classicalsteve If you regularly attend church, you can receive spiritual healing, confess sins, and be in communion with God or at least perceive that this is happening. The clergy of the church facilitate your spiritual and religious needs and also acts as instructors, telling you, the congregants, what is right and wrong, sometimes claiming their advice is from Heaven. The clergy of the church, almost regardless of the denomination, is there to support the church members and potential converts. However, what about those people who play the role of the clergy? Who offers pastors, bishops and the like the spiritual guidance they may need? And what if the people performing those duties are in some ways compromising what they're telling others? Are they practicing what they're preaching? "Greenleaf", a relatively new television/cable series, focuses on a predominantly African-American Protestant Church called The Calvary Fellowship. The grand Pooh-Bah is Bishop James Greenleaf (Keith David), the most inspirational figure of the church during services particularly with his resonant but kindly voice. However, behind the scenes, the bishop has many personal problems and even hints of flaws in character. His wife and "first lady" of the church is Lady Mae Greenleaf (Lynn Whitfield) who is the unofficial matriarch. Although her husband runs the church, she runs the Greenleaf family so-to-speak. Most of the family are involved with church duties, helping out at services, conducting teaching programs (i.e. Sunday School) and even planning events. Because their church and congregation are very large, the family lives very well. Servants are constantly in attendance at the Greenleaf household. In other words, if you're a member of the Greenleaf family, you'll live in the upper middle-class, but the price you pay is you're going to be integral to the operations of the church. Else, you may have to get out of Dodge as did their wayward daughter, Grace.The series begins when the Bishop's estranged daughter Grace Greenleaf decides to return to the family after 20 years of self-imposed exile. We learn that she had been a preacher for the church but decided to end her clerical life and live among secular culture. We also learn that James Greenleaf had designs for her daughter possibly to succeed him as the main voice of the church during services. She has returned to the family and to the church but at the beginning of the story she has no intention of standing at the pulpit and making grand religious-biblical pronouncements as she had 20 years earlier. Even before she's stepped back into their house, Lady Mae tells Grace "not to cause trouble for their family". Zing. We know this reunion of Grace with the Greenleaf family is going to cause trouble. Of course if there wasn't trouble, there wouldn't be a show!At first Grace just agrees to answer phones at the church offices as the first voice heard by either church members or potential converts. When a grandmother enters her office asking that her granddaughter be baptized (without it seems permission of the mother or father), Grace decides to take the role she vowed she wouldn't play. She dons a white robe and performs the ceremony. This story may be about how Grace begins to rediscover and play the role she left 20 years earlier.As the series unfolds, we learn there are many hypocrisies surrounding the Greenleaf family. Grace is not the only estranged family member. Mavis McCready (Oprah Winfrey) is an alcoholic lush and Lady Mae's estranged sister. She resides a ways away from the family, and they seem to disown her. Other skeletons lurk in the closet, some of whose bones begin to rattle. We learn about a child molestation case involving one of the parishoners which has been conveniently swept under the proverbial church carpets. Also, a senator is investigating churches and other faith-based entities who enjoy the privilege of not-for-profit status. The senator asks for their financial records, and after he has taken his leave, Bishop Greenleaf makes it clear he has no intention of revealing any church records. I am guessing this will have further implications in the future of the series.A wonderful beginning to a masterful series. I think the main point of the story is that trying to juggle the problems of everyday life while maintaining a facade of "purity" may be too much for any family to accomplish. Consider the Bakkers of "Praise the Lord" who seemed wholesome until it was revealed they were engaging in fraudulent business practices. In the present series, we believe in the Greenleaf characters and their plights and their need to project an unstained veneer. The acting is outstanding, particularly David as the Bishop, Whitfield as the "first lady" and Dandridge as Grace. Honorable mention to Winfrey, playing against type as an alcoholic, the kind of character who might end up on Dr. Phil! While some of the situations might be perceived as melodramatic, other issues are dealt with, such as homosexuality, interracial sex, and even infidelity. For a family which is supposed to be holier than the congregation they serve, they seem to be digging some fairly large holes!

Allison Scates In my never ending quest of finding new shows with diverse casts, I came across Greenleaf on Netflix and was hooked after the first episode. It offers excellent acting, dialogue, character plots and a unique perspective of behind the scenes of a megachurch family.What I like most about this show is the drama! Just when you think things can't get more dramatic, they somehow always do. There is sibling rivalry, church rivalry, family secrets, mistresses! This show borders on being a soap opera, but I think what makes it different is in the excellent writing and the cast performance.Like many shows, this series comes with a few drawbacks such as predictability and repeated plot lines. Although the series does have excellent writing, I find a lot of the plot lines to be very predictable. Often when I'm watching Greenleaf, I can predict what's going to happen with accuracy which is a little disappointing. The plot has many scenarios that are not new to television. A secretly gay husband, the pedophile uncle, the affair with the secretary. Come on; I've seen every one of these before in other shows.Although I do love drama, some of the scenes are so dramatic that they make me laugh. For example, there was a scene when the gay husband (Kevin) is secretly looking at half naked men on his cell phone as his wife (Charity) talks to him. I was like really?I recently started watching season two and discovered that there were some major story lines from season one that received little to no attention in season two, leaving a few plot holes. For example, Gigi's ex tries to get full custody of their daughter Sophia. It's a huge problem, and Gigi takes him to court. The father gets custody for 90 days and takes Sophia with him to Phoenix. Gigi is distraught and contemplates moving back to Phoenix to be with her daughter. Season one ends with Sophia being driven off by her dad and Gigi distraught. In season two Sophia is back with Gigi, and there is no mention at all about the custody battle which surprised me.Also, Charity was pregnant in season one with twins. Once season two starts, we discover that she lost one of the babies, but it is mentioned very casually in conversation. Last time I checked, losing a child is a BIG deal, and that should have gotten more attention in the show.All in all, I do enjoy watching Greenleaf and tune in each week for the drama! I recommend Greenleaf if you are looking for a new show to watch on Netflix that has the privilege of being written by a team of black writers and has an all black cast too.

Charles Herold (cherold) The best of what Greenleaf has to offer can be seen in a family dinner conversation in the first episode. Ex-minister Grace has come back to the city of her father's megachurch for her sister's funeral, and mentions that she rarely goes to church in her new town. Her sister-in-law Kerrisa jumps on it, passive-aggressively asking why. Grace's mother insists on an answer, and the whole conversation devolves into a tense mess of resentment and jealousy. It is fascinating.Much of my fascination with Greenleaf is that, for me, a white, big- city atheist, this world is so outside of my experience, in part because everyone's black, but more because everyone accepts Jesus as a very tangible figure in their lives. Only Grace is the sort of Christian I'm used to - the "I'm more spiritual than religious" type, and in her case she is torn between that and her evangelical roots.Even though Jesus is so real for them, they are still human. One is clearly gay and trying hard not to be. The church head seems to be casually corrupt. Even Grace's odious pedophile uncle is probably a believer although he seems to flout everything in the bible.There are some very interesting characters. Grace, her starchy mom and glad-handing dad, and most notably Kerrisa, played by Kim Hawthorne as a controlling, anxious woman resentful that following all the rules hasn't made her happy. She's awful, but also tragic.I often object to character-driven dramas without much story, but in this case, I feel the story arc lays an element of artifice over these fascinating dynamics. Grace stays in town to play detective, looking for proof of her uncle's crimes, and while this story would be fine if it felt like just a part of the drama, its centrality overshadows the series' more subtle aspects.I like Greenleaf, but I feel I would like it more if everyone just stayed at the dinner table forever.

wendohpayne I see great potential for an interesting look at the inside world of wealth. power and the cloak of holiness. David Keith is a master in delivering dialogue. I love Lynne Whitfield as the matriarch with some obvious issues, yet to be revealed I hope. As the series continues, I (dare I say it?) pray the writers become more confident and provide more realistic speaking styles. The decor of the home, church and offices are beautifully done.Kudos to production staff. I admire the modern styling of the characters. An accurate mix of traditional, natural, ethnic clothing and hairstyles. Multi-racial actors in all types of roles. In fact, the realistic relationship between Grace and her daughter is something I can identify with. Thanks for that. I'm excited that Ms. Winfrey supports this type of project.