On Religion: Will Leanne Morgan’s Faith Make The Cut In Netflix Sitcom?
(ANALYSIS) It’s hard to take Jell-O salad to the after-church brunch a few hours after your husband of 33 years runs off with a younger woman.
But the old-fashioned church Leanne Morgan attends in her summer Netflix sitcom does have a Philippians 4:13 poster in the fellowship hall proclaiming: “I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.”
Alas, the faithful are walking stereotypes. Asked how she's doing, a widow offers a pasted-on smile and says she is “basking in the sunshine of our Savior.” Leanne remains silent about her marriage disaster until she cracks and dashes, shouting out the door.
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“You've been a good Christian your whole life,” her twice-divorced sister quips. “You're entitled to a small psychotic break in fellowship.”
The writers room for “Leanne” did some Southern-church research, but the faith content is nowhere near as smart and on-target as Morgan's stand-up comedy, said Randall King, who teaches classes in video storytelling at North Greenville University in South Carolina (and who is also a frequent Religion Unplugged contributor).
“It's not anti-Christian. ... But some of the people behind this show are totally tone-deaf when it comes to the Christian faith. And we know that isn't the case with Leanne," he said, reached by telephone. "You can be smart and funny and moral. Leanne Morgan is all of that. ... That's what we want, if you're going to take her comedy up a level” into a sitcom.
After bingeing “Leanne,” King said “it’s obvious that the character Leanne is playing is a believer. But it's like she's all alone, surrounded by hypocrites making jokes. ... Is it realistic that no one close to her shares her faith and can help?”
King admits that his interest in the Netflix series is linked to his “darling fanboy” appreciation of Morgan's stand-up skills. Plus, the comedienne and her real-life husband live in the booming "new South" city of Knoxville, Tenn.
She has a University of Tennessee degree in child and family studies. King earned his communications doctorate there while continuing his work as a reporter, producer and anchor in broadcast journalism.
Truth is, YouTube clips turned Morgan into an "overnight sensation" after two decades of stand-up comedy, mostly in women's groups and at church events and small comedy clubs. Now she stars in a series produced by Chuck Lorre of “Two and a Half Men,” “The Big Bang Theory” and “Young Sheldon.” While her character is a mother and grandmother shoved into post-divorce dating, Morgan is some of that — but with a solid marriage entering its third decade.
Doing the Netflix show is a challenge, Morgan told Glamour, but she decided: “OK, I’ve made a commitment. This is what I’ve always wanted. God has me here for a reason. He's got me this far. Let's do it.” Her years of struggle were “God's way of showing me how to cope.”
The question is whether a cornerstone of her comedy — King called it “God, grace and goodness” in his Turn it Off media-literacy newsletter — remains in place.
It's logical for Morgan fans who frequent pews to worry about that.
“I don't think that we have to be hostile every time we turn something on, but we can watch with a sense of discernment,” he said, echoing themes from his Substack newsletter. “Don’t just sit down, turn off your brain and settle for cheap laughs." Also, it isn't enough to worry about sex, violence and bad language. "We need to pay attention to the stories themselves, what they're saying and what they're teaching us. We need to think more. We need to expect more.”
What will happen if “Leanne” continues? King said he hopes that Morgan will be given a chance to weave more of her comedy into plotlines, perhaps through a saved marriage. After all, sitcom history contains hits that mix marriage, family and gentle doses of faith — such as “Home Improvement” and “Everybody Loves Raymond.”
The audience is out there, as Morgan has demonstrated on stage.
“People who have been around and have been married as long as Leanne, they get it,” said King, referring to the comedienne's saucy stories about wives, husbands, parenting, aging, sex, expanding waistbands and, yes, religious faith. “They know all about that, and they know she knows it, too. So, they laugh. It's freeing.”
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Terry Mattingly is Senior Fellow on Communications and Culture at Saint Constantine College in Houston. He lives in Elizabethton, Tennessee, and writes Rational Sheep, a Substack newsletter on faith and mass media.