Religious Television Programmes

Religious Television Programmes

There are three main types of religious programmes; magazine, worship

and documentary. Throughout my essay I hope to explore these

programmes, providing examples and discussing their effect on an

audience. I hope to do this by evaluating and analysing the different

programmes. I will also discuss the reasons behind why they are made.

Religious programmes are made for a reason. They are a replacement to

going to a church or another place of worship. They may be aimed at

disabled people who can't get to church, or people who have busy

lifestyles, either way; they aim to bring religion to people's homes.

One of the three types of religious programmes is a magazine type

programme. An example of a magazine type programme is the Heaven and

Earth Show, which can be seen on BBC1 at 10.00am, in the god - slot

(usually Saturday or Sunday morning). They are called magazine type

programmes because they include a variety of items e.g. interviews,

guests, discussions, debates, phone-in…

The Heaven and Earth show, as the title suggests, tires to give the

impression that Earth is connected to Heaven through religion or

through a television programme, on Sunday morning, at 10.00am on the

BBC! Which can mislead people to think that if they watch it, they

will go to heaven? As in the end most of us would rather go to heaven

than hell, I for one.

The show opens with different people of different faiths, doing

different everyday things. This suggests that the show is for anybody

and everybody. This is carried on with the choice of presenters; there

are two, a man and a woman, which sub-consciously gives the impression

that the show is for both men and women.

The show is very informal, which is purposely done, to help make

people comfortable and help to bring religion into the home, easily.

They create the informal appearance with the aid of the presenters and

the set. The presenters hold cups of "tea", which are actually empty

and just make the presenters look stupid.