Though Showtime has enjoyed some success with The Borgias, the series represents a more sensationalist, pre-Homeland era at the network, when the balance between themes of political machinations and reckless horniness was tipped toward the latter. So the network's first pilot for 2013 is The Vatican, another pope drama about "spirituality, power and politics," but one set within the modern-day Catholic Church—a place where any horniness is a subject of obfuscation, rather than right out in the open, with Jeremy Irons banging everything in his big pope hat. Constituting another leap of faith, Ridley Scott has added directing the pilot to his litany of projects in development, a job that would make for Scott's first TV project since the 1960s should he actually go through with it. And the script hails from Paul Attanasio, the Quiz Show and Donnie Brasco screenwriter who clearly knows something about scandals, codes of silence, and ominous groups of Italians. No doubt the actual Vatican will be flattered by all the attention. "Look, that's where I work!" Pope Benedict will exclaim during every episode.
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