HBO's Big Love Causes Big Commotion

HBO's Big Love Causes Big Commotion
March 11th, 2009

The HBO drama plans to reveal an LDS temple ceremony as part of its March 15th episode

It is no secret that many Mormons despise HBO for their hit show Big Love. The controversial drama portrays the fictional life of a polygamist Utah family and notoriously makes little attempt to distinguish the fundamentalist approach of its characters with mainstream LDS doctrine. However, on March 15th, the show will take a step that many say crosses the line: the episode will include a depiction of a Mormon temple ceremony.

Publication of sacred LDS rites is not new, and transcripts, pictures, and videos of the temple ceremony can already be found on many sites on the internet, including Wikipedia.

Mark Olsen, one of the show's creators says, "the episode will include the depiction of an endowment ceremony within a Mormon temple. We go into the endowment room and the celestial room, and we present what happens in those ceremonies. That's never been shown on television before."

In order to maintain historical accuracy, Olsen says that he hired an "ex-Mormon consultant" to help with the scenes and costuming. Though some disagree, he claims this forray into highly controversial waters is not for shock value: "It's really a very important part of the story."

Big Love is co-produced by Tom Hanks, who recently made remarks attacking the LDS faith during the Sundance Film Festival, which he has since apologized for.

Before the first season of the HBO series "Big Love" aired more than two years ago, the show's creators and HBO executives assured the Church that the series wouldn't be about Mormons, the LDS statement read. However, Internet references to "Big Love" indicate that more and more Mormon themes are now being woven into the show and that the characters are often unsympathetic figures who come across as narrow and self-righteous.

-Official Statement from the LDS Church

In a statement issued Tuesday, HBO said it did not intend to be disrespectful of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and apologized.

-KSL

News of the episode hit the Internet last week, prompting talk of boycotts of the network and e-mail chains to church members to cancel their subscriptions to AOL, which along with Time Warner, owns the pay cable network.

-Salt Lake Tribune

Last week some LDS Church members began e-mail chains calling for cancellation of subscriptions to AOL, which, like HBO, is owned by Time Warner. The church said individual members have the right to take such actions if they choose.

-Mormon Times

I ask any higher ups who may look at this thread, can you just please cut out whatever scene is causing all this mess? I ask as a fan of the show who has waited patiently between seasons and has even bought those expensive seasons on DVD and as an active LDS, I have no doubt that whatever story you are telling can be told without displaying any of the content of the Temple ordinances, be it the Initiatory, the Endowment, or anything else.

-From the Official Big Love forums