Views from the Street on "Big Love"

"Big Love," HBO's new series about a polygamous family, seems to be a big hit. The other day, some friends and I fanned out across downtown Salt Lake City and asked passersby their opinion about the show. Following are some highlights of what we heard:

"Why does it always have to be polygamists? Why not a drama about scrapbookers or geneology researchers? That would be more realistic."

"I'm sure Tom Green is behind this. He knows how to manipulate the media, and now they're eating out of his hand."

"They should've named one of the wives 'Sharon A. Johnson.'"

"Richard Dutcher should definitely get Bill Paxton to play Joseph Smith in his upcoming movie."

"I'm still waiting for HBO to show some hot foursome action in the bedroom--or at a minimum, wife-on-wife."

"I'm absolutely not going to watch even a second of it. Especially the sex scenes with Chloe Sevigny. She's not even that hot."

"Not only does it make the Church look bad, but it's really bad for the image of hardware stores."

"I won't sully my mind with that kind of trash. Especially since it's on the same night as Dawson's Creek."

"I was sorry to hear that the girl who played Deb, Napolean's girlfriend, had sold out to Hollywood like this. And she doesn't even wear her hair in that cute sideways ponytail either."

"I wasn't going to watch it, but my TIVO thought I should. So . . ."

"I'm waiting for the Cleanflix version."

"What they don't get is that Mormonism teaches only post-mortal polygamy nowadays."

"I'm only going to watch it until I learn if Bill's gonna get Margene her own car. Then I'm turning it right off."

"What I don't get is, if there are three wives and seven days in a week, who does the husband sleep with on Sundays?"

"I'm sticking with the Sopranos. At least they have some family values."

"It's a total cheat. If they're gonna make a big deal of how it has nudity, they better show more than Bill Paxton's bare butt."

"It makes me sad that people will think that this show is really about the LDS church, when actually polygamy has NEVER been a part of our beliefs. Except for when it was."

"I've counseled my wife to watch it prayerfully so that she'll know what kind of chores will await her once I bring her into the celestial kingdom."

"I'm sure this show, as well as everything else, is a part of the Lord's plan, designed to bring more people into the One and True Church. And if more people DON'T join the church because of this show, then it was actually part of Satan's plan."