I just saw the first episode of Eli Stone, a new show on ABC (if you follow that link, let me know if they fixed it; the last time I was there, it proclaimed itself to be the site for “LI STONE”, Eli’s lesser known younger brother-cum-fibber). Can I just say? Awesome! [insert my nephew doing jazz hands]
Extreme spoilers follow because I’m really not certain how to write about a show I loved without giving you gory details:
Eli Stone is a corporate lawyer who suddenly starts hearing organ music. It later turns out that this is the intro to George Michael’s Faith, which he (GM) cleans up & performs in his (Eli’s) head. And living room. And office lobby. It’s awesome. And that’s a word you’ll see a lot in what follows: awesome.
He goes to his brother, a doctor (and given his first name, I’ve been assuming that he’s Jewish: their mother must be so proud), who proclaims him to be, what they call in medical terms, “Fine”. Even though it turns out later that he does, in fact, have a brain aneurism, just like his (their?) father.
He goes to an acupuncturist, one Dr. Chen, who is not what he seems, and eventually tells Eli that there are two explanations for everything: the scientific & the divine. The scientific explains the visions, but only the divine can explain their content; which, Dr. Chen explains, is that Eli is a prophet. This acupuncturist is the best character, and a better reason to watch Eli than Eli is. But it is worth watching.
When Googling “Eli Stone” for some juicy links, I stumbled upon the controversy that the pilot episode sparked. Apparently, many different groups got up in arms about the plot device through which the show worked: autism. While watching it, the parts that made the biggest influence on me were the issues of faith, atheist prophets, and Jewish acupuncturists. The most meaningful part was not when Eli won the case against the big, bad drug company but when Eli says to Dr. Chen, “I don’t believe in God.” And Dr. Chen says,
Sure you do: You believe in right & wrong, you believe in justice, in fairness…and you believe in love. All those things, they’re God, Eli! And that? *gestures to the setting sun* That’s god, too.
If there is a Divine, It is surely in justice, right, fairness, love, and sunsets. And in idiots, traffic jams, and medical bills. I’d love to have the faith of Eli Stone: an atheist with a line to God.
5 responses so far ↓
1 wren // Feb 8, 2008 at 10:02 am
I saw the tail end of this show, like mere seconds. I’ll have to set the dvr to grab it next time it’s on.
2 xJane // Feb 9, 2008 at 11:16 am
It’s very cute. I’m interested in seeing what direction it takes, since traditionally, atheism on television/in the movies gets a raw deal. I think House only gets away with it because he’s an ass.
3 wren // Mar 18, 2008 at 5:18 pm
Hey, I finally caught an episode last week. It reminded me a bit of a show that got canceled all too soon called Wonderfalls. The full season of Wonderfalls was eventually released on dvd due to the hammering of the studio by devoted fans. Check it out sometime. I highly recommend it.
Back to Eli, Interesting show. Which of course means it’s doomed! Mwahahahaahha. Ah well, I’ll keep an eye out for it in the meantime.
4 xJane // Mar 19, 2008 at 9:32 am
At the end of each episode, the disclaimer from the first one “THE PRECEDING STORY WAS FICTIONAL AND DID NOT PORTRAY ANY ACTUAL PERSONS OR EVENTS.” is still shown & read by the Viewer Discretion Is Advised Guy. Does anyone know what other shows this appears after? I can’t imagine that anyone actually uses Eli Stone in place of CNN, but I could be wrong. The most recent episode involved a fictitious law firm, a fictitious charity concert by George Michael, two fictitious hospitals arguing over a fictitious doctor’s fictitious malpractice, and a fictitious baseball character’s possible use of fictitious steroids or possible fictitious murder of his fictitious wife’s fictitious boyfriend. Was it really necessary to tell me it was fictional…?
5 wren // Mar 19, 2008 at 9:40 am
I wondered about that as well. Just did a search and came up with the following:
From the Autism speaks website regarding the premiere: “This program has generated controversy because the plot of the first episode revolves around a fictional court case in which a parent alleges that a vaccine additive caused her child’s autism. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) formally asked ABC not to air this episode, saying that the fictionalized account might discourage some parents from having their children immunized, but ABC refused. Instead, a disclaimer message will be shown at the beginning of the program reminding viewers that “Eli Stone” is a fictional program. ”
The same info is in wikipedia. No word on why it’s on every episode. Maybe just a case of c.y.a. in this sue happy society that believes everything the see and hear without doing their own legwork to find out the truth.
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