God Friended Me series cut short by pandemic
You have questions. I have some answers.
Q: I did not understand the ending of God Friended Me. Did Miles die and go to be with his mother? What was that? “Follow me. She’s been waiting for you”? Who is she?
A: A lot of folks have written to me about that series finale, where Miles ended up reflecting about his faith on a mountaintop and being called to a meeting with an unnamed but apparently spiritual “she.” It was not an unambiguous explanation of the God account that some viewers likely wanted, but something more complicated.
And complicated to make, since it started out as a season finale, only to be recrafted as a series ending when the show was going to be cancelled — and the process hastened when the coronavirus epidemic led to a shutdown of production sooner than planned.
For example, the mountaintop scene had been shot but not included in a previous episode, executive producer Steven Lilien told Deadine.com, and a montage of scenes from previous episodes was added to set up the ending. But in terms of resolving things, the show is about what executive producer Bryan Wynbrandt called “the mystery of our own humanity and the mystery of where we come from and what guides us” in Parade magazine. The show was not about answers, then, but about “getting Miles to the place where he was ready to hear an answer, because he wasn’t ready for so long,” Wynbrandt said. “Whatever that answer is, was less important than the journey to get there.”
Q: I am writing to ask if the recent Blue Bloods finale was the season finale, meaning it will return next season, or it is the series finale, meaning the show is no more. We were introduced to a new member of the family, so it seems like a good intro into another season.
A: And we will see where that goes, since CBS has picked up Blue Bloods for another season.
Q: My friends and I love the show “SEAL Team.” We feel it is the one military show that is so realistic to what occurs emotionally and physically within the military. Are the rumors true that this show is coming to an end?
A: No. CBS has also ordered another season of that drama.
In fact, CBS has announced renewals of 23 shows. Q: Can you tell me if another season of Sneaky Pete is coming? It’s a fun series.
A: The Amazon show starring Giovanni Ribisi has ended after three seasons.
Q: I recall watching a show in my youth called Topper, about two ghosts, Marion and George Kerby, who helped out the fellow that they were “haunting.” Can you tell me when it was on and who the actors were?
A: The series Topper originally aired on CBS from 1953-55, with enough fans that ABC and NBC soon after repeated it in prime time. Anne Jeffreys and Robert Sterling were the ghostly Kerbys, and Leo G. Carroll was Cosmo Topper, a banker whom the Kerbys try to help. But that is neither the beginning nor the end of Topper. Thorne Smith created the characters for a pair of novels. Then came a 1937 movie called Topper, which starred Constance Bennett and Cary Grant as the Kerbys and Roland Young as Cosmo. Young and Bennett (but not Grant) reprised their roles in Topper Takes A Trip (1939) and Young was Cosmo once more in Topper Returns (1941). Young also gave voice to his character in The Adventures of Topper, a radio series.
Then, in a 1979 TV-movie Topper, Jack Warden was Cosmo while Kate Jackson and Andrew Stevens were the Kerbys.