Miracles is a show about the incoming darkness, the End of Days, the reign of Armageddon, and the power and influence of the Devil and all his minions here on Earth in their everlasting attempts to destroy the face of humanity as an affront to the power of God, for in destroying God's most precious creation, the darkness is defying the Word of God. Picture a boy, blessed with the gift of healing the sick, the dying, the blind. Picture this boy suffering from a blood disease himself, the great irony of being the healer unable to heal himself. ``I hope you feel better soon,'' he says to the blind woman, the premature baby, the man with scarce minutes left after being hit by a train. Picture the irony that with each person he heals, he dies a little more, until finally his flame is extinguished, the blood of the man saved spelling out on a pile of broken glass, ``God is now here.'' Is it God who is doing these things, or is it someone more malevolent?
Starring Skeet Ulrich (Paul Callan), Angus Macfadyen (Alva Keel) and Marisa Ramirez (Evelyn Santos), it was a brief show, but a meaningful one. It was a dark show and a blessed light--for without knowing true darkness, one cannot possibly understand true light. That is, perhaps, the underlying message of it all, in hour-long increments.
The series is made of 13 episodes and one pilot. However, the first six episodes and the last seven were separated by 6 months (March 31, 2003, episode six (``Hand of God''), November 14, 2003, episode seven (``You Are My Sunshine'')), because ABC felt it was being preempted by the war in Iraq. It was brought back in November on Vision TV (very limited release) to finish up the first season, but never continued beyond the 13th episode. A rather large fan base has assembled to convince another network to pick the show up again. Macfadyen has even written a script for the next season, and is eager to see it performed.
As for those elusive seven episodes, the entire series is available on DVD, a four disc set, for between $39.98 and $49.98, depending on where you pick it up. The DVD set is remarkably well presented, with extra commentary on each episode, deleted scenes, and, most important of all, an option to play all the episodes on a disc (I've noted that some series DVDs omit this option for one reason or another).
That all said, Miracles is one of the most powerful series I've ever watched. On a whim, I purchased the DVD release a day before a major bicycling accident, and found myself riveted (even if I hadn't been rooted anyway) to my seat to watch the show. The characters are presented as real, flawed, genuine people with whom you can easily compare yourself. The show itself has a nice balance of light and dark, humor and drama, and presents a hopeful picture in the midst of cynicism. I find the writing to be generally superior to the X-Files, as instead of one character always being the cynic and the other being the believer, the three main characters are able to dance around each idea, much to the delight of the audience, from belief to disbelief and back again.
Executive Producer: Roger Birnbaum
Executive Producer: Stuart Birnbaum
Executive Producer (Showrunner): David Greenwalt
Executive Producer: Richard Hatem
Executive Producer: Gary Barber
Creator: Richard Hatem
Father 'Poppi' Calero: Hector Elizondo
Alva Keel: Angus Macfadyen
Evelyn Santos: Marisa Ramirez
Paul Callan: Skeet Ulrich
Episode Guide
``The Ferguson Syndrome'' Episode: 1 - January 27, 2003
``The Friendly Skies'' Episode: 2 - February 3, 2003
``The Patient'' Episode: 3 - February 10, 2003
``Little Miss Lost'' Episode: 4 - March 3, 2003
``The Bone Scatterer'' Episode: 5 - March 10, 2003
``Hand of God'' Episode: 6 - March 31, 2003
``You Are My Sunshine'' Episode: 7 - November 14, 2003
``Battle at Shadow Ridge'' Episode: 8 - November 21, 2003
``Mother's Daughter'' Episode: 9 - November 28, 2003
``Saint Debbie'' Episode: 10 - December 5, 2003
``The Ghost'' Episode: 11 - December 12, 2003
``The Letter'' Episode: 12 - December 19, 2003
``Paul Is Dead'' Episode: 13 - December 26, 2003