Saving Grace

[Billk52880]

The television show "Saving Grace' has generated a lot of comments, both pro and con. I have been a Christian for some time. However, before becoming a Christian I was into to sex, drugs, and rock & roll. I have tried sharing this with fellow Christians but most don't want to hear about it and some have been shocked and have broken their ties with me. This show mirrors my life in more ways than I can count. I have been guilty of everything that Grace has. The one exception was I was not sexually abused by a priest. I was sexually abused by both parents. Last May I celebrated my 28th year of sobriety. I have spent many years as a drug and alcohol counselor. Why do main line Christians have problems with programs that depict people who have hit bottom? Why do they have problems with people who do not accept God right away? Why do they have problems with people encountering God the way that Grace does? And I have. I don't pray. I have conversations with God many times during the course of the day. I truly feel sorry for the uptight Christians who only see God through their eyes. Next time I will share my feelings on the program "The Cleaner." :)

[jacks girl]

Hey this don't belong in the writers lounge but on the sister site 4b someone will move it there.

My only problem with this show, is the nudity they show. i think they could do the same scenes without the ugly nudity. i like the show, don't like the cursing and i dont like the way that Earl is what ever religion there is out there.

i see there is only one way to God and that is through Jesus his son. Not other Gods. I like the show but wouldn't watch it with anyone but my hubby cause of the naked shots.

I have not watched the cleaner yet but i want to.

jacks

[tlm]

I think the sister site has a thread about TV shows.

[judycwrite]

I so get what you're saying Billk52880 (did I get that right?) I got into many debates with Christians on the TNT site for Saving Grace and was frankly appalled at many responses. So much so I wrote an article with biblical and church history references encouraging believers to love the sinner as Christ did and meet them where they are at. There's tons of church history supporting this, but alas, no Christian magazine was interested in my article. If you want it, I'll be happy to email it to you.

I don't get it with many Christians today. Offended by sin, sure, but not the person sinning. I don't view Holly Hunter's nudity with a sense of entertainment but with an acknowledgment that a) I have been there too, and b)she is just as in need of God's Saving Grace and anyone else on the planet. Who the heck am I to refuse it because she's sinning? And besides, it's after being saved that the Holy Spirit will change a person's life, it cannot be a condition of salvation. You can't put on a tie and cut your hair in order to be saved.

So yeah Bill, I get where you're coming from and I'm right there with ya!

Judy

[jacks girl]

I still don't like naked people on my TV. I think they do it to see what they can get away with. I don't think it has anything to do with showing life as it is, i see it as seeing how low they can bring our standards and how high they can get the ratings.

Yea yea, i can turn it off but i still think it's wrong. But only the nudity.
and this thread will be moved when someone finds it to the tv section on 4B.

Jacks

[Laina]

I haven't seen the program myself. I personally don't think there is much on TV worth watching. Here is what the plugged in online review says.

Does TV Need Saving From 'Grace'?

"How could I resist a script that opens with your lead character naked, having sex with a guy?" That's how actress Holly Hunter—no stranger to racy roles on the big screen—describes her new small-screen role in TNT's raw, TV-MA cable drama about sin and redemption.

Let's start with the sin part.

Hunter portrays Grace Hanadarko, a maverick detective in Oklahoma City whose addiction-fueled personal life rockets down the rails like a runaway locomotive. When she's not locating abducted kids or solving love-triangle murder mysteries (à la Without a Trace and CSI), Grace indulges in illicit—and explicit—sex romps with her married police partner. (Lots of skin and even glimpses of breast nudity leave very little to the imagination—and will leave most viewers asking, "This is on basic cable!?")

When she is wearing clothes, Grace guzzles hard liquor and smokes incessantly. Oh, and she slings the s-word around like she's starring in a Kevin Smith movie. (TNT seems intent upon following FX's edgy lead when it comes to more liberal—read: profane and vulgar—language in its dramas.) Drunk driving, repeatedly flashing an "appreciative" elderly neighbor, and taking children for siren-wailing slalom runs through downtown just for kicks are the name of the game for this case-hardened detective.

Until, that is, she mows down a man on a deserted side street while driving home drunk one night.

Angels on the Sidewalk
Grace's desperate, almost reflexive prayer for God's help as the man dies in her arms is answered in the form of a frumpy, tobacco-chewing good ol' boy angel named Earl (Leon Rippy). He informs Grace that God is giving her a final shot at redemption—on the condition that she starts cleaning up the unholy mess that is her life. "You're headed for hell, Grace," he says nonchalantly between spits. "But God's giving you one last chance." That supernatural opportunity begins with the apparent erasure of the accident—no bashed-in-the-head victim, no blood on her hands, no knocked-over speed-limit sign.

Was it just a dream? Grace wonders. She hopes that's the case—until Earl shows up again to dispense more homespun exhortations about how she needs to amend her wild ways. Still disbelieving, angry and resistant, Grace begins to gather bits of physical evidence from Earl—including his chaw—and delivers them to her best friend, a crime-lab technician and flaky-but-sincere Catholic named Rhetta (Laura San Giacomo). The hard evidence points to Earl's otherworldly origins, but Grace stubbornly resists the idea that he could be what he claims. Because that would mean God's claims are real, too. And Grace, whose life has been marred with hardship and tragedy (including being molested by a priest) doesn't want to believe that God exists, let alone cares about her.

As the show's title implies, then, Saving Grace is about a woman's struggle to come to terms—in this case, terms enforced by a hand-me-down angel—with her need to relinquish her sinful way of life. But the relationship between sin and redemption here is, at best, a complex and tangled one.

Grace's Erratic Redemption
For starters, we're given an unvarnished and voyeuristic look at Grace's sinful habits. Hunter believes the camera's unflinching look at her character—body and soul—will make Grace compelling to audiences. "I think her flaws are quite fascinating," the actress says, "Audiences will appreciate Grace's humanity."

Accordingly, the lens zooms in exploitatively on her moral failings, especially her predilections for sex and substance abuse. Earl tells her that many of her choices are wrong—but only after we've gotten an up-close-and-personal view first. The show's producers obviously relish the role of showing us every side—and I do mean every side—of this bad girl's life.

Oddly, Saving Grace does say that right and wrong choices exist, that sin matters and that there are consequences for choosing disobedience to God. In one conversation, Earl challenges Grace to end her adulterous relationship. Grace says there's nothing to talk about, but Earl counters, "Well, there's his marriage. His wife. His conscience. Your conscience. God and how He feels about the whole mess."

"God cares if I'm sleeping with a married man?" Grace asks.

"AIDS in Africa, the Middle East, Grace and Ham [her partner]—we were just talking about it this morning," Earl drawls.

Likewise, a number of characters make positive references to prayer, church and faith. Rhetta, for example, is thrilled that Grace is thinking about God again. She gushes, crudely, "I see Him working in you ... and it's a good thing. I want you to believe. I think He can help you get your s--- together. ... This [conversation] right here is evidence of a miracle—you and me talking about God. That hasn't happened since catechism in second grade. Pretty soon you'll be draggin' your a-- to mass."

Salvation Short-Circuited
As if determined to contradict the story's apparently Christian context, however, Earl also displays breezy universalism. When Grace begrudgingly suggests that she'll have to begin going to church again, Earl counters that any temple or mosque will do. Later, Grace implies that Islam offers a different path to God than Christianity, but Earl dismisses her: "You say po-tah-to, I say po-ta-to." USA Today TV critic Robert Bianco says of the angel's wishy-washy convictions, "Earl ... represents your standard, vague, interdenominational Supreme Being."

Indeed. And while the show's premise seems to promise a wrestling match with matters of faith, Grace's Jacob-like grappling with Earl doesn't do the trick. Grace's gospel seems little more than a vague commitment to try harder. Interestingly, we haven't yet been told exactly what the terms of Grace's "last chance" are. Apparently her one-step-forward-two-steps-back approach to letting go of her bad habits is enough to constitute salvation.

A postscript: What's next? Given Earl's "all paths lead to God" attitude, this ultimately unsatisfying message about salvation won't shift much as the novelty wears off and the episodes drag out. Nor, for that matter, will TNT likely back off the buzz-building language and sexual content. And that leaves this series needing a whole lot more saving grace than cable TV can possibly provide.

[judycwrite]

I totally agree with you about Earl's syncretistic approach to faith. He's all over the map and that says, to me, he's not from God. Yeah, that's a HUGE sticking point.

But what I was most amazed at is the battle about showing this struggle. Showing sin. Cecil B. Demille who did The Ten Commandments and spent MUCH time and energy checking the hermeneutics of the story and interpretation also said, and I'm paraphrasing, "if you want to show God you need to show a lot of sin". Look at who your audience is. Do you think this is a show for Christians? No, this is a show for folks who are still out there. The millions of prodigals who have a beef against God and haven't found their way out of the pigpen yet.

Christ with the publicans is a great example. While everyone told him not to eat or socialize with them his response was "I didn't come here for the righteous but for sinners". Or the blind man who was kept away from Christ by his disciples because they believed his affliction was the result of sin and therefore should not be near Jesus. Instead the Son of God went to that blind man with redemption.

And lets get things clear, behavior doesn't change, sin doesn't stop unless the Holy Spirit has taken up residence. So I'm not sure where you get the idea Grace is supposed to be "cleaning up her life". If memory serves, in the first episode Earl asks Grace "when are you gonna surrender your life (to God)?" That's the salvation that we're waiting for. I look forward to the moment when Grace is naked and through the work of the Holy Spirit becomes aware of her nakedness (like Adam & Eve)as she falls at the foot of the cross accepting Jesus into her life. Now THAT would truly be MUST SEE TV and a miraculous moment of Saving Grace.

There are many things I wish the writers would get hermeneutically correct, but I totally agree with depicting the sin, warts and all to people who are in the midst of it.

As for us as believers, I think we need to lift this show up in prayer because it is reaching people with God, and encourage the networks and cable to make more like it!!!

[judycwrite]

How sad that you buried this thread.

I'm sure it's to "meet the needs of the discussion forum" but it's just the same. You swept it under the rug.

Sad, disappointing and so typical.

[DrRita]

Judy my friend. I'm sorry you are so disappointed but it will in no way be buried!! It gets the same top billing in the line-up that it would have if it would have stayed! It has absolutely nothing to do with the content. I'm the one who moved it and probably your biggest ally.

[Phy]

I've never seen the show, but am not offended by nudity, swearing, souls in decline. The darker souls always have interesting redemption stories, if that's what the series is really about.

I went back and watched 3:10 to Yuma again. I'm still touched by that story, of how a common rancher with part of his leg blown off in the civil war is able to go from loser to victor simply by determining not to cave in on his values when everything is against him and even his own family has lost faith in him. The way he regains the respect of his teenage son, and even wins the respect of the hardened outlaw Ben Wade shows me that a great redemption story may not be all that common in Hollywood, there is still a venerable tradition of such stories, and I'm glad to see that a handful of really good redemption films are still being made as big budget films.

[DrRita]

As more and more Christians infiltrate Hollywood more of the elements of faith have been showing up in films. Yeah, there are no big turn arounds but the people who make these films are being touched and witnessed to by those who work around them. That is the best way to affect change . . . More redemptive stories will result and who knows . . . perhaps some even great Christian ones.

[Phy]

Not to put too fine a point on it, but do we really need Christian ones?

Think about that for a moment before you answer.

If our target audience are those who don't yet know God, we might be more effective with movies about truth rather movies about Christianity. I'll take one good "To Kill A Mockingbird" over "Left Behind."

I'd rather see strong morality plays that give the Holy Spirit an opening, something we know millions of people might see, than something only Christians will watch.

I liked Ben Hur. You have your epic story, you have redemption, you have all the adventure and peril and romance and violent action of life itself, but you have the larger audience because it's a good story, and it's not specifically, explicitly Christian. That's what I want to see, something I take non-Christian friends to and go out afterward and have a good talk about.

[MsDee]

I don't watch Saving grace not because of the character sinful life because we are all sinners but I don't agree with how God is potrayed. It's a lack of respect and reverance to one so deserving of respect and reverance IMO

[Phy]

I don't watch Saving grace not because of the character sinful life because we are all sinners but I don't agree with how God is potrayed. It's a lack of respect and reverance to one so deserving of respect and reverance IMO

That would be my one problem. I don't mind a good redemption story as long as they get the characters right. If you're going to tell a story where God is a major character, you'd better nail it.

[Billk52880]

I am sorry about posting this in the wrong place. Thank you for pointing that out. I will attempt to ensure that it wont happen again.

[Billk52880]

During the time that I have been a Christian, God has shown me on more than one occasion that he has a sense of humor. This seems to be a point of concern in several of the responses. Earl shows me that God indeed has a sense of humor. For those who find the show irreverent due to the way Earl does things and the way he describes God proves that he has a sense of humor. For people like me, who were taught to believe that God was mean, vengeful and just waiting for me to make a mistake, I needed a God who laughs and likes a good joke. Just for clarification I am a 'recovering Catholic.' I am quite sure that there will be those who find that term offensive. All I can say is that I truly feel sorry for you. Without a sense of humor you are missing out on a large part of life. Besides, there is proof that a good laugh has a positive affect on your health. If you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours. God bless.!thumbsup!