PRIME TIME

By Jeanne McDowell/Los Angeles

Bill Cain is probably the only TV writer in Los Angeles who lives in a Jesuit parish and has taken vows of chastity and poverty. Cain, a 49-year-old Roman Catholic priest, is the co-creator and spirit behind Nothing Sacred, ABC's controversial new series about an iconoclastic, jeans-clad urban priest. Until now, Cain has written the show under the pseudonym PAUL LELAND, but a campaign against the show mounted by conservative Catholics prompted the priest to come forward. Cain argues that the show's critics don't recognize that Nothing Sacred is about one priest's search for God. He claims that the attacks, branding the show's two Jewish executive producers "Godless," are anti-Semitic. As of last week, about eight sponsors had begged off. For now, ABC and Disney are standing behind the show, but if the ratings don't improve, last rites may have to be administered. Says producer David Manson: "We all understand that in the end this show has to deliver an audience."

--By Jeanne McDowell/Los Angeles