Time is Definitely NOT Standing Still for CTV Comedy Channel’s MIRACLE WORKERS

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede It’s clearly a special night when TV viewers can time-travel in back-to-back episodes, while essentially watching the same show. This unique opportunity presents itself Thursday on CTV Comedy Channel, with the Season 1 finale of the anthology series MIRACLE WORKERS airing at 10 p.m. ET, followed immediately by the Season 2 premiere, at 10:30 p.m. ET. Season 2 is technically titled MIRACLE WORKERS: DARK AGES, and therein lies the time-travel element. Starring Steve Buscemi as God and Daniel Radcliffe as an angel named Craig, Season 1 of MIRACLE WORKERS has been set in modern times, as Craig tries to find a way to convince God to reverse his plan to destroy the Earth. But one of the taglines for Season 2 is, “same cast, new story,” with Buscemi, Radcliffe, and all the others taking on completely different roles in the Dark Ages. Busemi, Radcliffe, and creator Simon Rich talked about MIRACLE WORKERS at the recent Television Critics Association event in Pasadena, Calif., where they were asked how they think they might have fared had they lived in the real Dark Ages. “What’s weird was doing a show like this, and then being so grateful for what we have,” Buscemi said. “Every morning I would take a shower and go, ‘Well, you couldn’t do this then!’ Or flush the toilet. It really does make you grateful for just everyday things that you take for granted. So no, I probably wouldn’t have survived.” Radcliffe added, “I agree with all of that. Whenever somebody says, ‘I was born out of my time’ or ‘I wish I had been born in a different time’ I say, ‘No you don’t  … it was TERRIBLE.’ ” MIRACLE WORKERS: DARK AGES sees Radcliffe playing a character named Prince Chauncely, who doesn’t want to go into the family business, which happens to be tyrannical murder. “But he is kind of psychotically stupid, and has a complete lack of empathy or self-awareness,” Radcliffe said. “So that’s where we find him at the beginning, which is incredibly fun to do.” Of course, Radcliffe was asked about the coincidence of playing a prince who doesn’t really want to be a prince, at a time when Harry and Meghan have been making international news for much the same reason. “I’m going to start my answer by saying that I’m not going to give an answer to the Harry and Meghan thing, because if I give an answer to that, nothing else I talk about in this thing (will be noticed) … so I don’t really have an opinion on it,” said Radcliffe, deftly ducking the query. As for Rich, he stressed that MIRACLE WORKERS: DARK AGES should not be taken as a historical document of any serious kind. “I did study Medieval History at Harvard, and I live in fear that they’re going to somehow get access to a television and watch this,” Rich said. “I think I would get a very sternly worded letter from them. It’s not the most historically accurate show. So apologies to all my former professors … It’s meant to be more about present-day reality, and the Dark Ages are used as a metaphor for some of the stuff we’re dealing with now. It’s less of a Medieval satire, I would say, than a show about today … but slanted.” billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv