‘God’ likely to be unfriended by viewers
Unbeliever's life changed after he is `Friended' by God
See, this is why social media is so awful.
Bad enough you have your boss, your parents and your grandparents wanting in on your accounts, now the Supreme Creator, the Great Deity, the End All and Be All wants to be friends on Facebook?
You just know how that's going to work: You'll post a picture of what your cat left you at the foot of your bed and ask, is it art or political statement?
Meanwhile, God will post a picture of a rainbow with the caption, “Look what I made.”
Who can compete with that? Talk about depressing.
What? Am I going to hell for these thoughts? Please. I'm a critic. I was damned a long time ago.
And this is the heart of CBS' “God Friended Me,” from executive producer Greg Berlanti (“Arrow,” “Supergirl”), in which our hapless hero — an avowed atheist — is poked and poked and poked by the all-powerful one until he can take it no more and then God really puts him to work.
Miles Finer (Brandon Micheal Hall, “The Mayor,” “Search Party”) advertises himself as “The Millennial Prophet” and runs a podcast extolling the virtues of a godless life. (“Reminding you that there is no God and that is OK.”) He hopes to score a deal with Sirius to take his podcast nationwide. Miles is long estranged from his father, the Rev. Arthur Miner (Joe Morton, “Scandal”), who can't understand how his son can be so callow. Miles has his own reasons for believing there is no God, and those come out tonight. Miles' sister, Ali (Javicia Leslie, “MacGyver”), a bartender, just wishes the two men in her life would get along.
“We got the whole Luke/ Vader dynamic going on,” Miles acknowledges.
At the risk of being smited, I have to say God is one pushy almighty.
As soon as Miles accepts that friend request, God pushes another friend request, for a John Dove. Guess who happens to rush by Miles at just that moment? Miles follows the man and prevents him from doing something irrevocably rash.
Miles doesn't know why, but he's sure he's being catfished. He turns to his sometime-hacker pal Rakesh (Suraj Sharma, “Homeland”), who tries to track down the IP.
Meanwhile, God has another friend suggestion — for Cara Bloom (Violett Beane, “The Resident,” “The Flash”), a journalist who hasn't written an article in six weeks and yet still has a job. Can you tell this show is a fantasy?
Get past some soapy family secrets, the climax is all a bit too much “circle of life.” And while Cara will be sticking around to help Miles on his many quests, somebody at CBS is going to have to do a lot more praying for viewers. This is “Touched by An Online Early Edition.” It's sweet, loaded with a talented cast (Morton is particularly authentic), but it could use a bit more of the devil to it, if you know what I mean.