God Friended Me

Lore & Background

The series chronicles the life of Miles Finer, an outspoken atheist and podcaster, who is sent a friend request on Facebook by an account named 'God.' This account suggests new friends to Miles, people in his hometown of New York City, who will require assistance. Initially skeptical, Miles decides to follow these suggestions to help people. His first suggestion is a doctor who lost a patient and is on the verge of losing his wife. While following up on his second suggestion, he meets and befriends Cara Bloom, a freelance journalist and blogger. Together with Cara and his hacker friend Rakesh Singh, Miles tries to find out who is behind the 'God' account while still providing help to the account's continuing friend suggestions. Miles' atheist views sometimes cause friction with his father, Arthur Finer, who is the pastor of an Episcopal church in Harlem.

The show uses Facebook frequently as a narrative device. The 'Friended' in the title refers to the act of friending someone on social media. Show creator Steven Lilien stated that conversations with Facebook were limited to discussing 'how much we can portray it.' The 'God' account was active on Facebook outside the show, with liking pages and changing their profile picture as examples of their online activities.

CBS ordered the pilot on January 23, 2018, and the series was picked up straight-to-series on May 11, 2018. It premiered on September 30, 2018, and was renewed for a second season which premiered on September 29, 2019. In March 2020, season 2 filming was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In April 2020, the series was canceled after two seasons. The last-filmed episode was reworked into a series finale, using stock footage from previous episodes. The final scene in the Himalayas utilized location footage shot in Utah during the filming of the pilot, reserved for potential use in a series finale.

Reader's Guide

God Friended Me is significant as a network television series that directly engaged with themes of faith, atheism, and social media as a divine or mysterious communication tool. Its premise—an atheist receiving friend suggestions from a 'God' account—allowed for episodic storytelling focused on helping strangers, blending procedural elements with character-driven drama. The show's cancellation after two seasons, partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and its reworked finale using stock footage, mark it as a production affected by the global health crisis. Critical reception was mixed, with Rotten Tomatoes giving a 59% approval rating and Metacritic a score of 57 out of 100. Reviewers noted the show's sincere handling of spiritual themes but criticized its occasional heavy-handedness and portrayal of atheism. Ratings declined in the second season, with a 25% drop in the key 18-49 demo and a 20% fall in overall viewership. The series remains a notable example of a faith-adjacent drama on broadcast television in the late 2010s.

Did You Know?

• The series was created by Steven Lilien and Bryan Wynbrandt, who also served as executive producers alongside Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter.
• The final scene in the Himalayas used location footage shot in Utah during the filming of the pilot, originally reserved for a potential series finale.
• Erica Gimpel was promoted to a series regular for the second season after appearing as a recurring character in season one.
• The show's last two episodes aired as a two-hour series finale on April 26, 2020.