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With his network wandering aimlessly in the Nielsen desert of the post-Friends era, NBC Entertainment bad idea technician Kevin Reilly calls upon on the Messiah to save his ass:

NBC, praying for new hits as it weathers a post-"Friends" ratings slump, may soon be bringing Jesus to prime time — not as a biblical miracle worker, but as a modern-day private savior for a pill-popping priest. That's the scenario for "The Book of Daniel," one of several pilot dramas developed at NBC as possible additions to its 2005-2006 schedule and showcased on Thursday for a gathering for advertisers.[...]

According to NBC's promotional materials, its pilot drama depicts Jesus as a "contemporary, cool" figure who appears as a personal confidant to an Episcopal minister named Daniel Webster (Aidan Quinn), who in turn is wrestling with family issues and a dependence on prescription pills.

First, it seems that the NBC legal department determined that it would be prudent to do a find-and-replace on the original concept, changing "Catholic priest" to "Episcopal minister," and "altar boy problem" to "dependence on prescription pills" to avoid a legal beatdown by the Vatican's scary lawyers. Second, if this show ever makes it to the airwaves, the first sign of ratings distress will result in the network trying to cynically capitalize on some of The Passion of the Christ's success by having Cool Jesus get his ass kicked at the end of every episode.