Fox’s new show Lucifer has conservative Christian groups up in arms and they may have a point. Matthew Turner writing for The Daily Beast writes on why this show may not be a good idea.
If you can imagine Satan roaming around the streets of Los Angeles like he’s Justin Bieber, driving a fast car, catching the interested stares from both girls and boys at the bars, and getting into trouble with the law, the ladies, and the Lord all at the same time—you’ll have a pretty good idea of how Fox’s new TV show, Lucifer, begins.
In Lucifer, the devil incarnate is loosely based on “Lucifer Morningstar”—a character that debuted in DC Comics’ The Sandman in 1989 and later headlined its own eponymously-titled series. In Fox’s version of Lucifer, an hourlong dramedy that stars Wales native Tom Ellis as the charming Prince of (semi) Darkness, Satan is a bored, uninspired and likable supernatural human who, without giving notice, decides to take a leave of absence from Hell and search for a little excitement in LA.
Through a series of events, Lucifer eventually realizes that nabbing criminals brings him a certain amount of solace, even joy—and to that end, he starts helping the LAPD catch bad guys. That, at least according to the first episode, will become an ongoing weekly gig for our villain (or is it hero?)—it’s hard to know, really.
As one might expect, Lucifer’s “good guy” storyline has sparked a good bit of backlash from several large Christian groups, including the American Family Association (AFA) and One Million Moms. Not only have both organizations initiated online campaigns against Lucifer, asking Fox to remove it from its schedule, they’ve also actively campaigned against the show on social media. That said, Fox likely isn’t listening to the faith-based noise, since marketing this show to Christians would be rather fruitless.
Its a shame the world has gotten to a point where the devil is being celebrated. No matter if he is made up to be a super hero. In the series, Lucifer is too pretty, too human, too conscientious, too much like Robin Hood. And while walking that good/bad line works for a variety of other characters, I’m just not sure that a sincerely good Satan is a sellable concept for the long haul.