Catholics are furious about a new FX sitcom, Partners, which debuted on August 4 and featured an all-out attack on Catholic priests.
The new sitcom is about two Chicago lawyers, Marcus Jackson (played by Martin Lawrence) and Allen Braddock (played by Kelsey Grammer). Jackson is portrayed as a “kind-hearted community activist” who is going through a divorce while Braddock is an elitist lawyer who has just been fired from his father’s firm. The two desperate lawyers develop a friendship that is supposed to create a lot of laughs.
Unfortunately, it’s first episode, which aired on Monday evening at 9:00 p.m., was riddled with bad jokes and a downright bigoted attack on Catholic priests. The story line involved a decision by Jackson to investigate his ex-wife who has “found religion” and is now living in the rectory of the parish where she serves as a bookkeeper. He’s convinced that she’s sleeping with one of the priests.
The two break into the rectory hoping to confront the priest, but find his room empty. They find a set of rosary beads and insinuate that they are used for sex, along with a box of condoms, then convince themselves that Jackson’s ex-wife is sleeping with the priest. The two then launch into a slew of raunchy jokes about the priest.
Catholic League president Bill Donohue called the show “little more than a bigoted attack on priests and the Catholic Church” and was happy to report that even the Church-hating New York Times called the show “painful” and said “the proceedings mostly make you wince.”
Variety also called the show “woefully flat” and “depressing” and reported that it garnered a little over one million viewers – considered no more than a “modest” first showing.
“This isn’t our first go-around with FX,” Donohue writes. “Now they have a new problem: it’s bad enough that the critics trashed Partners, but FX can now be assured that practicing Catholics who mistakenly tuned in for the first episode won’t be back.”
He’s urging the faithful to contact John Solberg, senior VP of media relations for FX at John.Solberg@fxnetwork.com.
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