Anti Scientology On Cbs (0=

posted on March 30th, 2006, 4:39 am

Is CBS' Cult Pilot Cruising for Trouble?
Could a CBS pilot be the next flashpoint in Hollywood's growing conflict with Scientology?

With Comedy Central's "South Park" in a major fracas involving celebrity Scientologists Tom Cruise and Isaac Hayes, CBS is scheduled to wrap shooting in Vancouver late this week on "Orpheus," a dramatic pilot by writer and executive producer Nicholas Meyer ("Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan") about an organization that bears a striking resemblance to L. Ron Hubbard's Church of Scientology.

According to a copy of the script obtained by Channel Island, "Orpheus" concerns Guy (Nicholas D'Agosto), a young would-be lawyer whose whirlwind romance with small-town siren Sue Ellen (Mena Suvari) sidetracks him into a shadowy, menacing group called "Grand Design," or GD. GD attracts new believers with a bestselling quasi-philosophical book akin to Hubbard's "Dianetics" and, like Scientology, uses a complicated ranking system for followers. To describe spiritual beings who haven't ascended to a higher plane, GD uses the word "Galatean," a barely disguised echo of the Scientology term "thetan." GD-ers even boast of their exploits on behalf of victims of Hurricane Katrina, recalling similar missions publicized by Scientologists.

"If 12 people believe something, they're a cult," Suvari's Sue Ellen says, "but if a hundred million believe it, they're a religion."

Asked about the similarities with Scientology, Lauri Metrose, a spokeswoman for CBS Paramount Network Television, replied in an email, "You are reading an early draft and there have been (as with any pilot) many changes big and small. The cult is an amalgamation of all cults throughout history." The draft that Channel Island obtained is dated Jan. 20, 2006.

A spokesman for the Church of Scientology did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Viacom, which until recently was CBS' corporate parent (CBS is now a division of CBS Corp.), has been on a collision course with Scientology lately. The media giant's Comedy Central last week yanked a scheduled repeat of a "South Park" episode that mercilessly lampooned Cruise and Scientology, reportedly after Cruise threatened to stop PR activities for Paramount's upcoming "Mission: Impossible 3." (Reps for Cruise and Paramount told this column that the star had made no such threats.) Viacom pulled the same episode, "Trapped in the Closet," from the Paramount Comedy 1 network in Britain earlier this year, reportedly after Cruise threatened to sue.

Earlier this month, Hayes, a Scientologist who had voiced the character of Chef on "South Park" since 1997, asked to be released from his contract, claiming that the series espouses "inappropriate ridicule of religious communities." "South Park" co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone responded with an episode on Wednesday that depicted Chef as brainwashed by a pedophile cult called the Super Adventure Club.




Photo: Dima Gavrysh / Associated Press

March 26, 2006 | Permalink



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