Is Kristin a Flicker of Dawn?

The NBC summer sitcom Kristin wont draw anywhere near as many viewers, or as much media attention, as the high-voltage shows from the last two summers, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and Survivor. Kristin, however, may turn out to be something more important than a buzz show. If prime time ever turns away to any meaningful extent from the breezy amorality thats been its stock-in-trade for the past quarter-century or so, Kristin will be seen as a milestone.

The June 4 New Yorker carried a lengthy article by John Lahr on Kristin. It dealt mostly with the programs driving forces: creator John Markus and star Kristin Chenoweth.

For six years, Markus was head writer for one of the best and most popular series ever, The Cosby Show. While casting another project a few years ago, he got to know Chenoweth, whos in her early thirties and has worked mostly on Broadway - she won a Tony for Youre a Good Man, Charlie Brown - and they, as he put it, clicked. Chenoweth is, in Lahrs words, a God-fearing Baptist whose buoyancy is underpinned by the Bibles good news. Both her optimism and her talent are indicative of a more innocent era of entertainment.

Markus started with what he calls a vague notion of a show about a good woman in a world that was immoral, but as he incorporated more and more of Chenoweths personality into the concept, he emerged with Kristin. As is the style these days, Chenoweth plays an actress named Kristin, but the character is less successful in her career than Chenoweth is in real life. The fictional Kristin has a day job as an assistant to Tommy, a real-estate tycoon whos approximately as sex-crazed as the typical sitcom character.

Not so Chenoweths character. Markus says that she will live by the following rules: she will not lie, she will not cheat, she will not break the law, she believes that marriage is a sacred vow, and she lives the way God asks her to live. In the obstacles to that goodness lies the humor.

Some will disapprove of virtually any treatment of sexual themes on broadcast television. But Kristin isnt, and presumably was never intended to be, a family show. Moreover, the racy jokes are justified in the sense that they more precisely, the sexually liberal mindset from which they spring can easily be understood as one of the obstacles to goodness that Markus was talking about.

Kristin addresses the amoral popular culture on its own turf. Its a gutsy play and a dramatic challenge to the institutional thinking of Hollywood.

The bottom line is that after two episodes, Kristin is the most admirable character on Kristin. Tommy, predictably, has put the moves on her, and colleagues have condescended to her, both to her face and behind her back (I hear she does it on the 749th date) yet shes stayed true to herself. In fact, those who tried to take advantage of her or belittle her are starting to respect her, even learn from her.

Sometimes its been a matter of shattering silly but widely held stereotypes about the religious. For example, in the premiere she makes it clear to Tommy that though shes devout, shes still quite interested in sex, but its an interest shell explore only after marriage. Ho-hum, you say. But when was the last time you saw that on TV?

In the second episode, shes lonely and initially attracted to the camaraderie of a few female co-workers. She spends some time with them, but soon tells them shell never fit in because theyre just too bawdy. Its another departure from Hollywoods typical portrayal of a Christian character who grows less repressed and, therefore, happier. Kristin is, and remains, comfortable with her faith.

Reviews for Kristin, unsurprisingly, have been largely negative. One critic said it was awful, another suggested that it was dreadful, and a third weighed in with horrendous. Thats OK. In 1994, upon the debut of Touched By an Angel, one critic described it as another example of why 90s America is the stupidest place on Earth. Angel is heading into its eighth season, still one of the most popular shows on CBS.

In the New Yorker piece, Markus says, Im having the same feelings that I had on The Cosby Show. Were taking a character American television viewers dont normally see as accessible and turning her into an Everyperson.

There are millions of people like Kristin Chenoweth in the TV audience. If enough of them watch Kristin, itll be around after this summer. Heres hoping.