How ‘The Righteous Gemstones’ avoids angering the ‘Jerry Falwell Juniors of the world’
From left, Adam DeVine, John Goodman, Edi Patterson and Danny McBride return in "The Righteous Gemstones." - Ryan Green/HBO/TNS

“The Righteous Gemstones” threads a thin line: making fun of megachurches without alienating their parishioners. The HBO series, which last week returned for its second season, lives in the world of diamond-plated crosses and church merchandise, taking a religious family of supposed true believers and twisting them into power-hungry money-grabbers. But they do it from a church pulpit every Sunday. “I asked (creator Danny McBride) and he said a lot of churchier people get a thrill from the show because they have to live among the hypocrisy of their church,” Eric Andre, who joined the cast this ...