Apparently, numerous viewers watched last night’s segment of the 10-hour miniseries and thought the actor portraying the devil bore more than a slight resemblance to Obama, as in President Barack Obama.

The producers of the hit series, Mark Burnett and Roma Downey, were just in Oklahoma City and I had a chance to interview them. If I’d seen last night’s show before the interview, would I have asked them if they purposely chose to depict Satan to resemble the president? You bet I would have.

Read on for stories about this latest development:

Reuters: “‘The Bible’ producers dismiss devil character’s resemblance to Obama”

Yahoo TV:  ”Actor who portrays the devil on History’s ‘The Bible’ looks like Obama”

Los Angeles Times: “‘The Bible’ producers deny Satan meant to look like President Obama” 

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor

No start date has been set as yet, according to the magazine.

I predit that folks interested in this touchy topic will be waiting in anticipation of how the cable channel will  approach the subject.

One tidbit that EW writer James Hibbard included in his Inside TV column did catch my eye. Hibbard writes that people involved with the new show, to be called “The Exorcist Files,” have had access to the Vatican’s case files on exorcism.

The column made me think back to last fall when I was researching information for my Oct. 15 story about exorcism. The topic came up when a Satanist church rented a public room at the Civic Center Music Hall where they performed what they called a “satanic exorcism.”

I do believe I’m going to watch this new show since my curiousity has now been piqued.

Read EW’s Inside TV column for more information: “Exclusive: Discovery, Catholic Church team for exorcism series.”    

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor