Novelist and 5 Priests Sue Fox, ABC Over ‘Have Faith’ Sitcom
“Have Faith” lasted only a few episodes last year, but that was enough for a mystery writer and five Roman Catholic priests to take ABC-TV and 20th Century Fox to court.
Mystery novelist William Kienzle and the priests sued the network and production company Thursday in U.S. District Court in Detroit.
They claim that they collaborated in 1980 on a proposed situation comedy about four priests who share an inner-city rectory but that ABC rejected the idea.
Kienzle said he saw “Have Faith,” a sitcom about four inner-city priests, and saw red.
“I’m suspicious of the integrity of network TV anyway, and when I saw this series it was impossible to ignore,” he said. “There was our idea. I thought, ‘We have just experienced the rape of an idea.’ ”
Kienzle, a former priest whose books include “The Rosary Murders,” and the priests are seeking more than $1 million in damages, attorney Geoffrey Fieger said.
ABC would not comment because the matter was pending in court, a spokeswoman said.
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