TV comedy follows reporter living by biblical rules
New show about man who tries to live according to the Bible is not trying to cause offence, its creator says
In the beginning, Patrick Walsh created the new CBS comedy Living Biblically, and he’s convinced it’s good. His creation, premièring Monday night at 9:30, follows Chip Curry (Jay R. Ferguson), a reporter who decides he’s going to live his life according to the Bible. His spiritual journey toward a more moral life will take some help from his wife, friends, a priest (Ian Gomez) and a rabbi (David Krumholtz).
Walsh tells TV critics that he knows not everyone will be a believer that a TV comedy based on the Bible is a good idea.
“I don’t think there is any scenario where the show wouldn’t bother someone in the world,” Walsh says. “But it is absolutely not the goal. And even those of us who aren’t religious I think have a great deal of respect for religion and what it’s trying to do.”
In doing his research, Walsh discovered that 84 per cent of the world’s population align themselves with some form of religion. But, the only time he can recall any discussion is either when it is being harshly criticized or sanitized to the point those of religious faith can’t recognize the message.
The main goal for Walsh is never to offend people of faith because that would not bode well for the future of the show.
“I have a great deal of respect for them. I think people need guidance and help in their life, much like Chip does in our show, and it helps a lot of people, and we hope that we treat it fairly and with respect,” Walsh says.
Even before he did his research, Walsh had a solid understanding of religion. He says he was “raised very religious,” but recalls how his father would tell him that as soon as Communion was done, they needed to get out of the church to beat the rush. So he grew up with the idea that religion is very important, but there’s no reason to spend an excessive amount of time in church.
Walsh is convinced many viewers will be able to relate to that way of thinking and find it funny.
“I think religious people are not given credit for having a sense of humour, and I think non-believers are not given credit for being curious about religion and want to know more about it,” Walsh says. “We get into some pretty interesting topics on this show, and that is a goal, to serve an underserved audience, I think.”
It seems the networks had the same thoughts. The show was offered to the four major networks and all of them wanted the show. Walsh had just finished a successful run with CBS with his series Two Broke Girls.
Walsh isn’t alone on his journey. Big Bang Theory actor Johnny Galecki is an executive producer on Living Biblically. He has done his own research and discovered that more than 100 million Bibles are printed annually and 25 per cent of them are bought in the United States.
Despite those numbers, he’s never seen anybody at Starbucks reading one, he says.
“It’s almost like there is a shame that you don’t have all the answers if you are religious and then a fear that because it’s such a personal sacred ingredient to each of us, it’s difficult to articulate, and there is a fear that you’ll be misunderstood and, therefore, judged,” Galecki says.
“And even more so, a fear that you may offend someone else’s beliefs who might be within earshot.
“So as we all know, the best way to approach a conversation that people are uncomfortable with is with comedy, and that’s our goal here. One, to make people laugh, and, two, to hopefully inspire a conversation around the water cooler that people might have otherwise been uncomfortable with, no matter what the result of that conversation.”
It’s obvious Galecki has given the topic a lot of thought. He explains when he started his production company, the top item on his list was to try to make a comedy about religion.
His producing partner, Andrew Haas, called his attention to the A.J. Jacobs book The Year of Living Biblically. Galecki decided that would be a good place to start for a series.
Galecki’s been around religion all his life, as his mother spent years in the convent before she met his father. There were a lot of elements of Catholicism in his life, and he says he became a “hippie Catholic” where he would sit around playing guitar.
“I don’t want to stamp my beliefs or my history as some sort of example of what we’re trying to do here,” Galecki says.
“I’ll say there is a number of people involved with the show who are devout in their beliefs, and we do have consultants of the cloth who keep us broadly accurate.” Those experts are a priest and a rabbi who read every script to make sure the comedy is coming from actual religious teachings from the Bible.
If Living Biblically survives to get to a second season, Walsh would like to add more consultants to give the show multiple points of view.
In the first season, Curry will visit a Baptist church and his wife is a nonbeliever. Both will spawn topics of comedic discussion.
The main thing Walsh and Galecki want is for people to watch the show before they make a judgment.
They saw online reporting before the first show aired condemning the show for making fun of religion. They plan to have fun with the topic, but in a reverent way.