To print this page, go to TEXT ONLY format
vol, 9, no. 60

Acknowledgment:

Articles provided through Catholic World News Service

      NEW YORK (CWN) - The ABC network announced this week that its controversial television show, "Nothing Sacred," has been canceled due to consistently low ratings, despite several time-slot changes.

      The TV show depicted an inner-city parish of "progressive" priests and nuns who disparaged Catholic doctrine and questioned their own faith. The show's treatment of such subjects as the existence of God, priestly celibacy, and abortion elicited the ire of many Catholics who saw it as an attack on the Church. The Catholic League for Civil and Religious Rights led a boycott of ABC and its parent company, Walt Disney, as well as the show's sponsors. Dozens of advertisers pulled their support of the show within weeks of the boycott's start.

      League president William Donohoe was jubilant at the announcement. "It is no secret that ABC stood by this failed show longer than any other program," he said. "Never before has such a loser of a show been given more hype and more preferential treatment than 'Nothing Sacred.' Had there not been a political agenda at work, the marketplace would have spelled the fate of 'Nothing' long ago." He added that the show failed because American Catholics simply did not like the show's depiction of them. "The fact of the matter is that from the very beginning there never was anything sacred about this show. Though some may not want to believe it, therein lies the real reason why it bombed."

Acknowledgment:

To subscribe to Catholic World News Service, available daily by e-mail, click the CWN icon
to the right.