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John Hollenhorst ReportingTongues are wagging in Utah and across the country about the latest twist in the polygamy saga. Last night, a show called "Big Love" premiered on H.B.O., the first television series in which the main characters are Utah polygamists. What will it mean to the image of polygamy and Utah?
It's not exactly 'I Love Lucy'. It's 'Bill loves Barbara, Margie and Nicki'. 'Big Love,' the trials, troubles and joys of triple husbandry.
Scenes from HBO's "Big Love": "Nicki slept with Bill in my bed yesterday."
It's Utah, HBO-style. But is it accurate? We asked long-time plural-wife Anne Wilde.
Anne Wilde, Plural Wife for 33 Years: "I like the idea this family had consenting adults, that there were no underage marriages, that the women freely chose to live that way."
Andra Moore-Emmett: "This is a made-for-male fantasy."
Anti-polygamy crusader Andrea Moore-Emmett, who wrote 'God's Brothel', says H.B.O. wanted entertainment so they left out most of polygamy's bad parts.
Andrea Moore-Emmett, Author of 'God's Brothel': "The sexual abuse, incest, especially incest as doctrine, the birth defects that we have because of that, these are the kind of things that are not going to be in everyone's living room."
Wilde says those are aberrations. Most polygamist families are loving and religious, she says, some a lot like 'Big Love'.
Anne Wilde: "Yeah, there are a lot of families that just blend into the community, and maybe the neighbors don't even know."
Andrea Moore-Emmett: "There's men out there who will look at this and say, 'Wow, I want to get me three wives!'"
But Wilde says polygamy is so challenging, a polygamy epidemic is unlikely.
Anne Wilde: "Because you need to have that religious foundation to make it work."
The show uses Salt Lake exteriors, including shots of the Mormon temple. Both sides agree the association with polygamy will create an image problem for the church and the state.
Anne Wilde: "That's just a stereotype that I don't know how they're going to ever do away with totally."
Andrea Moore-Emmett: "If I was on the travel council, I'd be worried. If I was the Mormon church, I'd be doing a little more to make it look like I was helping these people to help them get out of that system."
Big Love is scheduled for 12 episodes, but if it catches on, Bill and his three wives will be in America's living rooms for years to come. During each episode of "Big Love", H.B.O. runs disclaimers to make it clear the LDS Church banned polygamy in 1890.
