This is a scene from “Kevin Costner Presents: The First Christmas.” The program premieres on ABC-TV Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, 8-10 p.m. EST. It will be available for streaming on Hulu beginning Wednesday, Dec. 10. (OSV News photo by Najat Oulhaj/ Disney)
‘Kevin Costner Presents: The First Christmas,’ Dec. 9, ABC
NEW YORK (OSV News) – As familiar as the story of Jesus’ birth may seem, life in first-century Judea was radically different from our contemporary experience. To establish that context and thus invite viewers to look at the Nativity with fresh eyes is the aim of the special “Kevin Costner Presents: The First Christmas.”
The program premieres on ABC-TV Tuesday, Dec. 9, 8-10 p.m. EST. It will be available for streaming on Hulu beginning Wednesday, Dec. 10.
Costner sets a relaxed, personal tone with his narration as he introduces the audience to a warm dramatization of the shared experience of Mary (Gia Rose Patel) and Joseph (Ethan Thorne), beginning with their betrothal ceremony. The future happiness of the youthful couple will, at times, be overshadowed by the troubled state of their society.
The Roman Empire rules the Holy Land with an iron fist. Its local agents include the despised Samaritans and ruthless, power-hungry, mentally unstable King Herod (Anthony Barclay).
After the angel Gabriel announces to Mary God’s will for her, other challenges arise. Joseph is anguished by the apparent scandal of his fiancee’s pregnancy yet upright and delicate in his treatment of her. His enthusiasm once he’s let in on the true nature of events is correspondingly uplifting to watch.
The show is fairly explicit in its depiction of the violence that resulted from extreme repression. A mother whose young children have been slain by a Roman soldier, for instance, is shown with their blood-covered heads resting in her lap. A scene portraying the aftermath of the slaughter of the innocents is also somewhat gory.
Additionally, Joseph’s initial reaction to Mary’s pregnancy might be confusing for those as-yet unaware of the activities that lead to non-miraculous conception.
‘First Christmas’ is not a good viewing option for kids
Maturity is required as well to assess those topics on which the script departs from (though it never contradicts) the scriptural account. With regard to the question of what kind of hospitality Mary and Joseph might have received — or been refused — on their arrival in Bethlehem, this involves a plausible alternative to the perhaps too-modern notion of an “inn.”
A later passage reimagines the visit of the Magi as taking place a full two years after Jesus’ birth. But this seems hard to square with Matthew’s version of events.
In his Gospel, after meeting with Herod and learning where Micah had prophesied that the Messiah would be born, the Magi go to Bethlehem and worship Jesus there. And it’s specifically the boys of Bethlehem that Herod subsequently orders killed.
Yet, by the time Jesus was a toddler, the Holy Family was almost certainly not still sojourning in Joseph’s ancestral town where they had only gone in the first place to fulfill an unwelcome legal obligation. So this revision of the story seems muddled.
Wherever one comes down on such matters, it’s safe to say that this is not a good viewing option for kids. Older teens as well as their elders, however, may well benefit from the knowledge of the past this production brings to light. They’ll also likely be moved by the emotionally engaging quality of the reenactments it showcases.
