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By Randall Murphree
| AFA Journal
Editor
Dave Alan Johnson and Gary R. Johnson, creators/producers of the
PAX net’s Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye and Doc, intentionally
use their two hit series not only to entertain, but also to evangelize.
The Johnsons grew up in Buffalo Center, Iowa, population 1,100.
They consider Hollywood their mission field. “We look at everything
we do as our mission,” Dave says. “Definitely, we use
our shows as evangelistic tools.” In a recent exclusive interview,
he and his brother, Gary, cite a couple of major turning points
in their careers.
First, about 10 years ago, 200,000 AFA Journal readers sent them
a much-appreciated deluge of encouraging letters when their NBC
series Against the Grain was slated for cancellation. It
didn’t keep the series on the air. In fact, it ended before
its first season concluded. Still, Dave says the AFA mail campaign
created a big turning point for him. It challenged him to look for
ways to incorporate his Christian faith into his work.
“That was when Dave brought me out here [to Los Angeles], to
work on that show,” says Gary. “I think it’s gotta
be the most letters anybody’s ever gotten on any show –
at least until E-mail came along.”
“Before that,” Dave says, “we were out here and we
were believers. But that was one part of our lives – and then
we had a job. It was during the Against the Grain process that I
realized those things are not to be separated.”
Second
turning point
After Against the Grain, Gary worked on Second Noah (ABC),
and Dave on High Incident (ABC), in which he collaborated
with Steven Spielberg. That put him into the high pressure crucible
of prime-time big-leaguers, and he learned that Hollywood is a tough
place to survive. Dave didn’t like the lies and cheating that
permeated the atmosphere in which he worked, and he didn’t
like getting beat up all the time in the press and in the industry.
He went home one day and told Diane, his wife, they should just
forget about television and go be missionaries somewhere.
“I really didn’t mean I wanted to be a missionary,”
Dave admits. “What I really meant was I just wanted to be where
nobody had an agenda to deceive.”
He remembers Diane’s response: “Name me one place on earth
that needs missionaries more than where you are right now!”
“That moment changed my life,” says Dave. “Suddenly,
I saw why I was here, why I had been given the gift I have, why
I had been given the position, the opportunity. It wasn’t for
me, it wasn’t so I could make a lot of money, it wasn’t
so I could have lots of accolades in the industry. That wasn’t
what it was about. It was about Him.”
In the years to follow, he worked more and more diligently to make
his work reflect the Christian principles which guide his own life.
Move
to PAX
While Dave and Gary Johnson continued to pursue projects that would
allow the faith element, a man named Lowell “Bud” Pax-son
was being made a wealthy man by his Home Shopping Network. In 1986,
Paxson became a Christian and in 1990, he sold the shopping network
and resolved to create a family-friendly network. Not just a series
or two, but an entire network.
Paxson hired TV and film veteran Jeff Sagansky to head PAX net.
Sagansky’s credentials include stints at NBC, CBS, Sony Pictures
and TriStar. Over the years, Sagansky became disenchanted with Hollywood’s
trend to push shows with edge and attitude. At CBS he had developed
Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman, Christy and Touched
by an Angel, all noted for family-friendly fare.
Slowly but surely, Paxson made progress, buying a string of television
stations and preparing to debut a whole new network. By the mid
1990s, the PAX network was available to about 80% of the nation’s
viewers. Initially, it depended on reruns of popular series in syndication.
By the end of the decade, PAX began offering new series based on
moral premises. Dave had worked with Sagansky at CBS, so it’s
no surprise that Sagansky called Dave about creating some shows
for PAX.
Doc
and Sue
Doc debuted in 2000, and Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye in 2002.
Both quickly developed a loyal viewing audience.
Doc follows the adventures of Dr. Clint Cassidy (Billy Ray
Cyrus) after he moves his practice from rural Montana to New York
City. Sue Thomas is based on the real- life story of a severely
deaf young woman who landed a job with the FBI in Washington, DC.
Sue Thomas gets a boost in its appeal from Jesse, the actor
dog known as Levi in the series. The real-life Sue Thomas is assisted
by hearing dog Amazing Grace. Hearing dogs serve the deaf much as
seeing eye dogs serve the blind. They alert their deaf owners to
a ringing doorbell, a ringing phone, a voice, or any number of other
sounds that help the person function in a hearing world.
The Johnsons are openly frustrated with a secular media shutout
of publicity about the two series. “We have a really tough
time getting any attention from the secular press,” Dave says,
“even though our numbers are much bigger than other shows they
pump all the time.”
He cites Queer Eye for the Straight Guy as an example. “Everybody
in the secular press is calling it a monster hit,” says Dave.
“After their pilot episode they’re on Jay Leno,
all the morning talk shows, they’re on the cover of Entertainment
Weekly magazine. TV Guide talks about them.
“The pilot episode for Queer Eye did a 1.1 rating. The
pilot for Doc did a 2.5 rating. Sue Thomas did a 2.0
rating. Yet we couldn’t get on any of the [talk] shows. We
went to them, and they still wouldn’t let us on.”
It is ironic that Sue Thomas, with its politically correct
theme – a title character who can claim minority status –
is shut out of the press. The character is played by Deanne Bray,
a deaf actress. Such shows usually draw rave reviews and accolades.
Yet Sue Thomas has received hardly a nod of recognition from
media or the industry.
What the Johnsons have done with these two series is remarkable.
“Still,” says Dave, “we can’t get secular press
to talk about us as a hit, to do anything.”
He and Gary give a number of ways viewers can have an impact for
good in the industry. First is to pray. Second, watch their shows
and other decent series, and talk to friends and family about them.
Third, they say it does help to contact advertisers with E-mails,
phone calls and letters.
James Keenley, marketing director for both series, says they appreciate
advertisers like KFC, Campbell and Merck, who have regularly supported
the shows (See Action Index below.)
Dave admits that Christians are never going to redeem all of Hollywood.
“But,” he asks, “what are the consequences if we
don’t even try?”
action
index
Use
this information to write or call advertisers cited in this issue’s
TV reviews.
Campbell Soup Company
Chrm. George M. Sherman
Campbell Place
Camden, NJ 08103
Phone: 856-342-4800
Toll Free: 1-800-257-8443
www.campbellsoup.com
Products: Campbell’s soups, tomato juice, and beans, Franco-American
pasta, Godiva chocolates, Pace picante sauce and salsa, Pepperidge
Farm cookies, crackers & breads, Prego spaghetti sauce, Swanson
broths, V-8 vegetable juice
Merck & Co., Inc.
Chrm. Raymond V. Gilmartin
P. O. Box 100
Whitehouse Station, NJ 08889
Phone: 908-423-1000
Toll Free: 1-800-613-2104
www.merck.com
Products: Frontline pet medication, Heartgard pet supplies, Propecia
hair restorative product, Zocor
Yum! Brands, Inc.
Chrm. David C. Novak
1441 Gardiner Lane
Louisville, KY 40213
Phone: 502-874-8300
Toll Free: 1-888-874-4986
www.yum.com
Products: Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell
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