Viewers' Opinions on Controversial TV Show Apparently Being Heard
by Allie Martin
January 12, 2006
(AgapePress) - - Grassroots e-mail campaigns directed at local NBC affiliates over a controversial television show are having a big impact.
Last Friday NBC aired the premiere episode of The Book of Daniel, a show that features a pill-popping Episcopal priest who has a drug-dealing daughter and a homosexual son. The American Family Association (AFA), one of several pro-family groups voicing concern about the show's depiction of Christianity, encouraged concerned Christians to e-mail local network affiliates, asking them not to air it. Since that time several stations have said they will not broadcast the show.
AFA president Tim Wildmon says local affiliates take viewers' complaints seriously. "The most effective impact a citizen is going to have is with their local NBC affiliate," Wildmon says. "Calling the network in New York or Los Angeles is not going to make a dent, honestly."
That is why the local feedback is critical, he says. "People need to call their local NBC affiliate -- that's who is going to be most responsive to the citizens in their community," Wildmon explains.
One of the NBC affiliates electing not to air the program is WTVA, which is located in Tupelo, Mississippi -- the same community where AFA is based. WTVA reports it had received more than 1,500 e-mails and phone calls asking them not to air The Book of Daniel. Station officials said it was the largest viewer reaction to a program in the station's history.
Wildmon points to that result as proof that grassroots e-mail campaigns are effective. "This is an extremely offensive program to Christians ... very sacrilegious," he explains. "It depicts Jesus in a very cartoonish manner -- and so we're very pleased every time we hear of another station dropping the show."
And AFA will continue to push for Christians and others concerned about the program's denigration of Christianity to let their voice be heard. Says Wildmon, bluntly: "Our objective at American Family Association is to kill the show The Book of Daniel, whether it's getting NBC affiliates not to air it or having it to lose all its advertisers -- we're working in both directions.
According to AFA press statements, the series is in fact losing many advertisers. The group says three of the five advertisers on the premier -- Chattern; Combe, Inc.; and H&R Block -- have already announced they will no longer advertise on the program. At press time, Mazda and Burlington Coat Factory had not announced their decision in response to consumers' requests they do the same.
An AFA spokesman says the widely hyped premier received a "dismal" 2.7 Nielson rating -- an indication to corporate advertisers, he says, that the "healthy thing" to do is avoid the show.
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
