The comedy series Good Omens has become a surprise hit here in Australia and pretty much everywhere else, on the grounds that it’s a hilarious adaptation of the similarly hilarious novel by Neil Gaiman and the late Terry Pratchett.
The premise – an angel (played by Michael Sheen) and a devil (played by David Tennant) team up to prevent the end of the world – has upset some excitingly inept protestors in the US.
There was a petition circulating explaining that they don’t like that God is a woman (voiced by Frances McDormand), they don’t like that the Antichrist is a normal 11 year old child, they don’t like “this type of video [which] makes light of Truth, Error, Good and Evil, and destroys the barriers of horror that society still has for the devil” and they have concerns that Tennant’s demon Crowley is far too appealing.
And thus they have called upon Netflix to immediately cancel the show. And there are two problems with this.
One, the six episode series has covered the entire book. And since Pratchett is gone and no sequel ever appeared, a second season doesn’t seem like a thing that would happen. So it would appear that they’re calling for the cancellation of an already completed show.
And two, it’s not on Netflix. It’s on Amazon Prime, an entirely different service.
Gaiman was suitably impressed by the petition…
…and Netflix threw some low key shade too.
…before loads of religious viewers chimed in supporting the show and saying how they appreciated how it dealt with some very complex theological issues.
As of this morning the petition appears to have been taken down. So we guess they… won?