ABC's New Dramedy Eli Stone Will Test Your Faith in Television, God

God works in mysterious ways. This maxim is all too familiar for star Jonny Lee Miller in his new series Eli Stone, which premiered Jan. 31 on ABC.

This dramedy features a lawyer named Eli Stone (Miller) who begins to believe that he is a prophet. While God may have chosen Stone to be a vessel to communicate his message to earth, He did not choose to be all that clear in the communication process. Case in point: God sends singer George Michael to sing “Faith” in Stone’s apartment as a sign to Stone that he is in fact a prophet. As a result, what emerges is a more whimsical version of shows like Joan of Arcadia, in which the title character is only told what to do through cryptic (and outlandish) clues.

If God can’t be clear in telling Stone what to do, at least he has a good imagination. Whether it is a biplane chasing Stone through the streets of San Francisco or having him imagine his cynical boss (Alias’s Victor Garber) break into song and dance, Stone’s prophetic visions are eccentric and idiosyncratic. This ultimately becomes both the show’s blessing and its curse. Certain screwball flourishes set this series apart from what could have been a standard lawyer drama. The show is a bit of an oddball and wears its quirkiness proudly, exuding an idiosyncratic charm.
This charm is facilitated by Miller’s outstanding turn as the title character. Stone can be a materialistic jerk, but Miller gives him an impish vulnerability that gives the character his depth. Miller’s skinny body, hunched posture, and frequent clueless facial expressions make it seem as if Stone’s arrogance is only a compensation for his scrawny physical size. This choice lends the character a great deal of likability without having to sugarcoat his many sophomoric tendencies.

While the show’s peculiarities certainly can be unique and satisfying, they can also be a serious liability. Creator Greg Berlanti (Brothers and Sisters, Dirty Sexy Money) fills many of his other projects with quirky, comic characters and situations, often quite successfully. Yet Stone gives off the exasperating sense that Berlanti is simply trying too hard. The pilot episode features everything from characters breaking into choreographed musical numbers, to Stone going on a sabbatical to India, to an autistic child spelling prophetic messages through toy blocks. In attempting to balance such bizarre comic farce with serious courtroom drama, the pilot falls apart under its own ambitions. In later episodes, the series begins to calm down and finds a better balance between Stone’s eccentric prophetic visions and the more sober courtroom scenes. Tonight’s episode is the best of the series so far, creating a touching story arc concerning a man that comes out of a long coma. It is sweet and humorous without leaving a saccharine aftertaste.

Essentially, Eli Stone is one mess of a television series. It hasn’t yet found that measured equilibrium of broad humor and serious drama. Yet, with some much-needed restraint (and possibly a little spiritual intervention), the series could blossom into an enjoyable hour of television. Why should you trust such a series to find its correct footing? As George Michael repeatedly sings in the series’ pilot, “Sometimes you gotta have faith.”