This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
BYUtv got some of what it wants the most over the weekend — attention.
Attention from The New York Times, no less, which ran a story headlined "Pop Culture and Religious Sensibility on a Mormon TV Network" in the religion section.
There's nothing new in the story. It focuses on BYUtv's original series "Granite Flats," which Times writer Samuel G. Freedman describes as a "television series that has, emphatically, made a Mormon television network watchable. As it prepares for a third season, this mixture of family drama, police procedural and Cold War suspense yarn has earned widespread critical praise and an audience of about 500,000 households per episode.
"More to the Mormon point, 'Granite Flats' has found the sweet spot where popular culture combines with a religious sensibility. While there is nothing explicitly Mormon in the plotline, characters or dialogue of "Granite Flats," the show eschews profanity, nudity and severe violence, those staples of many of cable television's most acclaimed shows. And it uses a language of faith-based values."
It's an overwhelmingling positive look by an outsider at both BYUtv and "Granite Flats."