The Promised Land (Christian TV Review)
An unavoidable derivativeness keeps the show from fully establishing its own identity, but an energetic blend of humor and heart makes it a fun, unique contribution to the faith-based industry. Love it or hate it, you’ve probably never seen the Bible like this before.
About the Film
“Imagine the Book of Exodus in the style of The Office.” That’s the mash-up The Promised Land attempts to deliver. Is the wacky concept destined to bring back the notorious “Christian alternative” cringe of 1990s religious subculture, or will it blaze a fresh path in the often risk-averse faith-based industry? The answer is . . . yes. Like Moses leading the Israelites through the Red Sea, The Promise Land mostly travels between those two banks. An unavoidable derivativeness keeps the show from fully establishing its own identity, but an energetic blend of humor and heart makes it a fun, unique contribution to the faith-based industry. Love it or hate it, you’ve probably never seen the Bible like this before.
We may be in a golden age of faith-based storytelling—with a significant increase in both quantity and quality in recent years—but the industry largely remains unadventurous in tone and genre. It includes inspirational family dramas, biopics of Christian saints, serious Bible adaptations, and . . . not much else. To that end, The Promised Land offers a welcome (and necessary) change of pace as a full-fledged comedy.
At first glance, some Christians may find the idea of the show concerning (even offensive). After all, this sort of spoofy entertainment has historically been employed by secular creators to mock God and the Bible. Thankfully, The Promised Land is not that show. As series creator Mitch Hudson shared in our interview, God is holy, but the people who follow him are not. Therein lies the potential for plenty of good-natured humor. While maintaining a clear reverence for God, the show seeks to humanize the biblical heroes we often place on a lofty pedestal.
Humor is subjective, but I found The Promised Land to be quite funny. Most of the jokes will make you grin rather than laugh out loud, but there are also several legitimately hilarious gags. As with most successful comedies, the humor arises largely from the characters finding themselves in real-world, relatable situations.
The first couple episodes are consistently funny and entertaining, but I already started to feel the gimmick lose some of its initial charm. Having Moses (Wasim No’mani) break the fourth wall and gaze at the camera with a deadpan expression is amusing, but by the fourth or fifth time in the same episode, it starts to become a crutch. For as much as I enjoyed the debut episodes, the show began to feel like an extended SNL sketch at risk of overstaying its welcome.
That’s not to suggest that the show can’t keep the good times rolling. After all, shows like The Office and Parks and Recreation had long and successful runs using similar gimmicks. The key to its potential longevity is its characters. It’s hard to judge the characters based on only a few episodes (The Office famously took several seasons to find its footing), but The Promised Land has a promising foundation. Moses and Aaron (Majed Sayess) are both great, but the early scene-stealing standout is Miriam (Shereen Khan), an artistically ambitious (if overconfident) woman who is constantly overlooked by her brothers.
The show is at its best when going for laughs. Its attempts at more serious moments are less effective. These dramatic scenes feel tacked on as moral lessons at the end of each episode. For such an intentionally lighthearted show, including tear-jerking serious drama is obviously not required, but I’m curious whether the show will be able to develop any more depth.
Overall, The Promised Land is off to an intriguing start. The jury is still out as to how far the central gimmick can be stretched. But as a free-to-watch show housed on YouTube, expectations need not be set too high. The show may take time to fully find its footing, but these first episodes are a breath of fresh air. The Promised Land is the type of show needed to shake up the faith-based industry.
For Consideration
On the Surface—(Profanity, Sexual content, violence, etc.).
Language: None.
Violence: None.
Sexuality: There are several jokes about a period of consecration during which the Israelites are unable to have sex with their wives.
Other: None.
Engage The Film
Following God in Everyday Life
In a sense, despite being a Bible adaptation, The Promised Land isn’t primarily about faith or God. It’s about the daily struggles people face. Some of those challenges are depicted in a slightly anachronistic way, portraying biblical events through the lens of modern sensibilities. But the show operates under the conviction that human nature hasn’t really changed. Life is difficult, and following God is challenging, and that has been true from biblical times until today.
In the pilot episode, Moses is counseled by his father-in-law, “You cannot do this alone.” In many ways, that is the foundation of the show. Faith-based entertainment is often quick to emphasize that Christians are never truly alone when they have a relationship with God. The creators of The Promised Land would likely affirm that sentiment. But despite its breezy, lighthearted nature, the show is arguably more honest about the nitty gritty challenges of life and, thus, the need for community. The Promised Land is not about big dramatic moments of faith and deliverance; it’s about the daily grind.
With a “lesson of the week” format, each episode explores a different relatable challenge. The opening episode emphasizes the importance of trusting others to help carry the load. Episode two focuses on self-doubt as a dispirited Moses—feeling superfluous and ill-equipped to lead the Israelites through the desert—asks, “Why did God choose me?”
