Acting on faith

Catholic League president William A. Donohue responds to Tom Carson’s column (The Screen, December) on Kevin Smith’s film Dogma.

The Catholic League’s protest of the movie Dogma led Tom Carson to write, “Just once I’d like to see the blasphemous film that the people who make it their business to denounce these things keep promising me.” Gay bashers feel the same way – they keep waiting for a really good flick that sticks it to the homosexuals. Any bet which movie will never be made?

Cason also says, “This side of theocracy, I have no idea how today’s zealots justify their conviction that they have veto power over anything they dislike, since I don’t know what passage in the Constitution declares religion or any other hot potato off-limits to in-orthodox views.” That’s easy. It’s the same passage in the Constitution that homosexuals repaired to when they lay down on the set of Crusing to protest what they believed to be a bogoted film: It’s called the First Amendment. The only difference is that the Catholic League’s protest of Dogma didn’t do violence to anyone else’s rights.

Finally, Carson concludes that “Donohue has probably won simply by making Dogma an issue.” What’s with the “probably”?

WILLIAM A. DONOHUE
President, Catholic League
New York, N.Y.

Clerks Cartoon’s Seinfeld Pedigree

Seinfeld, Kevin Smith and The Superfriends. What’s the connection? One David Mandel, the award-winning Seinfeld scribe who penned the memorable Bizarro episode (among others) and is a creator/executive producer of ABC’s upcoming Clerks animated series.

How do Dante, Silent Bob and Jay differ from Seinfeld’s notoriously neurotic foursome? “One of the biggest differences is that there is an age thing,” Mandel tells TV Guide Online. “Seinfeld was about people in their 30s who were dealing with the foibles of their lives, and these characters are younger. These are the kids that were watching Seinfeld. There is something interesting about writing characters that the audience are rather than characters they will be in five or 10 years.”

Truth be told, there’s another reason why Mandel is so excited to be working on an edgy project like Clerks. “This may sound horrible, because Seinfeld was an incredible experience and a great show and I was a fan before I worked there, but you look around and everyone is doing Seinfeld. Everyone has taken Seinfeld, stolen Seinfeld. This is a chance to not do Seinfeld. These are not characters that sit around and worry that their girlfriend eats too many peas one at a time because, quite honestly, these guys don’t have girlfriends!”

That is not to say that Clerks won’t preoccupy itself with minutiae on occasion. On the contrary, Mandel says, the show will include “small little safety tips and magic tricks and stuff like that. Like the old Superfriends [cartoon].”

He’s joking, of course, but he tells us that “If you’re a fan of the Superfriends, you just may want to sit there [watching] with a pen and paper. Let’s just leave it at that.”- Jonathan Reiner

WHILE heavyweights like “The Green Mile,” “American Beauty” and “Topsy-Turvy” will battle for Academy Awards and other honors, a host of gems from 1999 offer just as much enjoyment for the adventurous moviegoer.

Many were released in the first half of the year, and that means they’re available at a video store near you, or will be arriving shortly.

Here is my list of the most underrated movies of the year.

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“DOGMA”: Kevin Smith’s latest effort divided critics, but it’s got a terrific, intelligent script (unlike the year’s other Armageddon epic, “End of Days”) and an amazing cast that includes Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino, Chris Rock, Salma Hayek — plus Alanis Morissette as God!