Photo: CBS Home Entertainment
In 1994, CBS aired the first episode of the drama Touched by an Angel. Telling the stories of kind, sincere, and loving angels who were sent by a loving God to help people on earth, the show became a respectable hit, with 20 million people tuning in on Sunday nights in its prime.
“We were trying to do a show about God,” said series creator and Executive Producer Martha Williamson when I spoke to her last week, “And the angels were asking people to step out in faith and ask God to help them. It was a hit also because it was something families could watch together. It was hard then and it’s hard now. We forget back when we first came on the air, families had really kind of fled the big three networks. There were not a lot of big family shows that people were watching. “Roseanne” was on the air but it was such a departure from the usual family sitcom people weren’t sure what to think about that yet. There was “Married with Children.” And everything was done with sort of tongue in cheek or a certain degree of cynicism or irony. And this was just a genuine show that tried to reach people.”
The stories usually centered on a person or a group of people faced with crisis, despair, or trouble. The angels came to them, revealing themselves with the declaration “I’m an angel. Sent by God,” and helped them to find comfort in faith. Sometimes, however, the show focused on global issues such as poverty, war, or inhumanity.
“One of the things that is very exciting to me are the number of college and twenty-somethings who have come up to me,” said Williamson, “And said, ‘You know I never watched the show because I was so busy or I didn’t think it was cool or I was in college and we didn’t do that. But I didn’t know what it was about. I didn’t realize it was about things I’m interested in now. Like human rights in China or slavery in the Sudan or racism in the South. I didn’t know that was the kind of thing you were talking about. I thought it was just angels flapping their wings.’ ”
CBS is now releasing specially themed DVDs of the series, one on hope and one on holidays. Williamson had her hand in the new release as well, selecting the episodes and introducing them.
“I’m actually in front of the camera for the first time to introduce these episodes," said Williamson, "You watch TV shows sometimes and you go, ‘Who wrote this, did they really believe that or were they just cranking out another episode?’ And to sit in front of the camera and take responsibility for the content of these shows and to say I believed what it says then and I believe it now. That’s an important thing. Gene Roddenberry said we should always boldly go where no man has gone before. He believed that in the 60s and he believed that until he died. These are your babies. This is something you bring to life and you continue to develop and you stand behind the message and to be able to do that is a real privilege.”
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