Religion: That's Showbiz?

NBC vs. the Nativity

In some ways it might better have been called All in the Holy Family. Mary and Joseph look like a couple of '60s flower children, he curly-haired and callow, she snub-nosed, discreetly nubile, with a hint of freckles. Much of what happens to them is intended as dramatic improvement on the work of the original scriptwriters, Matthew and Luke. Mary's father, for instance, is crucified for criticizing the government. Joseph's family has come down in the world, its ancestral wealth having been snatched from it by greedy King Herod. Joseph...

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