Missio Dei Suburbia

Driscoll on CNN

The Mark Driscoll national media tour continues - NYT Magazine, Nightline and now he's on CNN this weekend with comedian DL Hughley.

What I liked about this exchange is that Mark was able to take a dude who's going to approach a topic like sex flippantly and get his respect and open the door to a conversation about Jesus. If DL was living in Seattle, I'd lay money that he'd be sitting in one of the Mars Hill worship gatherings this weekend.

Who Made Who?

Not just a great AC/DC song...Colbert and Stewart vs. Conan.

24 Season 7 Trailer

Jack Bauer v. Red Foreman...sweet.

24 and Torture

Jane Mayer writes on the politics of 24 in the New Yorker. It's rather critical of the conservative leanings of the show - particular in the perceived pragmatism that gives our hero Jack Bauer the green light to use violence and torture for the cause of the common good.

So where should we come down biblically on political utilitarianism? Should we be more bothered by some of the things we've seen that have taken place in Iraq? Should we give 24 a free pass just because it's well acted and Jack Bauer is the new Chuck Norris?

Studio 60 and the Crazy Christians

Television has been knocked around pretty good in most Christian circles for a good while, thanks to books like Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death as well as countless warnings from Ft. Dobson and any number of watchdog organizations who constantly remind us that people not like us are trying to brainwash us.

Truth be told, alot of Postman's stuff is legit and if you can wade through the apocalyptic nature of much of what passes for 'upholding family values', there actually is some truth to what we're hearing about the lunacy of television.

So my interest was peaked when I read a quote by Alan Sorkin, discussing the opening sequence to the pilot of his new series on NBC, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, which communicates 'how TV has failed society.'

Early in the episode, the producer of the fictional sketch-comedy show (played by veteran actor Judd Hirsch), fires off the following tirade:

This is not going to be a very good show tonight. And I think you should change the channel...Better yet, turn off the TV. I know it seems like this is supposed to be funny. But tomorrow you're oging to find out that it wasn't, and by that time I will have been fired...

This show used to be cutting-edge political and social satire, but it's gotten lobotomized by a candy-assed broadcast network hellbent on doing nothing that might challenge their audience...We're all being lobotomized by this country's most influential industry, that's just thrown in the towel on doing anything that doesn't include the courting of 12-year old boys...

There's always been a struggle between art and commerce. But  now I'm telling you art is getting its ass kicked. And it's making us mean...It's making us cheap punks. People are having contests to see how much they can be like Donald Trump. We're eating worms for money...Guys are getting killed in a war that's got theme music and a logo. That remote in your hand is a crack pipe. We're pornographers. And it's not even good pornography...just this side of snuff films. And, friends, that's what's next. Because that's all that's left.

Now interestingly enough, the reason that Hirsch's character fires off that salvo is because a network censor cuts out a skit entitled 'Crazy Christians,' fearing the power of a potential boycott. The skit becomes a recurring undercurrent of the episode, that also introduces us to a major character who is an evangelical Christian and just broke up with her boyfriend (the guy who wrote the 'Crazy Christian' skit) because she had appeared on Pat Robertson's 700 Club (the boyfriend - played by Matthew Perry of Friends - calls Robertson a 'bigot,' which is actually kind of funny given the rather obvious intolerance of Robertson's accuser).

Now I'm pretty sure that Sorkin will screw this up (I'm not a huge fan - I thought that The West Wing was a rather pompous show, but that just might be because Martin Sheen comes off as remarkably pompous) but I'll give him this: he has the guts to put the issue on the table.

Here's the question I've been thinking about this afternoon: what does it look like for Christians to renew culture within the television media? Is it redeemable and worth investing in, or should we just trade in our flat-screens and boycott the small screen?

Good Evening, Godless Sodomites...

24 Stuff

Several weeks ago, I posted a couple of things about a blog post that Mark Driscoll did asking if at least some of the success of the TV show 24 has to do with similarities between Jack Bauer and Jesus. Some people laughed, some people used it as further kindling to fire shots at Driscoll, others saw at least some commonality between Bauer and Christ. I don't know of anyone who would fully equate Jack with Jesus, but the man behind everyone's favorite crime fighter certainly needs Jesus (NOTE: Rolling Stone isn't a Christian publication, so we don't expect them to hold to certain standards of language and content. There is some language and content that might embarass your mama, so proceed with fair warning).

I also saw this today - at least someone at the Heritage Foundation has a nose for marketing.

24 Season Five: 7:00-8:00pm

To satisfy all of you 24-philes out there who have called and e-mailed about last night's episode:

The Wonderful World of Television

So the fine folks over at the Parent's Television Council have  named their 10 best and worst television shows for family viewing. Outside of the fact that some of you (and you know who you are) will be horrified to know that Desperate Housewives is on the 10 Worst list, the question I'm interested in hearing some feedback on is this: what makes a television show 'good' or 'bad?' For those of you who think television is the medium of the antichrist, here is your opportunity to rant as well...

Click on the 'comments' link and fire away...