Turner Classic Movies recently debuted a documentary entitled Thou Shalt Not Sin. The documentary examines pre-Code films and representations of bodies, sex, and sexuality and the changes in this representation in light of the Production Code. TCM offers this description: Over seventy years later, they’ve lost none of their power to shock, entertain, and titillate. [...]

Happy Super Sunday! Super Bowl Sunday is the high holy day of American Civil Religion, bordering on holiday status. I often joke that if I were elected president, I would make the Monday following the Super Bowl a national holiday. Want to write me in? Theologians and scholars of religion have paid increasing attention to [...]

I have wanted to write about the HBO crime drama series, The Wire, for quite some time now. However, I have been unable to focus on any single point of spiritual entry into a series with such an unimaginable wealth of rich characters and complex scenarios on which to reflect. I also find it difficult [...]

Whoever says there’s nothing good on television must not have a DVD player, a local video store, or access to HBO. Between multiple seasons of The Wire and Extras available on DVD, the writers’ strike be damned. Hot on the heels of their wildly successful, critically acclaimed series, The Office, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant [...]

With my last day and a half turning into something of a wash, the last session I attended was a Sunday morning panel sonsored by the ethics section entitled Hooray for Hollywood? Ethics and Entertainment. The session was presided by Elijah Siegler from the College of Charleston, and the panelists included Barbara Barnett from the [...]

The second session I attended was also sponsored by the Religion, Media, and Culture Group and was entitled Sleeper Cell: Viewing Religion, Race, and Terrorism in a Post-9/11 World. The session focused on the Showtime original series, Sleeper Cell, that ran for two seasons from 2005-2006, and the panelists included Kamran Pasha, one of the [...]

NBC just keeps the hits rolling. Returning prime time successes include the aforementioned Friday Night Lights, The Office, and My Name is Earl. However, along with FNL, NBC’s Heroes turned out to be one of my favorite programs and a suprise hit last season. As the new fall TV lineup descends upon us with a [...]

One of my favorite television programs from last season is Friday Night Lights. Despite poor ratings, but thanks to much critical acclaim, NBC has decided to bring back this high school football drama, and I could not be more thankful. Bill Simmons, one of the more entertaining sports journalists of today, has a great article [...]

The death toll of suicide bombers and the weekly body count/injury report of the war in Iraq has become the soundtrack to the majority of news reports over the past five years. While we are almost daily informed of death or injury, we do not hear the details of these tragedies. The church I have [...]

The new television season is fast approaching. Week one of the NFL is nearly in the books, so along with the anticipation of Sundays and Monday nights, I am looking forward to a host of new and returning programs like Heroes, Friday Night Lights, Bionic Woman, Pushing Daisies, and Lost to name a few. However, [...]