scott garfield/ABC
Sandra Oh, right, plays Christina Yang on the hit drama Grey’s Anatomy. Yang was the subject of a sermon yesterday.
BROTHERS AND SISTERS, HOW YOU DOING? Commencing yesterday, a Methodist church just outside Atlanta began delivering a series of sermons based on situations and issues raised on the hit ABC show Grey’s Anatomy, according to a story in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Each of the homilies will be based around characters on the show – yesterday’s focused on Sandra Oh’s Christina Yang – and are illustrated with clips and stills from the series, – “along with dialogue and some role-playing based on the show’s themes.” Future sermons will concentrate on Izzie, Meredith and McDreamy, George, and Burke and Bailey.
“Even though I don’t like the show and don’t agree with the morals of some of the characters, it is the No. 1 show in that age group (18 to 35),” said Dr. Richard Hunter, Pastor of Snellville United Methodist Church. “And if that many young people are watching it, I should be talking about the issues raised on the show.”
The series of sermons is an attempt at outreach to young people, with the full theatrical and multimedia presentation showcased at the 9:30 am “contemporary service.” The regular service at the same time in the main sanctuary of the church will touch on the same issues, according to Hunter, but with less emphasis on the show. While not a fan, Hunter admits that “(t)he more I watched it, the more interesting I found it.”
I tried to suggest the same sort of thing a few Sundays ago at St. Vincent’s, but the Fathers didn’t seem that interested in the parallels I tried to make between Thomas Aquinas and Pimp My Ride. Then they asked me to please turn off my iPod during mass, since my human beat box routine was sort of distracting to the other parishioners.
ELECTRIFYING: I wasn’t giving much thought to Armed And Famous, CBS’ entry into the celebrity train wreck reality subgenre, until I saw a clip on the Just Jared web site of three of the show’s b-list celebs getting tasered as part of their training to become ersatz officers of the law.
There’s nothing shocking, at this point, to watching Jackass star Jason “Wee Man” Acuna getting stunned with a few thousand volts of electricity, but I did get kind of a kick out of watching Erik Estrada shiver and scream as the current hit his nervous system. I just never liked CHiPs that much, I guess. For most people, however, the real “so weird I can’t look away” attraction will be La Toya Jackson’s disturbingly sensuous reaction to her tasering, complete with fainting spell.
Aren’t you glad you lived to see this sort of quality programming on the “Tiffany Network”? Armed And Famous debuts at 8pm this Wednesday.
