Allah in the Family. That’s the title of The Daily Show’s spoof of calls for an Islamic Cosby Show. Pretty funny.
BTW, I think a sitcom about a normal American family that happens to be Muslim is a good idea that could promote healing and understanding. I would, however, caution against overplaying the counterproductive angle of the stupid white Christian neighbors who are insanely convinced they’re terrorists. How about if most of their neighbors are also good normal people and the comedy derived from everyday situations that confront all of us. Also, a line dropped into one of the scripts where it’s made clear that good believing Muslims actually denounce the evil violence committed in the name of their peaceful religion might not be a bad idea. 

Cynthia Tucker: Calling Herman Cain a “minstrel” is out of bounds. The liberal writer takes to task some on her side who demean conservative African-Americans like businessman and possible presidential candidate Herman Cain. Hey, a show about an intelligent black businessman who happens to be conservative! Now there’s an idea for a stereotype-busting sitcom. 

Friday Feedback

The box office record of Christian-themed films. Commenter cx challenges my assertion in yesterday’s blog about the box office success of movies marketed to faith-based audiences — at least relative to list of all-time box office winners.

I would just point out that the former list (provided by Hollywood Reporter) only dealt with movies specifically marketed to faith-based audiences by the powers that be in Hollywood. That latter list includes all movies — many, of which, do hold strong appeal to people of faith whether they were specifically marketed to them or not. Among the top 100, I would cite these examples: Titanic (2), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (3), Toy Story 3 (5), Finding Nemo (21), The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (22), The Lion King (32), E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (36), The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (38), Forrest Gump (44), The Incredibles (49), The Passion of the Christ (55), Armageddon (66), WALL•E (72), Ghost (77), How to Train Your Dragon (81), Toy Story 2 (86), Saving Private Ryan (88) and Bruce Almighty (93). You could probably argue that some of the others included positive Christian themes as well. Relatively few of the movies on the top 100 list are overtly offensive to believers.

Furthermore, among my personal nominees (also listed yesterday) to make John Nolte’s list of the 25 Greatest Christian Movies, most were clear box office winners.

So, I stick to my contention, that the faith audience is, in fact, the mainstream audience — and that its Hollywood itself that is out of the mainstream when it fails to recognize that.

Did Bill Maher call President Obama a liar? This item appeared here on Monday:

Bill Maher believes Barack Obama is faking being a Christian. The Real Time
host thinks the president’s secretly a secular humanist, basically
suggesting he’s a liar. Personally, I believe the President Obama is a
Christian. What I have trouble believing is that Bill Maher is a
practicing comedian.

It garnered an interesting response from Laura who wrote: Maher is likely only questioning Obama’s faith since it is impossible to
be President in this country without professing yourself a Christian.
He is rather calling Obama an opportunist politician rather than an
out-and-out liar. Religious belief and affiliation is simply not
something that politicians with big ambitions can be honest about in
this country. It is difficult to imagine a Jew, or especially a Muslim,
even more especially, an atheist, gaining this top office. It is for
professed Christians only, and absolutely only for believers in the
Western idea of God. Anyone else is at such a disadvantage that it would
be nearly impossible for them to win. If you are serious about winning
the office of the Presidency, you are Christian — or at least you say
so.