News

Edgy Grace

Holly Hunter brings realism to new cop/angel drama.

TNT’s new cop drama, Saving Grace (Mondays, 10/9c), is like watching Touched by an Angel in reverse. While Touched followed an angel helping a new lost person each week, Grace flips the script to follow one of those lost people, an Oklahoma City cop named Grace Anadarko (Academy Award winner Holly Hunter in a passionate performance). That said, she’s not going to see the light within an hour.

Molested as a child by a Catholic priest and feeling guilty about her sister’s death, an empty Grace searches for anything to fill the void. She’s a sex addict, an alcoholic, and a haphazard risk taker.

When her drunk driving kills a man, she cries out to God. But her angel, Earl (Leon Rippy), doesn’t offer a quick fix. Instead he offers life with God, but Grace is too attached to her pain and pleasures to lay down her life. That means a long, down-and-dirty journey—with Earl’s prodding and the support of a devout friend and a priest brother. (It’s a relief to see Christians depicted as fair and loving on Grace.)

Show creator Nancy Miller told TV Guide, “We’re not going to run away from anything about this woman.” So there’s a lot of realism and truth, and an appropriate rating of MA (mature audiences). The sex scenes are frequent, with nudity only barely obscured or blurred. Drugs, swearing, and drinking are common. Grace is a ticking time bomb of bad decisions, and thus can be hard to watch.

But unlike many shows investigating the emptiness of life, Saving Grace pairs it with hope. The routine cop plots are backdrops for the show’s intriguing portrayals of souls who need saving by a mysterious God.

That makes for a strange animal. There may be too much darkness for some Christians and too much God for some non-Christians. So does Grace have an audience? Its nine-episode first season debuted in July as 2007’s most-watched premiere on ad-supported cable. But ratings dipped considerably over the short season and reviews were mixed. In the second season, Grace—like its lead—may have to choose: darkness or God?

Todd Hertz, associate editor, Ignite Your Faith.

Copyright © 2007 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Related Elsewhere:

Christian Movies Today reported on the City of Angels Film Festival, where Nancy Miller, creator of Saving Grace, said, “We’re all sinners like Grace (Holly Hunter), wrestling with God and his angels.”

TNT’s site has a recap of the first season of Saving Grace online.

Also in this issue

The CT archives are a rich treasure of biblical wisdom and insight from our past. Some things we would say differently today, and some stances we've changed. But overall, we're amazed at how relevant so much of this content is. We trust that you'll find it a helpful resource.

Cover Story

The Mission Of Business

News

The Men of Boystown

Bookmarks

Everyman Meets Jesus at Jack-in-the-Box

Africa Unbound

Traveling with Wesley

Deconstructing Dawkins

Surprising Candor

The Evangelical Elite

Review

<em>Idol</em>'s Worshiper

Scripture and <em>The Wall Street Journal</em>

Work <em>Is</em> Our Mission

My Top 5 Books on Popular Culture

Answering the Atheists

Non-Holy Work

<em>More</em> Free, At Least

Blessed Are the Pure in Heart

Developing Good Development

News

In the Aftermath of a Kidnapping

News

Short-Term Troubles

News

Missions Isn't Safe

News

Bowing to Kigali

Q&A: Kay Warren

Getting Back on Course

News

Passages

Editorial

Dr. Luther's Tribulation

News

Go Figure

News

News Briefs: November 07, 2007

News

Quotation Marks

News

Haggard Reprimanded

News

Free from State Oversight

News

Filling in the Blanks

News

No Mercy for Grace Churches

News

Pius and Impious

News

Surviving the Mortgage Crisis

News

Dispensational Dustup

News

Faith-Talk Surprise

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