‘American Gods,’ StarzWhen Shadow Moon, a newly released prison inmate flying home for a funeral, expresses his admiration for a con artist he’s just spotted hustling his way to a free upgrade in first class, the scammer shares his secret: “It’s about getting people to believe in you.” That’s as good a summary as any of American Gods, the cult-favorite 2001 novel finally making its way to the screen on the Starz cable network. Is religion just a gigantic hustle? And does it matter, as long as people believe? Most importantly of all, what happens if they stop believing?

A rambunctious sci-fi/fantasy slice-and-dice of theology, myth, and hot-button sociology, with a generous dollop of pure depravity thrown in just for fun and Nielsen points, American Gods is a dizzying journey through humanity’s obsession with theism and dogma. It doesn’t always make sense—maybe it never makes sense—and its pace is dreadfully uneven. But a show in which a religious pilgrim trekking through the wilderness of a big-box electronic store is tempted by a goddess disguised as Lucille Ball in I Love Lucy, murmuring from a TV screen, “Hey, you ever wanted to see Lucy’s tits?” is not easily dismissed. Television critic Glenn Garvin takes a look.

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