At Church this weekend, one of our Deacons said that the reason this kind of TV comes on during Lent and Advent is because everyone's mind is on the Christian story at that time. Even what my Dad used to call "submarine" Catholics/Christians surface during Christmas and Easter, so the TV folks can not only draw in the non-Christian by tantalizing them with proof that they are right, but arouse the anger of those who do believe and may be making more of an effort to practice their faith during these time periods.
It's all about the ratings and the money. Would Discovery have gotten anywhere near the number of viewers for this show if it hadn't created all this pre-viewing drama? People who like their programming would have tuned in and caught it, but it wouldn't have gotten as wide an audience without it.
Archeology is interesting, seeing things that existed at the time Jesus walked the earth is amazing. I found that some of the theology was the same as what I've been taught in my college courses, like the idea that Mary Magadalene, the woman caught in adultery and the woman that washed Jesus's feet with her hair were probably 3 different women. It hasn't changed my belief that Jesus rose from the dead. I can handle the idea of a spiritual Ascenscion, although many Christians would not accept that. If there were bones left after the Ascension, just because the Gospel does not mention their burial doesn't mean that they weren't there. Just because bones were found that might belong to Jesus, doesn't mean that the Resurrection didn't happen.
I can also handle a Jesus that was married at one time. I know a Priest that joined the clergy after the death of his wife and child, why could that not have been the same for Jesus? Yes, it does seem odd that the Gospel writers would leave something like that out, but maybe that wasn't the story they were interested in telling. They don't ever mention a wife or a child at all, dead or living. Who knows, really? You can make a lot of cases for a lot of different possibilities based on what was reported.