Tom Hanks' Star-Studded HBO Show Caused A Flurry Of Controversy

People generally love Tom Hanks. In addition to (somehow) being the father of polar opposites Chet Hanks and Colin Hanks, he's an American treasure with some truly phenomenal movies under his belt. But there's one Tom Hanks project that got people pretty upset back in the day, and that's the HBO series "Big Love."

For folks who don't remember this 2000s drama series, which was executive produced by Hanks, "Big Love" centered on a polygamous fundamentalist Mormon family that resided in Utah and was headed up by patriarch Bill Henrickson (Bill Paxton). Over the course of the show's five seasons, Bill did his best to protect his large, unconventional family from both outsiders who didn't understand them and friction within, and critics and audiences alike seemed to mostly eat it up. (The incredible cast — which included Chloë Sevigny, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Ginnifer Goodwin, Amanda Seyfried, and more — definitely didn't hurt.)

There was, however, a group that was decidedly unhappy about the show, and that would be its real-life Mormon viewers. Despite the fact that "Big Love" featured a fictional fundamentalist sect called the United Effort Brotherhood (UEB), real-world fundamentalist Mormons were furious about how they were depicted on the HBO hit.

While "Big Love" stirred controversy from the start because some Mormons were worried that audiences would conflate the depicted fundamentalist polygamist beliefs with those of the official Mormon church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), which does not condone polygamy, it really drew people's ire when it depicted a sacred ritual in the season 3 episode "Outer Darkness." Though the church itself did not call for a boycott, it did express an understanding for its members' ire and said that individual members could do what they wished. Eventually HBO issued an official apology in a statement, saying:

"Obviously, it was not our intention to do anything disrespectful to the church, but to those who may be offended, we offer our sincere apology."

HBO has been no stranger to controversy over the years, but "Big Love" seemed primed for it from the very start and just got more controversial from there. The episode ended up airing as planned, showing the deeply secret, sacred endowment ceremony performed between Bill and his third wife, Margie (Ginnifer Goodwin), and some church members were upset that their secrets were shown onscreen at all.

It's kind of funny that "Big Love" was so controversial when there are currently shows on HBO's streaming service, HBO Max, that feature actual real-life polygamist families, like the reality series "Sister Wives." While these series likely don't depict any of the more secret elements of fundamentalist Mormon beliefs, they are still sharing a lot more than "Big Love" ever did.

"Big Love" itself was pretty good (it was, if nothing else, certainly far from being one of the worst HBO shows ever made), and it seems like the controversy either helped viewership or didn't impact it at all. Since wrapping up, the series has become an odd footnote in the cable giant's history, though one that doesn't seem to get mentioned much anymore ... probably because, again, shows like "Sister Wives" tend to be far more shocking. Audiences love a controversy, and reality TV will always supersede scripted dramas in the controversy department, even if "Big Love" upset an entire church.