January 22, 2025

The golden age of religious television




Over the last 50 or so years, we've become used to seeing, periodically, reports of a religious "revival" on television, and here I'm not talking about the televangelists who've carved out their own piece of the television pie. (That's a topic for another day, and, quite possibly, another forum.) No, what I'm talking about are movies, miniseries or series that, in one way or another, are actually about religion.

This talk starts whenever a series with a vaguely "spiritual" theme becomes successful—it's seldom prompted by an unsuccessful series.* And it's true that there have been a number of series over the decades that have succeeded in crossing over from the niche religious audience to wider ratings success, from Jesus of Nazareth to The Chosen, Highway to Heaven, Touched by an Angel, Seventh Heaven, Joan of Arcadia, and the like. Some of them are more traditionally religious than others, and some could probably be more properly categorized as "family-friendly" rather than religious. 

*Think McLean Stevenson's sitcom In the Beginning, or Nothing Sacred, a bomb about a progressive Catholic priest.

But whenver one of these "revivals" happens, the cover of TV Guide trumpets the news that God is back on television. You'd be forgiven if you didn't remember these occasions, coming as they did sandwiched between pictures of ever-more-scantily dressed starlets displaying their décolletage while promoting their latest hot series or movie.

Admit itwhich one of these covers are you more likely to have noticed?

But in the 1950s and '60s, actual religious programming—not spiritual, not religious-themed, but Bible-type religion—was a far-more frequent occurrance on television, something as ordinary as a sitcom or police drama. You probably know about heavy-hitters such as Bishop Fulton Sheen and Billy Graham, fixtures on network and syndicated television throughout television's mid-century era; many episodes of Bishop Sheen's Life is Worth Living are available on YouTube, and historic Billy Graham crusades can be found on TBN, as well as on YouTube

But one site I want to bring to your attention today is Gospel Film Library (also available on Roku), where you can now acquaint (or reacquaint) yourself with many of the religious programs that were mainstream staples of television's early decade. Their website describes Gospel Films Archive as "a repository of films that chronicle how the Bible, faith and Christianity was presented to 20th century audiences through the medium of film and television. Our mission is to track down, digitize, and restore hundreds of Christian films that have renewed relevance in the modern era."

What I appreciate about GFL, in addition to the content, is the role it plays in preserving an underappreciated part of television history, one that reflects how American culture has shifted over the decades. Whereas so many of today's "God" programs are primarily based either on an appeal to emotions or a religion-free discussion of ethics, the programs included in the Gospel Film Library "reflect Biblical history and Christian ideology, while addressing topics that remain relevant to contemporary audiences. Many of these rare, neglected, historic films were crafted by talented Hollywood filmmakers expressly for Christian organizations. Other films with strong spiritual themes were produced by traditional studios for mainstream theatrical and television audiences." 

The film library includes many 30-minute programs that were seen frequently on local stations throughout the '50s and '60s, especially at Christmas or Easter, and are going to be familiar to anyone acquainted with TV Guides of the time. There are also three series that ran either on network television or in syndication: Crossroadsa multidenominational program that dramatized the experiences encountered by clergymen; This is the Life, produced by the Lutheran Church, which ran in syndication from 1952 to 1988; and The Christopher Program, created by Catholic priest Fr. James Keller. Episodes of these shows were run and rerun in syndication for years, and attracted loyal and appreciative audiences. Thanks to GSL, you can now see episodes of these programs, which featured both familiar faces and up-and-coming actors, including a very young James Dean.

Graphic courtesy Gospel Film Library

There have been other religious programs on network television throughout the years. Perhaps the best-known, as well as the longest-running, was Fr. Elwood Kieser's creative and dynamic Insight, which aired in syndication from 1960 to 1985, and featured top talent from Hollywood actors, writers, and directors, many of whom donated their time and talent to work on the program. (Thanks to my friend Tony Pizza for the reminder!) There were also the Sunday morning programs Look Up and Live and Lamp Unto My Feet, both of which ran on CBS until 1979; For Our Times, a combination of the two programs that continued until 1988; and Directions, which aired on ABC from 1960 to 1984 and featured cultural presentations as well as dramas and documentaries. 

Today, there are a plethora of cable stations devoted to religion (EWTN and TBN), as well as syndicated televangelist programs that still dominate Sunday mornings in some markets. But as for the types of programs that you can see on Gospel Film Library—well, good luck finding anything like that on network television.

What happened? Well as early as 1954, Leonard Goldenson, head president of ABC (the network most heavily invested in religious programming) decided that "a television network was not the place for religious programs," and cancelled both Billy Graham's Hour of Decision and This is the Life. While Goldenson cited low ratings "hurting the 'flow' of ABC's entertainment programs," that argument doesn't really hold water, given that Hour of Decision was the last program on ABC's Sunday night lineup; according to one historian, Goldenson "simply felt uncomfortable about organized religion." (It also didn't stop ABC from picking up Bishop Sheen's Life is Worth Living from DuMont.) The times were also a-changing as the '50s gave way to the '60s; I probably don't need to go any further on that. There's a very good article about the history of religious programming on TV during this era, which discusses the rise and fall of religion on network television, which I would happily recommend.

I'd also happily recommend Gospel Film Library to those of you interested in finding out more about some of these programs, and to see yet another aspect of television's often-ignored heritage. If groups like GFL don't preserve this history, nobody else will. TV  

3 comments:

  1. Seems a shame that once ubiquitous Sunday morning animated fare such as Jot and Davey and Goliath seem to be long forgotten--Not only not referenced here or the linked article, but absent from the GFL library as well. I'm glad YouTube, at least, has abundant episodes of both series.

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  2. Just added it on Roku--marvelous. Thanks for the heads up, Mitchell. Now if only someone could release for streaming all the Insight episodes, with Father Ellwood E. "Bud" Kieser.

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    1. Indeed; I'd forgotten to mention that until reminded by my friend Tony - I've added it to the piece. There's so much out there that we used to know, but don't anymore.

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