Fox's Lucifer might have more to fear from bad NYT & Slate reviews than from AFA, One Million Moms

HOLLYWOOD (Christian Examiner) — With reviews from the New York Times calling it an "incoherent mess" and Slate dubbing it "apocalyptically bad," the new FOX television drama series Lucifer might have less to fear tonight from One Million Moms and the American Family Association than it does from the audience it had hoped to entertain.

Since One Million Moms and its affiliate, the American Family Association, encouraged constituents to sign a petition asking Fox Network to drop its plans to air the new series, 134,307 have signed a petition in protest of the comic-book based, cop-like show with the devil as an almost hero.

"The Devil has come to Los Angeles," Fox said in a description of the new show last May.

According to the network's description of the plot, the fallen angel grows weary of being the lord of hell. He leaves the abode and retires to Los Angeles, the City of Angels, where he opens an upscale nightclub called Lux.

That account caught the eyes of critics who were none too happy with how the series portrayed Christians, they said, and how, more importantly, it distorts the Bible.

In a clear reversal of the biblical account of Satan in which he is described as a murderer and the ruler of this world who is eternally consigned to hell by God as punishment, the plot turns him into a "good guy" whose character is admirable and evokes sympathy from viewers, One Million Moms said.

And now it seems those concerned with the violence in the series, and its moral tone aren't the only ones skeptical of the series.

The NYT review was less than positive, along with other reviews, including the Slate review that calls it "bad television."