Television: The Networks Get Religion

Masada and Peter and Paul bring the Word to prime time

And on the eve of the Great Holy Day, the three elders of the network Sanhedrin came into the sight of the Lord God, and they begged for his blessing. And God said: "You do not deserve my blessing. For your local newscasters bray like the jackal in the field, and your prime-time soaps are as the balm of Gomorrah, and your sitcoms are in violation of all that is funny. And you, O elders of cathode, you lusteth after false profits." And the three elders saith unto the Lord God: "Forgive us, O Lord, but we must make offerings to the false idol Nielsen, which is an hungry beast. Give us but a sign, a word, a story idea, that we may please thee and the 2,300 houses of the children of Nielsen." And then the Lord God spoke unto them: "To you, CBS, I ordain that you shall tell of the holy mission of my messengers Peter and Paul. And to you, ABC, I say that you shall relate the story of my brave people at the Battle of Masada." And the third elder, the Pharisee of NBC, asked: "What about me, Lord?" And the Lord God said: "Sorry, Man of Silver, this isn 't your year." But for the good elders, God did part the Red Ink, and the words and pictures of the Lord were brought to the houses of the children of Nielsen.

The networks may not earn the blessing of God as Easter and Passover approach, but they surely do turn righteous. Ever since Franco Zeffirelli's 6½-hour Jesus of Nazareth pulled big ratings four years ago, viewers have received annual lessons in Bible history and spiritual uplift, and have responded with the eager docility of A students in Sunday school. This year's entries in the Sanctity Sweepstakes focus on the struggle between warriors of the Word and the scheming princes of the Roman Empire. Peter and Paul (CBS, April 12 and 14) covers the crucial three decades after the death of Jesus, when a Galilean fisherman solidified his authority over the church, and a Cilician Jew spread Christ's teachings throughout the Mediterranean world. Masada (ABC, April 5-8) begins a few years later and chronicles the last desperate stand, in a Judean fortress, of 960 Jews against the more than 10,000 soldiers and Jewish captives of the Roman Tenth Legion. In achievement, though, the two shows are worlds apart: one is standard solemn biopic, the other a provocative, often eloquent drama of the near first rate.