Bible in August

The title is a feeble play on Light in August, for you Faulkner fans. Which is a little mean of me, because Light in August is the only Faulkner novel I ever liked at all.

But enough literary criticism. The Bible-based quizzer American Bible Challenge comes to GSN in August, if recent promos on the network aren't apocryphal (sorry). This project has already turned controversial on the game show Internets. Even Carrie Grosvenor, renowned for calm and reasoned judgment, clobbered the show with a preemptive strike way back in January, when the idea for the project first surfaced. "Let's discuss why this is a very bad idea," she began, and then she trashed the show as too limited by its religious content.

I'm willing to give the show more of a chance, though I can see Carrie's point about the specialized material. A few glimpses of American Bible Challenge have leaked, most notably when GSN programming veep Amy Davis plugged the show on CNN. And it looked like a reasonably light and humorous take on the Bible, without tumbling into obnoxious parody.

Host Jeff Foxworthy should help. He did well on 5th Grader, adding some humor without overpowering the gameplay. And Lord knows (sorry again) that he's proven popular enough with GSN's audience. 5th Grader reruns have taken up residence at the top of the network's Nielsen charts.

Will he find similar success with the world's best-known book? We'll see in a couple months.