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Biblical television: A Genesis story comes to Lifetime

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Author: 
Andrew Warren / TV Media
Minnie Driver stars in “The Red Tent”

Minnie Driver stars in “The Red Tent”

Biblical television: It turns out that films based on the Bible can find an audience after all.

In 1965, "The Greatest Story Ever Told," a big-budget Max von Sydow Hollywood epic that told the story of Jesus, royally flopped at the box office, casting a funding chill over Bible-based entertainment.

These days, though, an entirely different story is being told. Last year's "The Bible" miniseries on History was a huge success, and earlier this year, Russell Crowe wowed audiences and critics alike in the big screen's "Noah." Now, Lifetime is bringing one of the Bible's lesser known stories to the screen. "The Red Tent," a two-part miniseries, airs Sunday and Monday, Dec. 7 and 8, on the A E Networks cabler.

Based on the novel of the same name by Anita Diamant, which expanded and elaborated on the story of Dinah found in Genesis, "The Red Tent" has assembled an exciting cast to bring her tale to life.

Playing the role of the maiden herself is Golden Globe nominee Rebecca Ferguson ("The White Queen"), and she's far from the only cast member who has an award nomination attached to her name. She'll be joined on screen by Oscar, Emmy and Golden Globe nominee Minnie Driver ("Good Will Hunting," 1997, "About a Boy") and Emmy nominee Morena Baccarin ("Homeland"), along with Iain Glen ("Game of Thrones"), Will Tudor ("Game of Thrones") and Oscar nominee Debra Winger ("Terms of Endearment," 1983).

As people familiar with the Bible's source material will remember, Dinah's story is not one particularly long or detailed -- in fact, she's only written about in relation to her male relatives. "The Red Tent" (both the novel and miniseries) takes that story's seed and runs with it, fleshing out this young maiden's tale into a sweeping epic about womanhood set in a male-dominated age.

Biblical epics may have had a decades-long rough patch, but they're definitely a force to be reckoned with now. "The Red Tent" airs its two parts Sunday and Monday, Dec. 7 and 8, on Lifetime.

 

Bringing back the smarts: You just can't keep a good show down.

When "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" premiered all the way back in 2007, it was a pretty big hit with audiences, and although it's been off the air for a while now, it looks like Fox has a renewed confidence in the charming game show. A new season of "5th Grader" has been ordered by the network, with an anticipated premiere in early 2015.

Luckily, the show's original host is returning as well. Comedian Jeff Foxworthy ("The Smurfs," 2011, "Blue Collar TV") always straddled a fine line between gently poking fun at his contestants' intellects while keeping the show lighthearted and family friendly, and his reunion with Fox will no doubt be good news to fans of the show's original run.

Although the rules of the game were tweaked somewhat between the regular and syndicated runs of "5th Grader," the basic premise of the game remained the same and will no doubt remain similar in the revival. In each episode, a single contestant is presented with a series of questions taken straight out of elementary school textbooks.

Get a question right, win money and move on to the next one. Unfortunately, it isn't nearly as easy as it sounds: a lot of these questions relate to subjects that some folks probably haven't even thought about in decades! Luckily, there's a group of actual fifth graders on hand to lend their pint-sized expertise to the oftentimes vexed contestants.

While Foxworthy may be the big name, if the "5th Grader" revival is anything like the original, it will be the kids who are the real stars on the screen. Watch for the "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" revival early next year on Fox.

 

A wonderful time of year: The big day is quickly rushing towards us, and that can mean only one thing: lots and lots of holiday programming on TV.

Even folks who are more likely to throw up their hands and say "humbug!" at the season than they are to hang up the mistletoe will be inundated with Christmas specials and holiday episodes on TV all month, and with its packed holiday lineup, CBS is definitely one of the networks getting into the spirit of the season.

Sunday, Dec. 7, will feature a special showing of one of TV's classic comedies. Two unique colorized "I Love Lucy" Christmas episodes -- the "lost" Christmas episode and "Job Switching," also known as "Chocolate Factory" -- will be airing back-to-back, making them the perfect introduction to some classic 1950s humor for the younger generations.

Tuesday, Dec. 9, sees the longest-running Christmas special in all of television, 1964's "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." The stop motion classic recounts the tale of the famous young reindeer with the beacon-like nose as he makes friends with a group of other misfits -- and ends up saving Christmas in the end.

On Saturday, Dec. 13, CBS is presenting a much younger classic, the 1992 favorite "Frosty Returns," featuring the voice of John Goodman ("Roseanne") as the titular snowman.

The special programming will continue across all the major networks up until the big day on Dec. 25, so grab a hot mug of cocoa and settle in for some classic television. And if you're more Scrooge than Santa, just remember: if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.