Christian dramas are having a moment

"If you're looking for your own personal Jesus this Easter", said Steve Rose in The Guardian, then "you've never had it so good," because Christian television content is enjoying its own resurrection.

With shows like "House of David", "The Chosen" and "Jesus Revolution" drawing high ratings, production houses and streaming platforms are taking advantage of the fact that "the copyright" on biblical intellectual property "expired 2,000 years ago".

Christian fervour

Jesus' "viewing figures", much like Christ himself, "have risen", said The Economist – "The Chosen" has been watched by around 280 million people worldwide.

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Christian dramas have "proved profitable" because they're "relatively cheap and simple to make", they don't need big-name celebrities as Jesus "offers name recognition enough" and because they can tap into the 2.4 billion people who "identify as Christian".

Although some reviews of the shows have been a bit "unchristian", this critical negativity hasn't particularly dented their appeal because "in entertainment, as in history", some "persecution seems only to deepen Christian fervour".

But it's not just Christians watching, noted Hanna Seariac in the Deseret News, because the content "treats faith as part of people's lives" rather than preaching about it. "Taking this tack" makes the shows and films "accessible to wider audiences".

Bingeable drama

In a space "somewhere between faith-based entertainment and completely secular entertainment", the producers have "diligently carved out" a place where they "portray people of faith" like they "portray everyone else".

The filmmakers are "seeking to retell the story of Christ" as a "bingeable long‑form drama", rather than "the usual earnest myth‑making", said Rose. They want "high production values, down-to-earth characters, historical context" and a "seven-season arc" that's willing to "embellish scripture".

"The Chosen" "feels more like a workplace comedy-drama", or "The West Wing" that's "set in Galilee", rather than "the direct evangelism" of Christian dramas of past decades, said Annie Aguiar in The New York Times, while "House of David" is "reminiscent of the courtly intrigue" of "glossy dramas like 'The Tudors'".

But there are still sensitivities, because creating a TV show "based on a religious text" presents a "different task" to "adapting a book series that is considered sacred only by its most avowed fans".

A "lasting religious revival in Hollywood is unlikely," Diane Winston, a professor at the University of Southern California who studies religion in media, told the broadsheet, because of the "cyclical nature of faith in entertainment".

But this sort of "outreach" could still be a "savvy financial move" for a "secular business looking to spiritual audiences". So, in the meantime, said The Economist, "let there be lights, camera, action!"