- Network: NBC
- Series Premiere Date: Jan 6, 2006
Critic Reviews
- Critic score
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- By date
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"Daniel" is not that controversial, but is really pretty damned, oops, darned good.
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Witty, earnest, intelligent, overdone, overly ambitious, wildly entertaining and superbly cast.
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Darkly comedic and richly entertaining.
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A well-written and well-cast, if broadly drawn, show.
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An offbeat treat worth rooting for.
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A program that gets stronger as we get to know its characters better, and the quality of the cast helps tremendously.
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Whimsical and busy, "Daniel" is overly ambitious but highly watchable, with an interlocking web of smart-ass, squabbling but ultimately loving characters.
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"The Book of Daniel" turns out to be something rare to network television these days. It is a rich family drama that isn't afraid of dealing with real issues in a real way and with humor, falling somewhere between "Six Feet Under" and the late, lamented "Once and Again."
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Borders on terrific at times and falters in others.
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While the story and drama aren't always successful, and occasionally border on the cloying or trite, "Daniel" is something fresh, mildly provocative and amusingly performed.
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Thankfully, we are spared the misty earnestness of "Seventh Heaven."
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A well-intentioned drama with a few comedic quirks but without depth or greater purpose.
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The cast is heavenly in The Book of Daniel; the writing isn't.
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You may feel the faith-and-family themes could be handled better on cable--mainly because they have been.
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It's disappointing that Kenny felt the need to make this series so far over the top, because at its core, there's a great family show worth watching.
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It yearns to be an HBO-worthy drama that reckons with heady moral issues, but it can't resist the temptation of prime-time gloss and melodrama.
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Quinn radiates enough sincerity to make us keep reading this uneven book, just to see how it shapes up.
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These actors help save the show from pure whimsy and excess.
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The Book of Daniel is different and ambitious enough to bear watching at least for a little while.
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This is a series that throws so much lunacy into the plotlines that even the writers on "Dynasty" must be hissing.
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Despite a fine cast... in the end it works neither as comedy, satire, drama nor soap opera.
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The real mark against "The Book of Daniel" is not any antipathy it might show toward the family or sympathy for the devil. The real objection is that it's just not very good.
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I cannot recall a series in which a greater number of characters seemed so desperately detestable -- a series with a larger population of loathsome dolts. There ought to be a worse punishment than cancellation for a show that tries this hard to be offensive and, even at that crass task, manages to fail.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 90 out of 181
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Mixed: 3 out of 181
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Negative: 88 out of 181
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LCrisholmMay 8, 2007Tom Shales said it best: Tries desperately to be as incessantly offensive as often as possible on every subject possible -- and fails even at that.
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MarthaRJan 21, 2007Refreshing - crazy like life - I should know - I'm a Bishop's daughter!
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MJohnsonOct 22, 2006