic commercial than in this Hollywood #TheBible series so far...

So now he's dissing Catholics... I've gotten into it with him about the many innaccuracies in this movie, the things they are skipping, details they are adding. He thinks it's just fine apparently but as someone who has read the Bible a few times over it's really annoying me. I can see them skipping some things due to time constraints but this is beyond that, they are adding things that haven't even happened...

Wonder how long it'll be before he blocks me.

(didn't know if I should put this in the Nathan section or the Bible story section)

[Buzzard]

What part of this is "hollywood?" Um... none!

[LainieR]

That was HILARIOUS! My headship is convinced that the actor that played Pharaoh got the part on his ability to say "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" :lol:

[Buzzard]

More interested in "Vikings," which comes on after.

Has doug phillips is a tool been a viking yet?

[ceg045]

Has doug phillips is a tool been a viking yet?

Not The Tool per se, but tool-esque male fundies nonetheless...

therebelution.com/blog/2005/10/a-lesson-from-the-vikings-do-hard-things™/

[Anxious Girl]

What are we going to do tonight? The same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world! [snip] :lol:

[sarahbrownie]

I really wish that there was a documentary that explained the history of the Bible without a religious bias, explaining what was true, what was exagerrated, what was based on earlier myths and the real life people that were in/inspired the characters in the Bible and what was false. But I could only dream. :cry: History Channel is really hitting the fan.

Agreed. My mind was blown that the story of passover likely happened in Canaan and not Egypt. That's the doc I wanna see. But in all honesty, there are tons of debating bible specials on History channel. I'm just amazed that they're doing this at length.

[miffy]

From Nathan Lawrensons facebook

So now he's dissing Catholics... I've gotten into it with him about the many innaccuracies in this movie, the things they are skipping, details they are adding. He thinks it's just fine apparently but as someone who has read the Bible a few times over it's really annoying me. I can see them skipping some things due to time constraints but this is beyond that, they are adding things that haven't even happened...

Wonder how long it'll be before he blocks me.

(didn't know if I should put this in the Nathan section or the Bible story section)

Roma Downey is VERY Catholic & I think her husband probably is too. :lol:

[miffy]

I won't lie, i'm a sucker for this kind of thing. I loved Touched By An Angel! It along with 7th Heaven were two of my favourite shows as an older child/teenager. :lol:

I think a movie based on the book of Enoch would be good.

[FloraDoraDolly]

I didn't watch it but a FB friend (who is a Lutheran minister) was snarking on it, as were some of her congregants.

[darkplumaged]

Not The Tool per se, but tool-esque male fundies nonetheless...

therebelution.com/blog/2005/10/a-lesson-from-the-vikings-do-hard-things™/

Dougie took this to mean that he was supposed to do a hard Viking.

[FeministShrew]

Some of my fundie FB friends were watching & posting play-by plays :

"them angels were some bad dudes"

"They knew the ancient art of buttkickery"

"those effects in the red sea were fantastic"

[amers]

I couldn't get past the accents. I am going to try and finish it, but these was just something so off about it. I mean, in this day and age, you couldn't even TRY to use the proper accents? It's like the people who made it were like "I know this happened in Egypt, but I think it will really resonate better if they sound Scottish." Seriously.