‘Glory! Glory!’ Greed! Greed!

A 30 share for Jesus?

From Jimmy Swaggart to Jim and Tammy Bakker, the fundamentalist TV preaching industry can’t seem to get a break these days--even on TV.

Now comes HBO’s brash, mocking and darkly funny miniseries “Glory! Glory!” (9 p.m. Sunday and Monday) that seems to make its fictional praise-the-buck electronic ministry a grim metaphor for all of society. And in doing so--with strong intonations of Paddy Chayefsky’s visionary “Network”--it affirms TV’s mind-fuzzing seductiveness, whereby the medium itself assumes spirituality, inspiring trust and worship.

In this scenario, TV is not merely the message, it’s the religion.

When fiery, magnetic, faith-healing Rev. Dan Stuckey (Barry Morse) is felled by a stroke, leadership of his rich Church of the Companions of Christ TV empire in Waco, Tex., falls to his son, the pious and earnest, but bland, Rev. Bobby Joe (Richard Thomas). Donations, once $1 million a day, swiftly fall under Bobby Joe, and the ministry is near collapse until he recruits a boozing, coke-headed rock singer (Ellen Greene) to juice up his TV services.

Sister Ruth, as she becomes known, uses her street-tough coarseness and singing to rejuvenate the ministry financially and to rise from the ashes of her own life. She also transforms herself and the church into TV phenomena that even attract the notice of a giant network: “This lady can do for us what Cosby did for NBC,” an executive proclaims.

Watching Greene, you believe it. She is raw, biting and sexy as Ruth, offering raspy eloquence as a singer while making an odd coupling with Thomas’ mild, sniveling Bobby Joe. And James Whitmore is a scene stealer as Lester Babbitt, the pragmatic, manipulative church elder who is a consummate con man and the real brains behind the ministry.

That “Glory! Glory!” periodically meanders and loses focus is undeniable. Written by Stan Daniels and directed by Lindsay Anderson, the 3 1/2-hour musical satire could be much tighter and firmer. It doesn’t help that a key element of the story, in which the ministry is investigated by a TV reporter (Winston Rekert), bends credibility to the snapping point. Nor, surely, is there anything revolutionary about the fusion of religion and rock music.

Yet “Glory! Glory!” is lively, thoroughly arresting, always interesting, sometimes inspired TV that strengthens HBO’s standing as the medium’s bold provocateur. Whereas 1982’s “Pray TV” on ABC was weak and soggy, “Glory! Glory!” is energized by Steve Tyrell’s music, Greene’s bracing performance and the frequent sharp humor of Daniels’ script.

Sister Ruth becomes a recording star, one of her hit albums being titled “Satan Sucks.” And when she coaches an actor on how to appear “healed” on TV, it’s hilarious: “Let me see you gnarl your fingers . . . good! Good gnarling!”

All the while, network executives consider Bobby Joe a dull “lox” and plot to turn him into a “sort of Christian Ed Sullivan” whose only role would be to introduce Sister Ruth.

Along with the humor come dark omens and simmering pessimism, for everyone in this deeply cynical comedy/drama is viewed as ultimately corruptible. Characters temporarily occupy a moral high ground, only to topple to temptation just as “Glory! Glory!” seems on the verge of affirming their faith.

“What we do, we do in a holy cause,” Lester declares, articulating the eternal justification for using evil means in pursuit of honorable ends.

As he speaks these words, images of real-life disgraced TV preachers flash in your mind--preachers who constitute a distinct, but highly visible, minority among their fellow clergy. Yet by implication, this HBO production unfairly seems to extend its vision of bleakness, hypocrisy and dirty tricks to all electronic clergy.

On “Glory! Glory!” meanwhile, it’s always showtime in front of the cameras. An actor playing Jesus is affixed to a cross outlined in spotlights, as the line separating God and ratings continues to blur.