ABC tries to avoid eternal damnation with a "spiritual" show from Lost's Carlton Cuse

Seeking to counterbalance its growing number of shows that will anger God, ABC has purchased the “spiritual drama” Stronger, which concerns a musician who finds his calling as a benefactor and spiritual guide to others—because what a musician could really use is another non-paying job. Anyway, if it sounds a bit like Highway To Heaven or Touched By An Angel with a bit of music thrown in to chase some of the Glee audience, well, it is. However, the word is that the shows won’t be so straightforwardly about The Word, but rather have a “healthy dose of humor” and offer a more sideways approach to spirituality. Fittingly, its co-creators are Lost’s Carlton Cuse—who did exactly that in the show’s final season in the sideways world, where everyone hugged their way out of purgatory—and author and Mars Hill Bible Church founder Rob Bell, whose books like the recent Love Wins preach a less dogmatic, more openly inviting version of Christianity, one that teaches to accept that certain mysteries will never be answered and learn to appreciate that. Obviously, Cuse and Bell really hit it off.