I’ve spent most of my adult life working in television. It never ceases to amaze me what TV executives think people want to watch. And when I saw this story pop up, I was surprised all over again: there’s a new TV drama called “Vows,” created by Karen Hall, which actually treats the priesthood with respect and even a little bit of awe:

“Priests for the most part used to be left alone,” Hall said. “But now people really wonder what it is like to walk down the street wearing a collar, why men choose to be priests in this day and age, and what the priesthood is about. And in the recent annals of priest screen characters, a man who is faithful to his vows and in love with the church is something that almost never comes out of religious-cynical Hollywood.”

“The orthodox priest-protagonist is a novelty,” she added. “Everything else has been done: the cool liberal priest, the gay priest, the drug-addicted pastor, priests who are pedophiles or who have lost faith. Networks are interested now in what is real, which seems weird enough to them to be compelling.”

Weird and compelling. Yes, that sounds about right. The series will focus on a Jesuit house of formation in the Bronx.

I’m vowing to watch.

UPDATE: My new cyber pal, Julie the Happy Catholic, posted something in the comments that bears repeating here — Karen Hall, besides being an acclaimed television writer and producer, is a blogger! Her blog is called Some Have Hats. Check it out.