A.D. - La Bibbia continua

A great story, good production, and some really good actors, BUT, cancelled only after one season....so sad. NBC saying it didn't have the ratings is a bit premature.

Much better than The Bible. There less meaningful variances to what best sources indicate. But there are a few ... like Sapphira who admitted keeping money with excuses, when she actually denied keeping any money back -- and it makes a difference. Apparently, more than the Bible was consulted, as hints of Josephus, the Jewish historian might be seen here, as well as other sources. Production quality is remarkable. Sets, CGI, costumes, etc. are top flight. MGM did well. This is quality. It gets quite brutal at times, but it WAS a brutal era. Overall, the sense, the power, and the message gets through pretty well ... so far. Only 5 of 12 seen!

I wonder at what point the writers and producers decided to toss our the Book of Acts and ignore history.

Some of the stories are fun to watch, but other stories are just plain wrong. Tiberius and Caligula never visited Jerusalem. Tiberius died on the Island of Capri and Caligula was there to testify of his death. Near the end of his life, after he thought he had turned into a living God, Caligula did order a statue of himself placed in the Jewish Temple at Jerusalem, but before his orders could be carried out he was assassinated. When he first came to power Caligula was very kind and benevolent, but he became ill and when he recovered, he had changed and thought he was now a God. Caligula was not even mentioned in Acts. I have no idea why this made up story of Tiberius and Caligula visiting Jerusalem added to the TV story. The truth is that Pilot died in 36 AD and Caligula did not become Emperor until 37 AD. Pilot was replaced by Festus and so far in the series he has yet to show up in the series.

I wish the producers had been smart enough to realize that real history can be exciting and dramatic and they did not have to change history to make the story interesting. It is also an insult to the intelligence of those who have studied history and have read the Bible and know the real stories to watch this show and see the drastic changes to the original stories. The Bible series was a bit more true to the Bible when it was on the History Channel, but now it is on a network so maybe NBC caring more about rating than real history wanted them to change history.

In the 50's Bible stories had some biblical and historical accuracy, but mostly went for glitz and spectral. More recent movies and TV shows reflected more historical and Biblical accuracy in their stories. Now we have taken a few steps back and have let the truth take a back seat to popular legend and ratings. When Pilate asked Jesus what is truth, He gave no answer. I suppose if Pilate were to ask the producers what is truth, they would say "What ever we want it to be." That is sad.

After the rousing success that was "The Bible", NBC brought the format back with "A.D.: The Bible Continues". While the ratings weren't near the original, in terms of quality the series was very well-done and just as entertaining as its predecessor.

The main plots of "A.D." revolve around three main topics:

1. The disciples of Jesus, led by Peter (Adam Levy), who are given the creed to preach His word. The problem, of course, is that Jerusalem is under strong Roman control, leading to unending conflict.

2. Pontius Pilate (Vincent Regan), Roman official stationed in Jerusalem, trying to deal with the "Jesus followers", while being advised by wife Claudia (Joanne Whalley).

3. Caiaphus (Richard Coyle), leader of the Jewish temple, and wife Leah (Jodhi May), who are caught in the middle of the Roman/Christian conflict.

The strength of this miniseries is that it shows a very intriguing "what could have been" scenario about the start of the spread of Christianity by the Disciples. You relaly get a look at how they were likely thinking/feeling in relation to their relationship with Jesus and his teachings. Too often, individuals from the Bible are looked upon as "larger than life" or somehow separated from the "average man". However, that was not the cause whatsoever. These are real people trying to comprehend the plan for God's kingdom, so obviously that is going to cause some mistakes to be made and many conflicts to arise. "A.D." doesn't shy away from any of that.

The acting and overall production value is also quite strong. This is a far cry from some cheesy re-enactment one might find on a religious network. "A.D." is a bona fide dramatic series. It just happens to be telling a story from the Bible instead of a story that someone penned in a script.

Simply put, I enjoyed "A.D." nearly as much as I did "The Bible" (the sheer breadth of the latter probably sneaks it ahead of the former by just a bit). I mainly appreciated how it didn't "preach" to the audience and chose rather to give a more individualized perspective of events: how the Disciples (and those around them) chose to react to the Resurrection and Jesus' creed to preach his word. Scholars of the Bible would likely enjoy this series, but I think its biggest fan-base would come from those who a bit more "layman" in terms of Biblical knowledge, for this one shows not just the faith of early Christians, but also the "nuts and bolts" of how that faith changed the world.

I'm honestly surprised by the reception of this series, it seems to be rather mixed compared to the original production. In all honesty I prefer this to the original Bible production, though the original had the benefit of being a genuine surprise coming from History.

What I prefer about this is that the passion remains strong, and the stories are well flushed out. By balancing a bit of pop-cinema with heart felt efforts to bring the bible to screen they are able to present a story that should be familiar to all Christians, but yet also keep you in a "wow, what will happen next week" state of mind.

The acting is very solid, I get a very strong sense of the evangelical zeel of the early church, and a good sense of hanging on by a knifes edge. As of this writing Saul of Tarsus has been introduced, and I feel he is very well played. I highly recommend watching this. No, this is not an attempt to provide you with a production where actors read scripture. But it is honest, and it will draw you into that time.