NBC to broadcast end-times, "Revelations"

God vs Satan
Just when you think the market for End Times thrillers has been saturated, Hollywood discovers the genre. NBC plans to follow the 2004 Summer Olympics with a six- to eight-hour miniseries based on the Book of Revelations. Writer David Seltzer (“The Omen”) is already at work.

In hour-long installments, a physicist and a nun will work against the clock to prevent the apocalypse. Does God defeat Satan on NBC? Well, we are led to believe that a weekly series could follow if the mini-series is successful.

From the LA Times:

Inspired by the New Testament's Book of Revelation, the show is about a Harvard professor, played by Bill Pullman, who teams with a nun to try to stop what they believe is the beginning of Armageddon. That's not a premise commonly tackled on "West Wing" or "ER," but NBC executives are praying that "Revelations," which will run for six episodes starting April 13, can connect with the same audience that turned Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" and Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins' apocalyptic "Left Behind" series into bestsellers, and Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" into a box office smash.

"Revelations'" approach to religion is much more specific -- and therefore dicier. That may help explain why NBC executives aren't exactly thumping Bibles in their marketing of the show. For instance, the first episode includes an intense scene in which a hospitalized girl speaks in tongues, traditionally a touchstone for charismatic Christians.

"Ultimately, this is a fictional thriller," NBC entertainment president Kevin Reilly explained in an interview, and made it clear that he welcomed the comparison to "Da Vinci Code."

Although the network, borrowing a page from "Passion's" guerrilla marketing campaign, is screening the first episode to build word of mouth, the outreach isn't aimed at the evangelical Christians and other red-state churchgoers one might expect.

Tuesdaynight NBC screened the first episode of the series for about 3,000 people in nine cities, paying special attention to "students attending major universities and colleges who are studying philosophy, political science, religion, film and television," according to a news release. Reilly says the series is for everyone, not just observant Christians: "If we target to specific groups, we're crossing over [to become] something we don't want to be."